I'm a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don't read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read

Do you know how cruel your God can be, David. How fantastically cruel?...Sometimes he makes us live.

The idea for each of the stories in this book came in a moment of belief and was written in a burst of faith, happiness, and optimism. Those positive feelings have their dark analogues, however, and the fear of failure is a long way from the worst of them. The worst - for me, at least - is the gnawing speculation that I may have already said everything that I have to say, and am now only listening to the steady quacking of my own voice because the silence when it stops is just too spooky.

And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live.

The devil's voice is sweet to hear.

If you don’t have the time to do something right, where are you going to find the time to fix it?

Roland grabbed Jake and hauled him to his feet. “You came!” Jake shouted. “You really came!” “I came, yes. By the grace of the gods and the courage of my friends, I came.