Cats gotta scratch. Dogs gotta bite. I gotta write.

Well, the clues are there. They always are. Which is why when crimes are solved decades after the fact, it's obvious that the clues had always been right in front of them. A traffic ticket in Brooklyn is how they got ["Son of Sam" serial killer] David Berkowitz. You've just got to look.

As a kid, I sensed history going on all around me, but the basic thrust of it didn't move me.

I almost had an intransigent mental spirit. I always wanted things.

The 1950s to me is darkness, hidden history, perversion behind most doors waiting to creep out. The 1950s to most people is kitsch and Mickey Mouse watches and all this intolerable stuff.

I don't think I will write anything that could be even remotely considered a genre novel from this point on. I think I've graduated.

How did I change my life? I wanted things. I wanted women and I wanted to write books.