The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people.

I was a lawyer for 10 years - a short time, but it molded me into who I am.

The worst letters come from retired high school English teachers. They will literally take a book and pick it to pieces and send me 14 pages of notes.

I did get tired of hearing that criticism years ago. That is not a compliment. Being labeled a "beach read" is a put-down. So, I did deliberately set out to write a book, Camino Island, that would be very entertaining and compulsively readable and we published it on June 6 in time for summer vacation, hoping that people would buy it and take it to the beach.

The first thing my family did when we moved was join the local church. The second was to go to the library and get library cards.

Shame was an emotion he had abandoned years earlier. Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it.

I guess under the right circumstances, a man will do just about anything.