So while it is true that I find really dark stuff funny sometimes, it's also true that as a writer of books I want to have the whole range of human emotions.

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.

Cats may walk by themselves, but there are times when they need our support.

There is nothing so stable as change.

On immigration, Trump needs an articulate policy that aims to secure the border and keep out illegals while letting in skilled legal workers.

He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a big football fan.

God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper.

I have always been interested in art but had no formal training or experience. It's always been just what I liked, my eye for art.

Shouldn't the long-term goal of any society be complete unemployment?

I was a pilot flying an airplane and it just so happened that, where I was flying, made what I was doing spying.

Selfish men make the best lovers. They're prepared to invest in the women's pleasures so that they can collect an even bigger dividend for themselves.

You come to realize that only one person can tell you what's expected of you, and that's you.