In the Netherlands I read the first chapter of Exquisite Corpse to an audience that laughed in all the places I thought were funny - an experience I've never had in America!

You can only maintain an immensely gothic attitude for so long before either killing yourself or beginning to feel like a poser.

I don't like to talk about work in progress, but the novel I'm working on now is definitely not horror.

Horror is the badge of humanity, worn proudly, self-righteously, and often falsely.

I've certainly learned a great deal from my husband, though, and could never have written a book like Liquor without him and the people he introduces me to and the stories he brings home.

Why bother? I was right all along: the second you make yourself vulnerable to someone, they start drawing blood.

You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.