I read Mailer's Ancient Evenings with great interest because I was interested in . . . the seven souls structure, which was very helpful to me in Western Lands. And also in Place of Dead Roads. So that's Mailer.

There is only one thing a writer can write about: what is in front of his senses at the moment of writing... I am a recording instrument... I do not presume to impose "story" "plot" "continuity"... Insofar as I succeed in Direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function... I am not an entertainer.

I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it.

Do not proffer sympathy to the mentally ill; it is a bottomless pit. Tell them firmly, "I am not paid to listen to this drivel - you are a terminal fool!" Otherwise, they make you as crazy as they are.

Tell Allen I plead guilty to vampirism and other crimes against life. But I love him and nothing else cancels love.

O death where is thy sting? The man is never on time.

Love is a haunting melody that I have never mastered, and I fear I never will.