It's interesting today to consider the plight of someone like E.A. Poe, the author with whom I feel the tightest bond, since we're both from Richmond and both have fought to save dying careers. Poe tried anything and everything to stave off failure--it's incredible to read his letters toward the end and witness the tenacity, the confidence, and the dread. While he is remembered for inventing the detective story, it is the fictions in which he writes from the point of view of the madman that strike me as his greatest work. We ask so little of our authors today, beyond plot twists. We accept ridiculous endings, stupid acts of coincidence, bad prose--all of which Poe disdained. Above all, Poe hated moralizers, which is why he could give voice to those on the edge of sanity. I'm proud that Poe's fingerprints are all over UNRELIABLE. I wrote the book for him and him alone. Having it published was never part of the plan.