I'm a big-city boy. What I like is big cities. It's not just what I like. It's what I write about.

I write about people in small towns; I don't write about people living in big cities. My kind of storytelling depends upon people that have time to talk to each other.

I write books I'd enjoy reading, I'm the reader standing behind my shoulder.

Big cities do evoke a sense of menace.

Gun-related violence and murders are concentrated among blacks and Latinos in big cities.

Most big cities like London and Glasgow have great big rivers that are unmissable. What's brilliant about the Water of Leith is that it's so hidden. It's a secret.