I don't want to do the type of writing where I recite biography, parentage and education. I want to rise up from the words on the page and do something, hurt someone.

Clouds are no deterrent. Clouds intensify the drama, trap and shape the light.

I understand there are some men who are only half here. Let's not say men. Let's say people. People who are more or less obscure at times.

Just because it's on the radio doesn't mean we have to suspend belief in the evidence of our senses.

That's what in theory differentiates a writer from everyone else. You see and hear more clearly.

Out of some persistent sense of large-scale ruin, we kept inventing hope.

Being called a 'bad citizen' is a compliment to a novelist, at least to my mind. That's exactly what we ought to do.