Being taken seriously, for a young writer, is a wonderful form of encouragement, but at the same time, I don't think one should ever feel like attempting a kind of artistic endeavor is beyond your scope just because of age or inexperience.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

In the end, all you want is someone to long for you when it comes time to put you in the ground.

I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.

At the end of the day, it's about the reader's attachment to and belief in the magical elements that make or break magical realism.

Suddenness," he says. " You do not prepare, you do not explain, you do not apologize. Suddenly, you go. And with you, you take all contemplation, all consideration of your own departure. All the suffering that would have come from knowing comes after you are gone, and you are not a part of it.

Kelly Link's prose is conveyed in details so startling and fine that you work up a sweat just waiting for the next sentence to land. This is why we read, crave, need, can't live without short stories.