But I just love the written word. I love to paint with the written word.

Jack & Bobby ... Sometimes the greatest people can be seated right next to you.

[Meltzer's fifth novel is a thriller about two Hill aides who run a betting game about Congress; one of them turns up dead.] Since the book came out I've had staffers contact me and tell me about their own betting scheme in Congress, ... Everyone keeps saying, 'You didn't make up anything -- we've been doing that for years!'

Sloth: Which current congressman uses the term 'Great Americans' as a codeword to ask his staff if the person he's speaking to is a big donor?

Envy: Which senator once had a dimmer switch in their secret hideaway?

From the time I could read, I've been devouring these things. I had a $5 allowance growing up in Brooklyn and I spent the whole thing every week at the Nostrand Avenue Comics shop.