I looked back at some of my earlier published stories with genuine horror and remorse. I got thinking, How many extant copies might there be, who owns them, and do they keep their doors locked?

A lot of my characters in all of my books have a self-destructive urge. They'll do precisely the thing that they know is wrong, take a perverse delight in doing the wrong thing.

I think the darker aspect of my fiction-or anybody's fiction-is by its very nature somehow easier to talk about.

I'm delighted by how Nobody's Fool turned out. It was a rare movie.

Have you ever noticed that when people use the expression 'I have to say', what follows usually needn't be said?

You can't possibly judge your ability to control something until you've experienced the extremes of its capabilities. Do you understand?

I get and read an enormous number of first novels.