Richard Laymon Quotes & Sayings

Now you got us whammied with the curse of squirmy death. — Richard Laymon

Muttering, "Fuck it," he threw his finger away. It hit the wall. He heard the quiet thunk through the sounds of helicopters. Must — Richard Laymon

I don't worry much about whether or not one of my stories contains elements of the supernatural. If I come up with what I think is a nifty concept, I'll give it a whirl. — Richard Laymon

Wielding a hammer, however, you're at the very heart of the experience, being flooded with wonderful sensations that simply can't be yours if you use a firearm. Now, you might be asking yourself how I came to discover the splendors of hammer attack. I'll tell you. You won't want to hear it, though. — Richard Laymon

the remnants of her Georgia drawl always sounded a bit sad. She made him think of an aging Scarlett O'Hara torn from Tara's halls but clinging to her pride and, with the help of a beauty parlor, her flaming hair. — Richard Laymon

My eyes are brown. So are my teeth.
Just kidding about the teeth. — Richard Laymon

That sort of aloneness gives you goosebumps scurrying up your spine. It makes your scalp crawl. — Richard Laymon

A few of my books, over the years, have been optioned for film. The subject matter of my books, however, is not exactly conducive to Hollywood film treatment. If and when a 'big-budget' film is ever made based on one of my books, my fans and I will more than likely loathe it because it won't be true to its source. That's almost a given. — Richard Laymon

No book, no matter how good, has a chance of reaching a large audience unless the publisher SEES the book's value. — Richard Laymon

And he pictured her down below, turning slowly in the currents, her skin pale blue in the cold rays of sunlight slanting down through the water, her hair flowing lazily around her face. — Richard Laymon

In my vast experience, I've found it always wiser to go along with female advice ... First, you make them happy by doing what they tell you. That's the main thing. Let them think they're in control. They love it. Then, if it turns out they were right, everything's cool. If it turns out they were wrong ... then you have the pleasure of basking in the glow of superiority. — Richard Laymon

My feeling about fiction, regardless of the genre, is that it is meant to be a representation of life. I want my books to give a whole spectrum of experiences to my readers. Not just fear or terror or revulsion, but excitement, laughter, pain, sorrow, desire, etc. — Richard Laymon

In a sense, all fiction is experimental. Every new book is an adventure into unknown territory. As Hemingway told us, you (the writer) have to go out beyond where you have gone before. — Richard Laymon

My principles wouldn't allow it. — Richard Laymon

A coward dies many times. A brave man never tastes of death but once. — Richard Laymon

Except I think it feels more like an empty stomach than a broken heart. An aching hollowness that food can't cure. You know. You've felt it yourself, I bet. You hurt all the time, you're restless, you can't think straight, you sort of wish you were dead but what you really want is for everything to be the same as it was when you were still with her.. or him — Richard Laymon

The earth is a far a better place, now that she's beneath it. — Richard Laymon

Bring a vampire around, people start discovering religion. — Richard Laymon

Killing, resurrecting, living with a zombie. Even if she could accept all that, — Richard Laymon

Horror writers are specialists in the worst-case scenario. — Richard Laymon

I guess they're having what you might call panic attacks. It's an old place and smells a little musty. The hallways are sort of long and narrow. The exhibits are gory. The people are listening to some creepy, nasty stuff on their earphones. It apparently just overwhelms some of them, especially on a busy day when there might be some congestion in the rooms and hallways. You'll have flippers, fainters and barfers every so often.'
'It's sounding more fun all the time.' 'Not as much fun as the heart attacks.' 'You get heart attacks?'
'I don't, they do. Not often, though. — Richard Laymon

Ray Garton never fails to go for the throat! — Richard Laymon

It was a hideous ancient thing that stood on tiger feet in the middle of the floor. Like a showpiece. And he did enjoy showing it. He would bring his friends upstairs to the master bathroom so that they could admire the monstrosity while he told them the whole long boring story of how he'd gotten it at an estate sale in Hollywood. Some bimbo actress from the silent-screen days had supposedly slit her wrists while she was in the thing. 'Cashed in her chips,' Harold liked to say. 'In this very tub. — Richard Laymon

Gonna get me one of them Jeep Cherokees with the four-wheel drive, and go all over the whole country in it. — Richard Laymon

It's been my experience that worse-case scenarios are very rare indeed. Rare to the extend that you can almost count on them not happening. — Richard Laymon

Love is always right. — Richard Laymon

Just call me the Boswell of the Krull Gang. — Richard Laymon

Window. All the ruckus, of course, woke up everyone in the house. Lilly's room was right up there. She — Richard Laymon

Next week we have a bunch of horror writers coming from all over the world. That'll be one whole week, fully catered, and pre-paid bar. Those horror writers drink like fshes. Just their beer bill's gonna pay for the upkeep of this place for six months. Motel business is a great business to be in, my boy. — Richard Laymon