When I was a little boy, Marvin Hagler was my idol. He got no respect for most of his career. His fighting style was straight ahead. He took every shot thrown at him, and he kept punching back 'til he won. I honestly feel that's how I am. I take big shots from people. But I keep going.

Lying became part of my life. I lied if I needed to lie to get something or get out of something

To say that you can't see echoes of the past in what I do would be absurd. Everything that has preceded me has affected me.

I feel strong. Not strong enough to face myself, but strong enough to keep going.

Faith is the fool's excuse.

I'm a writer. I never expected to be recognised on the street. I never expected to get that kind of coverage, good or bad. I never expected to sell as many books as I have.

I always wanted to write a book about LA, a big ambitious book. Nobody had ever really done it with LA- treating the city seriously as a major economic and cultural power, as the embodiment of 21st century America.