Justin Cronin

My theory of characterization is basically this: Put some dirt on a hero, and put some sunshine on the villain, one brush stroke of beauty on the villain.

And I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction, especially apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction.

Kittridge closed his eyes. So, the end. It would happen instantaneously, a painless departure, quicker than thought. he felt the presence of his body one last time: the taste of air in his lungs, the blood surging in his veins, the drumlike beating of his heart. The bomb was dropping toward them."I've got you," he said, hugging Tim fiercely; and again, over and over, so that the boy would be hearing these words. "I've got you, I've got you, I've got you, I've got you.

He has to come to it on his own.

His father had always said, Son, the most important thing in life is to make a contribution. Who would have thought Kittridge__ contribution would be video-blogging from the front lines of the apocalypse?

All things found their ends.

It is an interesting truth that the human body, liberated from its head, is in essence a bag of blood with a built-in straw.

The military was all about hierarchies, who urinated highest on the hydrant

Zander was always sneaking off to the library to get more books ... Guy would read anything. Said books were more interesting than people.

This ravishing world. This achingly bittersweet, ravishing world.

You are Entering the Red Zone.Proceed at Own Risk.When in Doubt Run.

Perhaps the greatest worry of all was that one day you would realize that all the worries of your life amounted to one thing: the desire to just stop worrying.

Drinking myself blind seemed like the next logical step.

But I suppose it's part of being old to feel that way, half in one world and half in the other, all of it mixed together in my mind. No one's left who even knows my name. Folks call me Auntie, on account of I never could have children of my own, and I guess that suits me fine. Sometime it's like I've got so many people inside of me I'm never alone at all. And when I go, I'll be taking them with me.

I like cats as much as the next person, in the right quantity.

Would somebody please tell him whose idea it had been to kill the entire state of Colorado?

It was like leading people to the edge of a cliff, showing them the view, and then shoving them off.

In her mind's eye she saw it, saw it all at last: the rolling armies and the flames of battle; the graves and pits and dying cries of a hundred million souls; the spreading darkness, like a black wing stretching over the earth; the last, bitter hours of cruelty and sorrow, and the terrible, final flights; death's great dominion over all, and, at the last, empty cities, becalmed by the silence of a hundred years. Already these things were coming to pass.