I've always been entranced with theater.

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.

My relationship with my readers is somewhat theatrical. One of the main things I try to do in my work is delight my readers.

Yo! You’re my dope dealer not my thesis adviser. If I wanted your opinion about my dissertation, I’d have asked for it, Motherfucker!

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 guess I can picture things once they're done - I just can't picture actually doing them.

“Et Tu, Babe” was born out of my absolute certainty that a writer’s life was solitary and insular, and I was happy with that. I love reading and writing, it’s my whole life.