I'm very happy that the New York Times has spoken well of my stuff; who wouldn't be? But it's not a choice I made.

Every book is three books, after all; the one the writer intended, the one the reader expected, and the one that casts its shadow when the first two meet by moonlight.

I long for the simplicity of theatre. I want lessons learned, comeuppances delivered, people sorted out, all before your bladder gets distractingly full. That's what I want. What I know is what we all know, whether we'll admit it or not: every attempt to impose the roundness of a well-made play on reality produces a disaster. Life just isn't so, nor will it be made so.

I'm very happy that the New York Times has spoken well of my stuff; who wouldn't be? But it's not a choice I made.

We're all living on borrowed time. The trick is to come up with works of sufficient interest to pay off the debt.

Well, it's an adventure story, and a Bildungsroman, of course, but there was also the intention to describe a culture that had been seen in rather narrow terms.

The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating.