I have an enduring, very robust infatuation with dictators. I have an infatuation with Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini. In the Paris Review interview I did (in 2013), I said my next book, this one, was going to be about Mussolini. I wound up only having a Mussolini cameo in the book.

I can tell from about 20 yards away when someone has a manuscript for me. I can just tell - they have that look.

Actually what's worse than a dog's mouth is a cat's mouth. They're not dirtier per se, but they have sharper teeth, so they are much more likely to go deep, should they bite you.

I'm fascinated with video games, though I can't really play them. It's definitely an art form that intrigues me to no end, though.

The interesting thing about something in the back of your mind is that it can travel pretty far back in your mind.

I think as I have gotten older, my feelings about my role in the culture as a writer, and me specifically, has changed, and has become more degraded and marginalized. This may be a more personal and psychological than a sociological insight, but I feel more vulnerable.

I'm in that very preliminary stage of wondering how exactly to "pressurize" the novel in some way I've never considered before.