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" Everybody's idea of a great book is different, of course. For me it's one that makes my jaw drop on every page, the writing is so original. "

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" I'd love to see a good script of one of my books, in these years of animations and comic book sequels, and had so many written over the years, but none quite clicked. "

" Lots of people can write a good first page but to sustain it, that's my litmus test. If I flip to the middle of the book and there's a piece of dialogue that's just outstanding, or a description, then I'll flip back to the first page and start it. "

" My books are character-driven. They're not driven by the story. "

" The first rule of hurricane coverage is that every broadcast must begin with palm trees bending in the wind. "

" I think in the old days, the nexus of weirdness ran through Southern California, and to a degree New York City. I think it's changed so that every bizarre story in the country now has a Florida connection. I don't know why, except it must be some inversion of magnetic poles or something. "

" Sure, I'll have characters drop in and out of books but the main cast of characters always changes. Maybe I'm wrong but I think if had the same joe detective guy or gal, I wouldn't write them as well; I wouldn't do as good a job. "

" My humour has always come from anger, but I have to make sure I don't just get angry and jump on a soapbox. "

" My driving record is not exemplary, but I have never had a speeding ticket over 100 m.p.h. I can say that unequivocally. "

" I think it's always good for the author to stay a good cattle prod's distance from the actual moviemaking. "

" I got overwhelmed by the magnitude of the celebrity culture in America. My background is as a news journalist, and newsrooms in the US are shrinking - investigation teams are being terminated or shrunk on newspapers all around the country. The one aspect that's expanded is coverage of celebrity culture. "

" When I'm working on a novel of my own, I try to read mostly nonfiction, although sometimes I break down and peek at something else. "

" Disney's something to be a little alarmed about. It's not just a little theme park anymore. It's now an ethic and outlook and strategy that goes way beyond central Florida. "

" Nobody with an IQ higher than emergency-room temperature could ever believe that 'death panels' would be appointed to nudge the elderly toward euthanasia. Yet for idle entertainment, it's hard to beat Sarah Palin's ignorant nattering on the subject. "

" The one word that no politician will ever speak, is 'enough.' Enough. "

" Humor can be an incredible, lacerating and effective weapon. "

" When you put on the suits, when you pretend you're honest and you're robbing at a far higher level, these guys deserve to... well, to be in my novels, and I have special fates reserved for them. "

" Unfortunately, I don't get to read nearly as much as I want because I'm always working on my own stuff, either the novels or newspaper columns. "

" They have a crystalline sense of right and wrong; it disappears when they walk out the door with their M.B.A. "

" My escape is to just get in a boat and disappear on the water. "

" The Florida in my novels is not as seedy as the real Florida. It's hard to stay ahead of the curve. Every time I write a scene that I think is the sickest thing I have ever dreamed up, it is surpassed by something that happens in real life. "

" Good satire comes from anger. It comes from a sense of injustice, that there are wrongs in the world that need to be fixed. And what better place to get that well of venom and outrage boiling than a newsroom, because you're on the front lines. "

" If you write satire, the guilty pleasure these days is that there's just so much material about. On the other hand, if you have a family it can be depressing. "

" Humor can be an incredible lacerating and effective weapon. And that is the way I use it. "

" You can do the best research and be making the strongest intellectual argument, but if readers don't get past the third paragraph you've wasted your energy and valuable ink. "