I took comfort, as a kid, in knowing that things had always been as awful and as wonderful as they were now, that the world was always on the edge of total destruction.

It's always been hard for me to tell the difference between denial and what used to be known as hope.

He was a fugitive, lurking soul, James Leer. He didn't belong anywhere, but things went much better for him in places where nobody belonged.

The First Amendment has the same role in my life as a citizen and a writer as the sun has in our ecosystem.

For me, nostalgia is an involuntary emotion. ... I think it's just a natural human response to loss.

I'm never going to be a Tom Clancy. And I wouldn't really want to be - not that I have anything against him, and I wish him continued success - because that's not why I'm writing novels. I'm doing it because I have to. I feel like I have to, anyway.

Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.