Stephen McCauley

“The experience of writing under a pseudonym was tremendously liberating; I could write what I wanted.”

“It's hard to imagine anyone accusing Lionel Shriver of being a timid writer.”

“Jill Eisenstadt is a writer of many admirable gifts. Foremost among them are a sharp eye for people, a playful love of language, and, it's probably safe to assume, nearly boundless energy.”

“I write in public libraries and sometimes coffee shops. I can't write at home and gave up trying long ago. I need activity around me that I'm forced to block out. It helps me focus.”

“I wrote two novels about a yoga studio in Los Angeles published by Penguin under the pen name Rain Mitchell.”

“I guess I have an aversion to writing about big events and heroic actions. The everyday has always seemed most important to me in writing, probably because I believe people reveal themselves in how they deal with small details.”

“Jill Eisenstadt's comic second novel, 'Kiss Out,' is a work of such extravagant wackiness, eccentricity, and exuberance that any attempt to squeeze it into the confines of a simple plot summary seems doomed to failure and is possibly pointless.”