I find at moments I'm as fragile as glass.

Come on, say it again. I'm a perfect devil. Tell me how bad I am. It makes me feel so good!

But death we are, and death we've always been.

My life's been too much of a self-created vocation. And there are times when I think I've done everything in the name of defiance.

Obsession led me to write. It's been that way with every book I've ever written. I become completely consumed by a theme, by characters, by a desire to meet a challenge.

What I did was take the Jesus of the Gospels, the Son of God, the Son of the Virgin Mary, and sought to make Him utterly believable, a vital breathing character.

You can look at the New York Times Bestseller List and you can be pretty sure that the writers on that list don't know each other very well.