I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary.

Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.

Let me claim that Africa and I kept company for a while and then parted ways as if we were both party to relations with a failed outcome. Or say I was afflicted with Africa like a bout of a rare disease from which I have not managed a full recovery.

...nothing momentous comes in this world unless it comes on the shoulders of kindness.

Forgive me, O Heavenly Father, according to the multitude of Thy mercies. I have lusted in my heart to break a man's skull and scatter the stench of his brains across several people's back yards.

Everything truly important is washable.

Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization.