Horror movies often work better when we have a stake in the game. The more we care about the characters, the more human they are to us, the more appealing they are to us and the more effective the horror tends to be.

He could feel the pores of his body open like a million mouths and slurp the water in like a sponge.

The town kept its secrets, and the Marsten House brooded over it like a ruined king.

Give a man or woman back his self-respect, and in most cases-not all, but most-you also give back that person's ability to think with at least some clarity.

Outlines are the last resource of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters' theses.

You couldn't not like someone who liked the guitar.

I tend to scare myself.