Clay Steakley

“But if one says: I cannot come because it is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical or strange. What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it—like a secret vice.”
― Anne D. LeClaire, Listening Below the Noise: The Transformative Power of Silence

“I wanted to settle an old score with time. I had discovered that walking provided a way to slow it down. The alchemy of travel thickens seconds: those spent on the road passed less quickly than the others. Frantic with restlessness, I required fresh horizons and conceived a passionate interest in airports, where everything is an invitation to departure. I dreamed of ending up in a terminal. My trips began as escapes and finished in track races against the hours.”
― Sylvain Tesson, The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga

“You’re going to die some day without ever having had enough trouble in your life. Not of the right kind anyway. This is your chance.”
― Kent Haruf, Plainsong

“I feel like Japanese and American societies, and our entire world today for that matter, have gone mad. When the majority is overtaken by madness, it becomes all the more difficult to explain what madness is or how it manifests. For that reason, I turned to the novel as a venue for trying to make the madness visible. Unfortunately, serious literature is faced with extinction everywhere in our world, including in Japan. People want to believe they are not crazy, and readers seek out tales that allow them to avoid confronting the madness. And writers respond to such desires and demands by offering comfort.”
― Tomoyuki Hoshino, Lonely Hearts Killer