Interests:

• Fantasy, mythology, fairy tales, folklore, and tradition
• Horror
• Children’s

My stories will generally state or imply some greater history, as though these characters are just part of a larger ongoing narrative.

 

Influences:

J. R. R. Tolkien – Anything related to Middle-Earth

J. K. Rowling – Anything Harry Potter

George Lucas – especially the original Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Empire Strikes Back

Norse mythology

Anything from Prince’s catalog

Anything from David Bowie’s catalog

F. W. Dixon – pen-named authors of The Hardy Boys series

Dungeons and Dragons: the TV series and Endless Quest books (similar to Choose Your Own Adventure). Surprisingly, I’ve never played the game.

Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland stories

Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm

Greek and Roman mythology

Stephen King – On Writing

Peter Jackson – especially The Lord of the Rings and The Frighteners movies

W. Scott Olsen – College writing instructor who was the first author I’d ever met or heard speak about writing. Above everything else I learned in college, he said something I will always remember: “We have the responsibility to tell good stories.”

Steven Spielberg – Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders, E.T., and Goonies

Gary Larson – The Far Side

Bill Watterson – Calvin and Hobbes

Stan Lee – creator of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and many other comic icons

Edgar Allan Poe – The Cask Of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart

Maurice Sendak – Where The Wild Things Are

Dr. Seuss – Pretty much everything I’ve ever read, whether on my toes or on my head

Brian Michael Bendis – prolific comics writer; includes Powers, Daredevil, and Ultimate Spider-Man

Brian K. Vaughan – Y: The Last Man, Pride of Baghdad, and Saga

The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

H. P. Lovecraft

James Herriot – both for his storytelling ability and his depiction of the Yorkshire accent

Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, and Holst