In the apocalypse, I think those average, mediocre folks are the ones who are going to live.

I envied kids who played soccer and football, but that was not my gig.

I'm raising kids, and so much of American culture sustains me and gives me things to think about and work on.

I'm always trying to switch voices and genres.

'John Henry Days' was already half in the can before my first book came out, so I'd already started something that was big and sprawling - I just had to finish it.

There's always an attack on the sophomore novel from some quarters.

It's always hard to write and get your words out there, to find an editor, a publisher - readers! - who are going to appreciate them.

As always, a lot of bad books will be published. Some good books will be published, and you have to seek them out.

I never actually went anywhere when I was a journalist. I was a critic, and I just sort of got stuff in the mail and chatted about it.

In 'John Henry Days,' I was taking my idea of junketeering and sort of blowing it up to absurd extremes.

Access to information, to music or any kind of culture, is getting faster and faster and more streamlined. At each juncture, people are thrown into tumult and have to adapt or die.

I wanted to be one of these multidisciplinary critics who is doing music one day, TV the next, and books the next.

The terror of figuring out a new genre, of telling a new story, is what makes the job exciting, keeps me from getting bored, and I assume it keeps whoever follows my work from getting bored as well.

I try to have each book be an antidote to the one before.

I love getting out of the Q train at Union Square. It's such a mix of people, like a party. There's always an errand you can do along there, whether it's picking up contacts or buying poker chips.

Part of being in New York is being able to brag about what used to be there.

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.

There's not a lot of good TV.

In college, I wrote maybe three short stories.

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.

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 like to know how I'm supposed to feel about things. Just a little clue or hint.

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'm of that subset of native New Yorkers who can't drive.