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.

He breathed once more, holding the air in his chest, as if it were not air but something more--a sweet taste of freedom, of all cares lifted, everything over and done.

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.

We live, we die. Somewhere along the way, if we're lucky, we may find someone to help lighten the load.

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere-the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years-she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Bellafonte.

One of the great themes in American literature is the individual's confrontation with the vast open spaces of the continent.

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