I discovered John Fante when I was 17 years old - strangely, not through Charles Bukowski, but through William Saroyan, who was his drinking buddy.

My neediness is not a hole to be filled but something beneath the skin scratching to get out.

The Mathematician's Shiva is a brilliant and compelling family saga full of warmth, pathos, history, and humor, not to mention a cast of delightfully quirky characters, and a math lesson or two; all together, a winning equation! When Rojstaczer writes about mathematics, you'd think he was writing about poetry.

I usually write in my underwear, with a space heater running full blast, and three dogs sleeping at me feet.

I love being a struggling artist; it makes me feel very alive.

The jocks that used to stuff me into a locker when I was a punk rocker are my best buddies now.

I discovered John Fante when I was 17 years old - strangely, not through Charles Bukowski, but through William Saroyan, who was his drinking buddy.