If you are a success in life, there are places you must go and pay to be humiliated. It is an unwritten law that human beings must be tormented throughout their lives in one way or another. If you are fortunate enough to have risen to a social level where no one does it to you for free, then you must pay for the service.

He is the half brother of composer Steve Reich and nephew of Broadway producer Leonard Sillman. His short story "Home on the Rain" was chosen as one of the best stories of the year by the Pushcart Prize committee. His novel Outside the Dog Museum won the British Fantasy Award and his collection of short stories won the Bram Stoker Award.

He also writes short stories. Jonathan Samuel Carroll (born January 26 1949) is an American author primarily known for novels which can be characterized as magic realist slipstream or modern fantasy.