Genre is a bookstore problem, not a literary problem.

Capitalism, in the realm of sexuality, I figure, thinks that we behave in specific ways, like a breast is always going to produce a hard-on for some product, whereas the truth is that sexuality is always a continuum, which can be characterized by reversals.

So while it is true that I find really dark stuff funny sometimes, it's also true that as a writer of books I want to have the whole range of human emotions.

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.

Impotence, fetishism, bisexuality, and bondage are all facts of life, and our fiction should reflect that.

I have worked really hard to defy categorization, to break down a taxonomy whenever it comes my way.

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