The Kessler Theater is one such gem, an Art Deco beauty … for a slice of real life, there’s always the Kessler.

I think if you spend much time dwelling on influence you can get self-conscious about every line you write. That's a great way to freeze up.

It's amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course.

There was no such thing as perfection in this world, only moments of such extreme transparency that you forgot yourself, a holy mercy if there ever was one.

It is sort of weird being honored for the worst day of your life.

I quit law in 1988 to start writing, and it took me 17 years from that point to get a book contract. I guess you can say I was on the slow train.

The strange, wonderful stories of Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain introduce us to the tremendously gifted Kirsten Menger-Anderson, a writer whose subject is nothing less than the diagnosis and cure of the human malady. We follow twelve generations of New York City's Steenwycks family through their forays into phrenology, mesmerism, radium therapy and similar misadventures, a historically rich narrative that Menger-Anderson delivers in striking, elegant prose and with a sure eye for detail. This is a remarkable debut by a writer to watch.