Back in the 1980s, when I was a lowly editorial assistant by day and trying to be a novelist by night, no god reigned so supreme as the god of literary prose.

I say that glorious prose is a fine and laudable thing, but without an enthralling story, it's just so much verbal tapioca. Simply put, the best books have both, and the best writers disparage neither.

A good story, a story resonant and remarkable, can be remade endlessly to tell new sides of itself for new generations of readers.

The implication of AKC registration is that a dog who has it is better than a dog who hasn't.

To me, respect for human life begins with making it more difficult to obtain an inanimate object that is designed to snuff it out.

My dog is vicious to the uninvited guest, lavishly affectionate to the invited one, and so freakishly acute that he has mastered the English language.