This is a slow business to have success in. There are exceptions, but for the most part it's kind of like the last writer standing.... I've got gray. I've got plenty of gray. I'm creating a career slowly, like a coral reef.
Robert ReedThe burden of intelligence: you can always imagine all those wonderful places where you can never belong.
Robert ReedHow could anyone survive even a single day, if he didn't feel as if he was, in some little great way, needed?
Robert ReedFor honest insight into who you are, don't ask yourself what your priorities are for next week. Ask what your priorities were last week.
Robert ReedI'm the only member of SFWA in Nebraska, but I don't pine away for the companionship of other science fiction writers. I [go] to very few conventions. I'm quite willing to be that eccentric who has a very odd job, quite happy to be the only science fiction writer in town.
Robert ReedA favorite science fiction writer of mine is William Faulkner! It was an idea that came to me once, years ago, and I've never quite been able to shake it. This is facetious, on one level at least. There are telepaths in As I Lay Dying. But I think the most compelling thing for me is there are moments with him where I just feel these are not humans talking to each other. These are some hyper-intelligent, yet-to-be-born organisms. The way they look at the past without having any loss of knowledge everything that ever happened is still here.
Robert Reed