Joe Wambaugh's a friend. I know him only casually, but I like him a lot. I think he likes my books.

Other people, some other writers, will win certain accolades or sell in far greater numbers than me - and I'm a legitimate best-selling author - but I live and die for the work. That's thrilling to me. It's thrilling that I do for others what certain writers did for me when I was a kid.

Some people don’t respond to civility.

I don't think I came out of anybody. I think I developed out of the influences I described in My Dark Places. American history, L.A. of the 1950s. I'm comfortable with that.

And you love to read, you love to escape, right?

Joe Wambaugh's a friend. I know him only casually, but I like him a lot. I think he likes my books.

I got a woman I'm loyal to above all things, above my career. She's profound to me. I'm quiet. I live in Kansas City. I work.