I always wanted to write something illustrated, and the Details strip finally gave me the opportunity.

I have worked really hard to defy categorization, to break down a taxonomy whenever it comes my way.

Impotence, fetishism, bisexuality, and bondage are all facts of life, and our fiction should reflect that.

The past was so past it hurt.

I think literature is best when it's voicing what we would prefer not to talk about.

I am in Boston right now, in fact, to do work at the New England Historical Genealogical Library, where I'm trying to finish up tracing my lineage back to the seventeenth century.

I suppose I should say that I treasure blasphemy, as a faith of the highest order.

Genre is a bookstore problem, not a literary problem.

I judged about a zillion awards this year so Ive been reading a lot of books that just came out.

It's also true, however, that having conquered the regional writer ghetto, I am now intent on conquering the nationalist writer ghetto and moving out into the world more.

I'm trying to read more dead people because I keep having to read stuff for juries and so forth.

Nixon wanted view and advice brought to him through intermediaries. He wanted information filtered as it came to him – and he wanted his filters to filter his will back to those whom he must direct.

The Eiani cleansed, refreshed, and rejuvenated me. In order to heal, it first had to burn away the dead, consume the decay, then force new life where death had once resided

Are you in love? What makes your heart beat faster? What do you want people to think about when they hear your name.

The U.S. came to understand that Bhutto was not a threat to stability but was instead the only possible way that we could guarantee stability and keep the presidency of Musharraf intact.

I don't like stories that are too neat and too resolved. I think resolutions can be deadening for the reader.

I loved the angiogram. They stick a thing in your thigh and it goes all the way up to your heart. Isn't that a thrill? Well, at least the nurse scored thigh.

California is beautiful to look at, but you can't be a part of it like you can in Michigan.

You are a side effect," Van Houten continued, "of an evolutionary process that cares little for individual lives. You are a failed experiment in mutation.

Remember: everyone you meet is fighting a mighty battle. Be kind. Be understanding.

Be good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong.