Alistair Cross Quotes

“Her face was a grimace of surprised pain as she slid unconscious down the back of the tub and under the water.
I held her under for several minutes after the blow, watching as the water went pink, then red, and finally crimson with blood.”

— Alistair Cross

“They want to be stimulated. They want to read something that can get under their skin and hang out there for a while.”

— Alistair Cross

“I watched her sip at the drink some more. She was strong, healthy, but also petite enough that I was certain I could overpower her. I'd made the right decision not to tranquilize her, I thought. Slipping some powerful barbiturate into a mixed drink wasn't something I was above, but it always felt like such a lost opportunity. I liked the fight, the tightening and clenching of a woman's body as she writhed for freedom. I felt the slow swelling of arousal between my legs and made no effort to disguise it.”

— Alistair Cross

“Self-confidence is usually little more than wishful thinking in a thigh-high pair of Come F*ck Me boots.”

— Alistair Cross

Deadlines help me, but my muse hates them. My muse functions in fits and starts, and tends to take very long vacations. Deadlines are like a hot poker to his ass. They force us both to sit down and write, which is what it takes to do this.

— Alistair Cross

“I think horror, when done well, is one of the most direct and honest ways to get to the core of the human experience because terror reduces all of us to our most authentic forms.”

— Alistair Cross

“Your heart doesn't belong on your sleeve, sunshine. It belongs strapped to your boot next to a six-inch dagger.”

— Alistair Cross

“Only I was capable of saving her now, and that, as far as anyone could argue, may have made me worse than all the devils and the demons, but it also, more accurately, made me better than all the angels and gods.”

— Alistair Cross

“Most of all, kink comes up in my writing because that is, very simply, just the way the cat o' nine tails flails. Any writer knows that there isn't always an explanation for the behaviors of his or her characters and the subjects of his or her storylines. For whatever reason, kink just kind of comes out of me.”

— Alistair Cross

“I think that the best fiction is directly rooted in an ability to identify and tell the psychological truth about people.”

— Alistair Cross

“I have a file in my phone that I'm always adding things to. People accuse me of texting too much but nine times out of ten, I'm not texting anyone. I'm recording ideas.”

— Alistair Cross

“The thorns, ruthless in their protection of the beauty they upheld, tore at my skin, bleeding me like a vampire's victim and no doubt loving every moment of it. The vines snaked around my hands and arms trying to cut the circulation of blood.”

— Alistair Cross

“Sandy's was one of those places that made poor, white trash feel like high-class consumers. This was the kind of place you'd take your mistress to, but never your wife. Wives expected better. Mistresses were impressed by the blandness of the over-priced wine and the vast Italian menu options.”

— Alistair Cross

“The black panic, that's what woke me; that all too familiar blend of terror and heinousness that buzzed beneath my skin where no eye could detect it and no scalpel could dig it out, where it would remain until I exorcised it out of me. Last night's memories were making their entrance.”

— Alistair Cross

“Any writer of horror needs to at least have a good, solid love of the genre. Also, good horror writers need to have a slightly twisted sense of humor. Without humor, horror just isn't as good.”

— Alistair Cross

“Good horror is written by people who understand that fear is one of the cardinal passageways into the core of humanity. Good horror is generally written by folks who grew up on horror; books, movies, etc. You can't simply decide to write-in any genre-if you don't first have an understanding of the topic and a strong mental backlog of reference.”

— Alistair Cross

Yep," I said, rolling the body onto its back and staring into the horrified, bloated face, "you're a single-bagger. My kinda gal." I gave her a smile and a friendly wink. The face stared back at me with that same frozen look of terror. "Oh, stop being so dramatic," I said, "You'll be pretty again, I promise.

— Alistair Cross

“I remember writing all kinds of stories as a kid, but I really don't know what the first thing was. Whatever it was, I'm certain it was bloody and twisted, though, and probably involved talking cats.”

— Alistair Cross