Quotes from Victor LaValle

Every era needs a genre through which it understands itself.

You can't write a story about a mental hospital in the United States without facing the grand example of 'Cuckoo's Nest.'

The best monsters are our anxieties given form. They make sense on the level of a dream - or a nightmare.

Clothes are a kind of uniform. A nun's habit, a surgeon's scrubs, a cop's uniform. People often say that when they put on a certain uniform, they actually think of themselves differently.

On June 23, 1864, Ambrose Bierce was in command of a skirmish line of Union soldiers at Kennesaw Mountain in northern Georgia. He'd been a soldier for three years and, in that time, had been commended by his superiors for his efficiency and bravery during battle.

My three obsessions are mental illness, horror and religion.

People use the notion of God to bully people and hurt people, when we can use the concept to respect and uplift.

I hadn't stopped fearing the chance of passing on an illness, but that fear had become balanced by the observation that being ill wasn't the same as being beaten.

One of the things that doesn't come up as much as it should, especially in literary fiction, is this idea of faith and God... I feel like those are things that should be wrestled with... because they are such an integral part of our community on every level.

The horror genre is vast and full of brilliance. Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Herman Melville, the book of Esther. I'll happily join that list.

I'm a big fan of monsters. Number one, they're fun, and two, they're such great ways to access the subconscious fears and beliefs of any group of people.

I know that many authors say editors don't edit anymore, but that's not been true in my experience.