I'll take a [Pavel] Chekhov comparison any day! He's of course one of the great masters at the short story form, and has helped define traditional conflict as we understand it.

The problems we have with our current technology often reveal our own human foibles, and it's these new emotions of cyberspace which reveal our struggles.

I think the future is intrinsically linked with our universal human problems. In fact, it's these very problems, and how we deal with them, which will determine our future.

I realize that I've had a very idyllic vision of what spirituality looks like. Honestly, most of Western culture has an idyllic and simplified idea of what enlightenment entails.

I set many of my stories in a gritty "realist" world, but one that is plagued by an overuse of technology, which is akin to the world we find ourselves living in now.

I really admire the experimentalists who challenge traditional narrative - writers like Ishmael Reed, Michael Martone, Donald Barthelme, Tatyana Tolstaya, George Saunders, and many others.

"Openness" [story] ultimately asks this same question - can a relationship survive complete honesty? As a romantic, I want to say "Yes, of course!" But, over time, I've come to agree with Dan Savage.

[George W.] Bush's presidency was one of the great nightmares of my life to date.

I saw something I hadn't realized before: words wasted energy. I would use my strength instead to nurture my belief that my life would unfurl uniquely.

People are often unhappy in the Christian life because they have thought of Christianity, and the whole message of the gospel, in inadequate terms.

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart I carry your heart [ i carry it in my heart ]

The first step towards madness is to think oneself wise.

From a personal point of view I want some medals because that is what you aim for when you start out playing.

It's very rare that people let me hop off the crazy wagon.

Names are but noise and smoke, Obscuring heavenly light.

There's nothing more comfortable than a cosy flower pattern.

Act confident, even when you're not.

The things that change people's lives are usually an accumulation of small acts.