When I started to be a writer, I was not going to run the risk of boring you.

I always loved the verve and vivacity of pulp and I kind of merged it with my own interest in family stories.

I have a book in the pipeline of short stories. You want to hear an agent scream, say 'I'm thinking about doing a collection of short stories set in the Ozarks.

He unscrewed the lid, set it on the dash, snorted from the bottle twice, banged the steering wheel, and said, 'You got to be ready to die every day - then you got a chance.'

When I left Iowa, I definitely never wanted to stand in front of a group of academics again and see if they approved of me. I made up my mind to take my work to the actual reading public.

I had been born shoved to the margins of the world, sure, but I had volunteered for the pits.

The opening novel of the 'Bayou Trilogy' was the first one I finished.