He [Ma's Tooth] was part of her a minute ago but now he's not. Just a thing.

The Collector [John Fowles book] does such a good job of capturing the mindset of a capturer, and also that's become a banal trope of every second crime novel: the weirdo, fetishistic watcher/stalker/kidnapper/kidnapper of women or children.

You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well.

Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.

Sometimes you must shed your skin to save it.

I watch his hands, they're lumpy but clever. "Is there a word for adults when they aren't parents?" Steppa laughs. "Folks with other things to do?

I'm a huge planner, more and more so as the years go by.