My idea about collections is that you write as hard as you can for some period and what you're really doing during that time is hyper-focusing on the individual pieces - trying to make each one sit up and really do some surprising work.

There are books that I read years ago that enlivened things in me that haven't died yet.

The contours of the coming disaster expanded to include the deaths of all present.

Back in 1992, I had my first story accepted by 'The New Yorker.'

Whether you're eighteen or sixty, in a certain way, whatever you know is valid.

I guess: People who are comfortable enough with reality to allow other sorts of realities and other mindsets to just be, and then to regard these with real interest and joy [and the joy appears in the prose quality itself].

I'm finding, as I get older, that I'm not much of a believer in redemption. I mean, I believe in redemption in real life - redemption does happen, and it's cool when it does - but I find myself getting leery of my desire for it in stories (especially my own).