"Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature and one of only three now writing whose work makes me truly happy to be a reader."

"I'm never going to be a Tom Clancy. And I wouldn't really want to be - not that I have anything against him, and I wish him continued success - because that's not why I'm writing novels. I'm doing it because I have to. I feel like I have to, anyway."