I wanted to be a painter.

I don't want to wait more than a year and a half or two years between books.

I just don't want anyone messing around with my pure smoking pleasure.

I just thought I'd take a break from publishing for a while.

I'm just trying to portray what I find ironic or humorous.

But if I'm going to cause somebody else discomfort by my actions, then I should probably modify my actions toward them to make them as comfortable as possible.

I grew up in a military family, and there's something about that military-style uniform, all cleaned up, a brutal control effort the military necessarily breeds.