As a kid, I had a real fascination with perverse, off-color, and kind of risky things, and I also had a very sanctimonious Catholic, purist side.

I try to keep my artistic opinions not so much "to myself" but "on myself."

I think we need leadership that can gently and with affection remind us of what we Americans mostly agree upon: civility, kindness, tolerance, humour, et cetera. The current Trump administration seems to thrive on trying to enforce a very odd, fearful agenda, that it tries to disguise in a false garment of fondness for the working-class - despite the fact that its policies seem designed to continue the decades-long habit of marginalizing that group.

When somebody you've known for 20 years, and with whom you have a full context, winks at you or whatever, it can be huge. I think in a sense what you're trying to re-create in fiction is that.

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

I have a lot of theories about the beneficial effects of fiction, but I'm always trying to get away from them a little bit.

Realism is to fiction what gravity is to walking: a confinement that allows dancing under the right circumstances.