I see history as really cyclical in terms of the intense idealism, and the desire to create a better life outside of societal norms.

As soon as you publish a book and the reader reads it, they're making an extension of your brain with their brain.

Sometimes you have to let time carry you past your troubles.

When I meet people I try to make a joke out of my occupation, explaining that what I do all day is sit alone in a darkened room, flicking through some pages, jumping on a treadmill now and then. I keep my serious work as a writer private, but that doesn't mean it's not serious work - quite the opposite.

In my totally unscientific yet enthusiastic survey of Communal Experiments Throughout American History, I've discovered that the thing most likely to break up said experiments is: Sex, all that murky, dark, dirty gunk simmering beneath human relations.

I love writing from enclosed spaces: you really learn about your characters when they have tight walls to push against.

The triumph of writing fiction is that by doing so, writers can build a more ideal world in themselves.