A miracle to confound natural law, a baffling reversal of the inevitable consequences . . . a miracle. . . . An act of high imagination -- daring and lurid and impossible. Yes, a cartoon of the mind.

There was the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry.

Well, right now I'm not dead. But when I am, it's like...I don't know, I guess it's like being inside a book that nobody's reading. [...] An old one. It's up on a library shelf, so you're safe and everything, but the book hasn't been checked out for a long, long time. All you can do is wait. Just hope somebody'll pick it up and start reading.

Everything was such a damned nice idea when it was an idea.

you're never more alive than when you're almost dead.

Writing doesn’t get easier with experience. The more you know, the harder it is to write.

Let the story tell itself.