“I get annoyed when a self-indulgent writer just shows off what he knows but doesn't really tell a story. To me storytelling is first a craft. Then if you're lucky, it becomes an art form. But first...”

“Indiscriminate use among unintelligent leads to chaos.”

“I start every book with something that outrages me. I'm outraged by the FBI, the CIA, and computers that seem to have catalogued our lives. Power too often is accompanied by irresponsibility.”

“In many ways, likability is a very elaborate lie, a performance, a code of conduct dictating the proper way to be. Characters who don't follow this code become unlikable. Critics who criticize a ch...”

“That was Emmashe'd have enjoyed knowing she had something like that, something that could blow her whole fucking life and mine apart if it came out. Her little bit of power.”

“If through no fault of his own the hero is crushed by a bulldozer in Act II, we are not impressed. Even though life is often like thisthe absconding cashier on his way to Nicaragua is killed in a c...”