At one time if you were a black writer you had to be one of the best writers in the world to be published. You had to be great. Now you can be good. Mediocre. And that's good.

There was a whole black experience from the hippie movement. It's a whole new world.

I'm talking about black male heroes, ... I'm not the only one doing this but there's not a big genre of black male heroes, who aren't caricatures.

[At the same time, Mosley struggles to avoid turning his colorful characters into one-dimensional cartoons. One of his recurring characters, Jackson Blue, is a case in point.] If there's anybody who's 'street' in the world, it's Jackson Blue, ... But Jackson, he's reading Cicero.

When I went to school, there were no Black philosophers, at least none that I was aware of, who were recognized by Western universities.

I would have been completely brainwashed by this lopsided and racist view of the world if it weren't for my father. He was a deep thinker and an irrepressible problem solver. He was a Black Socrates, asking why and then spoiling ready-made replies.