I grew up in a very borderline Brooklyn neighborhood. It was in decline in the early '70s, and has very slowly been gentrified. My parents were part of the first wave: bohemians, radicals and artists, the typical people who reclaim borderline neighborhoods.

[of his time spent in Berkeley, California:] "If you asked me then, I would have said I'd be working at bookstores until I was 45. You have to understand -- all my heroes were dark horses. They all had embattled careers because of genre prejudice, something I've had the good fortune to be spared. It's like I'm standing on their shoulders. I sort of feel Philip K. Dick died for my sins."