31 Quotes by Peter Orner

It comes down to this. When we die, not only will our bodies be gone, but so will the people we remember. We live in the world, and we recall the world, and one day we won't do either anymore. The church bells will ring and the drunks will drink.

Faking it was the only way she could keep the visions away. When you think there's going to be great change and it doesn't happen--what else is there to do but fake being who you once were? [Padanaram]

And she'd apologize for what what she remembered and what she forgot. A lot depended on what they both forgot. [Montreal]

And I thought, Holy fuck, we're not dead. Together. As in not dead yet. Think of all the years we will be. Our bodies turn to caramel. [Naked Man Hides]

Rarely is the pain of losing someone expressed with such directness, energy, and, yes, humor. The grief in Evan Kuhlman’sWolf Boyis palpable, and so is the flawed, honest humanity of his characters. Here is real loss and somehow, real catharsis.

Lot of stories in deceit, how characters deceive other people, but most of all, I think, how they deceive themselves. We’re not as tricky as we think we are.

One story I’ve been trying to write for years, and haven’t been able to finish, is about a face I saw, just a glimpse of a face, in a max security prison in North Carolina. I’m still trying to understand what I saw in that guy’s face.

Everybody, doesn’t matter who you are, escapes time. And for me, nothing is stranger than the thought that kids are just kids. Nobody is just anything. Whether you are eight or eighty, you’ve got your own unique take on how weird this world is.

I used to be surprised and a little annoyed when characters would reappear in my mind, itching to be in another story. Now I realize it’s part of the deal, that you create these people out of thin air but then, if you do it right, they actually live.