The hope for a messiah puts too much on that one person. And you think that absolves you of personal responsibility and you don't have to act because that person will do it for you.

Most people don't have the money to spend on advertising to create awareness among readers, nor do they have the contacts at newspapers or magazines to get their books reviewed.

No agent wants to see a book until he or she has decided whether to pursue the relationship

Don't tell me I have latent sexism or racism that I need to confront. I don't believe that. I think we are so burned by the current situation that we want somebody that it isn't possible to have. We want someone who definitely looks like the messiah.

I'm at the atheist end of the agnostic spectrum.

The crime novel has always been my favourite genre.

Sometimes I think I'm a one-trick pony because I'm not very inventive about new ways of telling stories.