You’re organizing a dinner party of writers and can invite three authors, dead or alive. Who’s coming?

Well, I eat dinner with writers a lot, and — like eating with children — the experience can really go both ways. I’d probably make it potluck, and then invite the best cooks who are (or were) also good company. If you were to assign writers an Invitability Score (prose style × kitchen chops × congeniality at the table), Ben Marcus (“The Flame Alphabet”) is always going to rate pretty high.