What was even more germane was my study of the history of religion. It was one of the few things in school I was fascinated by.

If we live long enough, we become caricatures of ourselves.

Adolescence-is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us?

The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable - some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control.

I've always been interested in miracles, or the miraculous of the unexplained. I don't scoff at what makes people believe or want to believe. I think I understand the tremendous attraction of the mysteries of the church to the same degree that I understand and appreciate the frustration people feel, especially believers, with the human rule-making arm of the church, with the not-miraculous part of the church - any church.

The more clearly one sees this world; the more one is obliged to pretend it does not exist.

I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't terribly painful.