That's the curse of the reading class. We can be seduced by a good story even at the most inopportune moments.

And the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.

Like some dogs: kick them once and they never trust you again, no matter how nice you are to them.

His mother called such people ignorant and superstitious, but his father only shook his head slowly and puffed his pipe and said that sometimes old stories had a grain or two of truth in them and it was best not to take chances. It was why, he said, he crossed himself whenever a black cat crossed his path.

I did spend years as an addict, so I know that world, although I wish I didn't.

I hardly ever read mainstream fiction that deals with life as it is. I like an element of fantasy, something that isn`t quite of the real world.

Our memories have voices, too. Often sad ones that clamor like raised arms in the dark.