“A lot of my stories were written for specific prompts — especially when they are solicited for a themed anthology. Other stories have diverse origins: sometimes I'm inspired by a science paper I read, and sometimes an image gets stuck in my head and irritates me so much that I have to turn it into a story like an oyster growing a pearl. There are even a few times where a story came to me fully formed, like a gift from the gods,” he said.

Luckily for him, he hasn't had the experience of running out of ideas, yet. “A tiny elf comes to me every morning and dictates a story, which I dutifully write down,” he said. “I find that the more I write and read, the more ideas I have.”

Instead of being a fulltime writer, he makes his living now as a litigation consultant in high-tech cases. With his background in both law and technology — he has worked as both a software engineer and as a corporate lawyer — his “current job suits me especially well”, he said.

So, his translation and creative writing are usually done commuting on the subway, which means discipline and hard work for the prolific writer and translator during his 40-minute ride every day.

He said very few people are able to make a living and support a family by writing and translating alone. “I'm certainly nowhere near that.”

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