A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.

But I think there are a set of experiences that turn a potential writer into a working writer, and then there are places in your life were you start to recognize what you want to do.

Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want. Anything at all .... as long as you tell the truth.

It was the kiss by which all the others of his life would be judged and found wanting.

The quickest way to learn about a new place is to know what it dreams of.

I do have one slightly crooked wheel upstairs, but everything else is ticking along just four-o, thank you very much.

This is probably the single great subject of horror fiction: our need to cope with a mystery that can be understood only with the aid of a helpful imagination.