“I struck down his evil no matter what name it took for itself, no matter that it called itself history or revolution, America or the son of God, no matter that it called itself righteous, a righteousness that presumed the… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
To the extent that I've ever understood postmodernism - and I'm sure there are people out there who do, but I'm not one of them - one of its distinguishing traits is the story's awareness of its own artifice, and how that awareness becomes part of the story. And if that's right, then I have no idea how I ever… — Steve Erickson Copy Share
I have members of my immediate family, and my wife's immediate family, who voted for Donald Trump, and now there's this gulf that I… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
Before I begin a novel I have a strong sense of at least one central character and how the story begins, and a more vague sense of where things may wind up, but at some point, if the novel is any good at all, the story and characters take on lives of their own and take over the book, and… — Steve Erickson Copy Share
I'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read. — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
The material dictates the approach. I tell the stories in the way that feels natural to tell them. Certainly the last thing I want… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
“When the thing that emerged from the collision of sex and freedom, called love, collided with the thing that emerged from the collision of… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
While I do believe I become a technically better writer over time, in others ways writing gets harder because inspiration is finite. — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
Obviously cheap sentimentality isn't something any good novelist wants to traffic in, but I think it's a problem if you consider it to be the most egregious of all creative sins. I think it's a problem if you consider it the thing to be avoided at all cost. I think it's a problem of you're not willing to risk the… — Steve Erickson Copy Share
“The human heart commits its greatest treachery by healing. It commits its greatest treachery by surviving the love that was supposed to last forever,… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
While a particularly deft sense of irony may be one of the tools of great storytellers, I think it's also true that if irony… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
