“When I started writing the pages in 1989 that later evolved to became my first book, I had no intent, conception, premonition, or clue that I was creating characters that would endure for over a dozen books.”

This article is filed under Interviews, Thrillers, Writers.

“I am most fascinated when a straightforward story seems to hold hidden complexities. Every conversation holds secrets, and every town has its mysteries. Nothing is ever simple.”

This article is filed under Interviews, Writers.

“…we discovered that JFK and his brother had a never-before-revealed plan to stage a coup against Castro on December 1, 1963…The Mafia dons used parts of the secret coup plan to try and assassinate JFK first in Chicago, then in Tampa, and finally in Dallas. By planting evidence implicating Castro, the mob bosses prevented Robert Kennedy and other key officials from conducting a thorough investigation…”

This article is filed under History, Interviews, Politics.

“I was honest about my own behavior and that of others, yet stopped short of revealing 95 percent of the worst in our business. The nature of memoir is that of truth; only real people can illustrate real stories. However, a measure of effective journalism is its ability to instigate societal change, and only a picture based on truth can do that.”

This article is filed under Biography, Interviews, Music, Sex.

“In the initial foray into reading for each of the novels, there is always a lot of imbibing of the background and atmosphere, a searching for story, an investigation into details. Then, I will settle into intensive research - read and reread a few select books and manuscripts, cull points of interest, look for aspects that provide movement in my own story.”

This article is filed under India, Interviews, Writers.

“I have a general idea where I’m going, but Tally and Company take me there. They often surprise me, which is the great fun of writing fiction.”

This article is filed under Interviews, Mystery, Thrillers.

“The three were kidnapped at gunpoint at the American Atheist headquarters in Austin, Texas on a Sunday afternoon…They all thought they were going to live once the ransom money was delivered. It didn’t turn out that way.”

This article is filed under Biography, Interviews, Religion.

“I do not think it appropriate to teach non-science in a biology class – especially non-science that is really a form of literalist Christianity in disguise. Even if it were appropriate, I would not want the kind of conservative evangelical religion taught, that I think ID represents. But it is not appropriate and in the US is illegal.”

This article is filed under Interviews, Religion, Science.

“Helen Duncan is my favorite. Huge, chain-smoking woman who used to swoon and occasionally pee herself in the frenzy of spirit possession. Helen had the scientists stumped. She’d produce ectoplasm … even though the researchers had frisked her and done a cavity search prior to her entering the séance chamber. Turned out she was a talented regurgitator.”

This article is filed under Death, Interviews, Religion, Sociology.

“I found out, greatly to my surprise, that almost all of the conventional wisdom that I had read and heard about Ronald Reagan was not true at all. Beginning with the fact that he was always talked of as being passive. The man ran for president three times. Won on his third try. And in 1976 he committed the most aggressive act that an American politician can make, and that is that he ran against a sitting president of his own party. He ran against Gerald Ford and damn near beat him.”

This article is filed under History, Interviews, Politics.