I suppose that the sympathetic/unsympathetic debate about characters sometimes feels to me like a misstatement of purpose. I always think of truly complex characters are falling between the cracks in that debate.

I published a bunch of my older books in e-book format with Open Road, which is great and has tons of hard to find older books available there.

The Great Recession is not imaginary, and the effects loom large. There was an article in the NYT about the galloping death rate among white men in middle age. Higher than among any other demographic, etc. Mostly death by drugs, alcohol, or suicide. Many of them rural. My feeling is that it's many people who haven't been able to get back into the work force. Reg Morse is an example of the problem.

I judged about a zillion awards this year so Ive been reading a lot of books that just came out.

In general, each form is a relief from the other forms. I can't write a novel after a novel. I just use up all the material each time, and I need to rest.

I'm trying to make sure that there's comedy as well as sadness. It makes the sadness more memorable.

I am excited by... the new novel by Samantha Hunt. She's a writer I really admire a lot.