"You start with Mad and wind up mainlining Vonnegut and calling yourself a conscientious objector," wrote Mr. Hill, whose latest novel is "NOS4A2".
But as his unit neared deployment, he applied for conscientious objector status, writing in a letter that accompanied his application that he was not sure "whether going to war was the right thing to do Islamically".
As I write, conscientious parents are training their children to enjoy herring and rye bread for breakfast.
Contribute with Guardian Witness In the winter of 1916 the conscientious objector Harry Millward wrote to his wife Lizzie, maintaining a determinedly jaunty tone.
She also wrote many conscientious letters home.
"About all that exclusion would deter in this case is conscientious police work," he wrote.
"Not only do they tend to avoid violent deaths and illnesses linked to smoking and drinking," they write, "but conscientious individuals are less prone to a whole host of diseases, not just those caused by dangerous habits".
But I still beg you to continue to think of me as a sensible person subject to occasional fits of madness but broadly in control, and as a conscientious friend who only writes like this in hours of clarity.
"You could call these guys daredevils," Nick says, "but it's strength and talent, not just fearlessness". Sure, there are some bozos out there, just looking for the "sickest air," but the people on Nick's panel are the more cerebral sort they're obsessive and free-spirited and meticulous and conscientious, and all have written extensively about their adventures.
"Not only do they tend to avoid violent deaths and illnesses linked to smoking and drinking," they write, "but conscientious individuals are less prone to a whole host of diseases, not just those caused by dangerous habits". The precise physiological explanation is unknown but seems to have to do with levels of chemicals like serotonin in the brain.
Neither make music I recognise as music, and even Bugg, supported by rock sentimentalists as a teenage gem with something on his non-X Factor mind, produced with conscientious MoR-indie care, writes songs that seem to leave quickly on a jet plane in the direction of John Denver.
