When I Give A Lot Of Speeches,

I Am A Huge Fan Of Alan Furst. Furst Is The Best In The Business--the Most Talented Espionage Novelist Of Our Generation.

When I Was Writing My First Novel A Friend Told Me I Should Apply For A Grant From The Government That Was Offered To Support Starving Artists. I Can't Tell You How Much This Deeply Offended Me. I Told Her In Very Clear Language That I Thought It Was Ridiculous To Think That Other Americans Ought To Pay For Me To Chase My Dream. Anybody Who Understands Pride And Self-determination Gets This. So I Bartended At Night, I Wrote During The Day, And I Paid For My Own Damn Insurance. I Didn't Expect Anybody Else To Pick It Up For Me.

My Doctors Warned Me Repeatedly That If You Don't Stay Positive, You Don't Do Well.

I'm A Bit Of A Libertarian.

I Think The More Avenues That Open Up When People Want To Publish, The Better. Some Of The Authors That Want To Jump Ship From The Traditional Houses And Go On Their Own, You Know What? Good Luck. It's Going To Be A Lot Tougher Than You Think.