Well, It's a Communist country, and the Communists do not reward personal initiative...except by execution.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.

I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

Never ask what sort of computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If not, why embarrass him?

About forty percent of the people vote Democrat. About forty percent vote Republican. Of those eighty percent, most wouldn't change their votes if Adolf Hitler was running against Abe Lincoln - or against FDR. . . . That leaves twenty percent of the people who swing back one way or another . . . the true independents. . . . That twenty percent controls the destiny of the country.

Washington D.C. is about 300 square miles surrounded by realty.

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly.