"I am not sure the issue of race in America will ever be completely solved."
"You can't rush inspiration."
"Write what you know."
"What isn't said is as important as what is said."
"Growing up devouring horror comics and novels, and being inspired to become a writer because of horror novels, movies, and comic books, I always knew I was going to write a horror novel."
"I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me."
"Early on my career, I figured out that I just have to write the book I have to write at that moment. Whatever else is going on in the culture is just not that important. If you could get the culture to write your book, that would be great. But the culture can't write your book."
"I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction."
"'Sag Harbor' was a very different book for me. It changed the way I thought about books that I wanted to do."
"I live in Brooklyn. I moved here 14 years ago for the cheap rent. It was a little embarrassing because I was raised in Manhattan, and so I was a bit of a snob about the other boroughs."
"I get invited to do panels with other Brooklyn writers to discuss what it's like to be a writer in Brooklyn. I expect it's like writing in Manhattan, but there aren't as many tourists walking very slowly in front of you when you step out for coffee. It's like writing in Paris, but there are fewer people speaking French."
"A lot of my writer friends live near me, and that makes people think we just hang around with one another in cafes, trading work and discussing 'Harper's' and what not. But I rarely see them. We're home working."
"I grew up reading the 'Village Voice' and wanting to be one of these multidisciplinary music writers, film writers, book writers. And I lucked out getting a job at the 'Voice' right after college."
"You can raze the old buildings and erect magnificent corporate towers, hose down Port Authority, but you can't change people."
"I have a good poker face because I am half-dead inside."
"I'm of that subset of native New Yorkers who can't drive."
"The contemporary casino is more than a gambling destination: it is a multifarious pleasure enclosure intended to satisfy every member of the family unit."
"I don't generally follow sports. At an early age, I discovered that nature had apportioned me only a small reserve of enthusiasm. Best to ration."
"I like to know how I'm supposed to feel about things. Just a little clue or hint."
"If the world's nations can set aside their petty bickering over religion, politics, and territory, certainly I can 'get that Olympic Spirit' and rise above my prejudices."
"I didn't know I was a zombie pedant until I started considering what from the zombie canon to keep in 'Zone One' and what to ignore."
"Monsters are a storytelling tool, like domestic realism and close third."
"In college, I wrote maybe three short stories."
"There's not a lot of good TV."
"In America, when you hear about the Underground Railroad, it's so evocative. You think it's a literal subway for a few minutes before your teacher goes on and describes where it actually was."
