Colin did not laugh. Instead he thought, Tampons have strings? Why? Of all the major human mysteries - God, the nature of the universe, etc. - he knew the least about tampons. To Colin, tampons were a little bit like grizzly bears: he was aware of their existence, but he'd never seen on in the wild, and didn't really care to.

You're not a little kid anymore. You need to make friends, get out of the house, and live your life.

As a reader, I don't feel a story has an obligation to make me happy. I want stories to show me a bigger world than the one I know.

He puts the killing thing in his mouth but doesn't give it the power to kill him.

Being in a relationship, that's something you choose. Being friends, that's something you just are.

Maybe all the strings inside him broke.

It always happened like this: he would look and look for the keys to Satan’s Hearse and then finally he’d just give up and say, “Fine. I’ll take the fugging bus,” and on his way out the door, he’d see the keys. Keys show up when you reconcile yourself to the bus; Katherines appear when you start to disbelieve the world contains another Katherine; and, sure enough, the Eureka moment arrived just as he began to accept it would never come.