A society whose moral ideas, inhibit their own defense will always suffer defeat by the very predators they deem immoral. In any conflict the boundaries of behavior are defined by the party that cares the least about morality.

All the women in my family were superb cooks.

Not long ago I made a list of Doc Ford books I would like to do, and I came up with 11 pretty easily. I like to let the characters go their own ways and see what happens. I find them fascinating.

The Florida peninsula is, in fact, an emerging plateau, honeycombed with voids and vents, caves and underground waterways. Travelers on Interstate Highway I-75 have no idea that, beneath them, are cave labyrinths still being mapped by speleologists - 'cavers,' they prefer to be called.

Any legitimate religion consists of rules of morality linked by love. That's it.

The tough thing about writing is you go into a room alone, you close the door and you do your work.

The written word is the only anchor we have in life. How extraordinary would it be if we had even three or four paragraphs written honestly about their lives by our ancestors?

My aunts still try to fatten me up.