I think in the old days, the nexus of weirdness ran through Southern California, and to a degree New York City. I think it's changed so that every bizarre story in the country now has a Florida connection. I don't know why, except it must be some inversion of magnetic poles or something.

A bonus, being a writer, is that the true-life source material is fabulously bizarre. There's so much corruption, violence and free-floating depravity that the well never runs dry, whether you're a novelist, a journalist, or both.

Disney world is an armpit compared to Montana.

Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched.

I'd always wanted to write books ever since I was a kid.

Jimmy Lee Baylis was a wise man, and knew better than to talk back to the man who signed his paycheck.

I still do a weekly opinion column for the Miami Herald, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Rotten fish.