I think that the Cold War was an exceptional and unnecessary piece of cruelty.

Progressivism is usually seen as a stepping back from individualism into a progressive community...

I love to write about sex. You just have to make it idiosyncratic. You have to have a strong comprehension of your characters, and write it from their point of view. It's really fun. It's not erotic.

Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

A horse herd was, in its very essence, the manifestation of the expression 'It's always something.

I was asked by an editor to consider writing something about an American inventor. I asked him if he knew who invented the computer. He said he didn't. In that case, I told him, I should write a book about John Vincent Atanasoff.

Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.