It's impossible to be content all the time - you have to learn to be content in places where you're unhappy and owning your emotions, whatever they are.

I know it's a cliché to say I write for myself, but I write for myself.

I seem to get the best work when I'm angry and depressed and alienated.

[Dennis] Etchison would write stories that were just punch lines at the end. You wouldn't realize something horrific was happening until the last paragraph.

What's scary is the unknown, the stuff you can't put your finger on.

It's hard always to say what it is one likes about a place, for me. I feel it.

This is the funny thing about me. People think John just comes up with all the ideas. I'm honored. People think I have a big old brain, but actually I am the sum of the people I work with.