With a Q&A, you need obviously to keep it snappy.

If New Vegas foretells something about America's future, then the culture wars are all but over, and culture lost.

I can't explain why I don't read comments. Maybe because I worked at Time for so long and they don't have them, so I keep forgetting that they're there.

If you're at my level and you go to a bookstore, even a good turnout is not that many people. Sometimes it is. But for the most part, it's not a huge turnout.

Online reaction is very different than real-world reaction.

I always thought that being at Time and tweaking your bosses and exploiting your expense account was just fun. Just joyous.

People would ask if I wanted to host things and I was like, "No, I'm a writer, I don't host things." Just thinking I wouldn't be good at it - which is true - but also just wanting to hold on to some part of my identity.