So, whenever I'm writing, I'm writing in the presence of all the other books I've read and I think we all are.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

I'm still an English professor at Rice University here in Houston. They've been very generous in letting me on a very long leash to just work on 'The Passage' and its sequels.

And I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction, especially apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction.

It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.

I'm an ecumenical reader, grew up with all sorts of fiction, teach writing, went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop, so my tastes and interests are broad.

If you are writing any book about the end of the world, what you are really writing about is what's worth saving about it.