SR: Vince is obviously a pretty cynical character. But I’ve always been interested in the extent to which we’re controlled by our biological impulses. That’s something that a lot of my favorite writers talk about, guys like T.C. Boyle especially.

I think it’s hilarious how much of our lives are determined by something as base as our need to procreate or make money or things like that. With Vince, I tried to create someone who would espouse an extreme version of that philosophy. I thought that would make for a good villain.

CD: But Vince isn’t really a villain. In the end, he winds up being a hero in a way.

SR: Well, you know, in all happy novels you want to give your villain a bit of redemption. I still view him as villainous although hopefully by the end he grows a little.

CD: It’s interesting that you brought up cynicism because your writing frequently explores religion and the sacred but manages to avoid crossing the line into cynical or profane. It seems like even when you poke fun at religion, you’re approaching it from a respectful and almost scholarly angle.

SR: Well thanks, I appreciate that. I don’t consider myself a cynical person and I think I’ve gotten a lot less cynical as my career has progressed. The original title for my first book was Horrible Situations and the original ending was a short piece, which I cut, which was a conversation with a time traveler where the time traveler shows up and just tells me to kill myself. That’s the entire piece. 

When I was writing those pieces, I was a teenager. I had a lot of angst, the typical existential angst that teenagers have.