I don't feel in any way obligated to remain current with the culture. I feel no social obligation whatsoever. I trust my morality in the narrow path I trek through the world as I work.
James EllroyClassical music fulfills for me the function of narrative. I spend 90 minutes a day listening to symphonic music - Beethoven to Bartรณk - some chamber pieces, and that's my enrichment.
James EllroyJoe Wambaugh's a friend. I know him only casually, but I like him a lot. I think he likes my books.
James EllroyThe 250-page outline for American Tabloid. The books are so dense. They're so complex, you cannot write like I write off the top of your head. It's the combination of that meticulousness and the power of the prose and, I think, the depth of the characterizations and the risks that I've taken with language that give the books their clout. And that's where I get pissed off at a lot of my younger readers.
James Ellroy