We do. Or re-create the ones we have, and project. My whole life is projection.

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

My guys are morally weak, and they reach toward a tenuous knowledge of self-sacrifice, and sometimes it's too late. I find that moving. It's not a life I'd want to live. But, then, I'm not completely my books.

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

I think the great unspoken theme in noir fiction is male self-pity. It pervades noir movies.

And the only forms of socialism in the world that were then getting results - malign ones, as it was - were the Fascist and Soviet republics. Fascism is a form of socialism - you rebuild the country, you find a scapegoat, and you go from there.

I've been tremendously moved by a bunch of odd books. Ross McDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books.