[Jones]: Your first three books are set in feudal Japan. Why did you choose historical settings for your first three novels?

[Paterson]: For one thing, it's interesting. For another, if you have trouble plotting as I do, history is a great help. You have all of these wonderful events happening in history and you can weave your story in and out of them. Historical settings are fascinating and helpful. That's why I use them. (p. 192)

[Jones]: Could you give an example of where you have gotten the basic idea for one of your novels—perhaps The Master Puppeteer where the puppet theater is such an unusual device for a novel.

[Paterson]: I'm always interested when people say, "Where do you get your ideas for your books?" as if there were some big barrel in my basement that I went to and took an idea out of when I...