I'm a country boy. I hate New York. But that's where things happen, so I use it as a base for stories, I know enough about it. But I have to keep going back there.

I don't like people. I don't like any kind of people. When you get them together in a big lump they all get nasty and dirty and full of trouble. So I don't like people including you. That's what a misanthropist is.

I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.

Stephen King. Now I'm not crazy about him, but he's a great a writer.

Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.

I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.

The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.