Lief Abelson

'To write only what we know is to deny imagination. We must take what we know and lead it into a place of uncertainty.'

'We shouldn't be afraid of genres. They tell us what specific form of psychic hunger our reader needs satisfied.'

'A novel can't tell us what people are like or what they are likely to do. A novel can only make us ask what would we do.'

'The higher function of a novel is to prepare us to confront our terrors or, if those terrors are unassuageable, to make us laugh in their face.’

Lief Abelson in conversation with Tom Newberry.