Influences: William Seward Burroughs (for style), Roger Zelazny (for first-person prose), Robert Ervin Howard (for pure storytelling), Neil Peart, Riothamus, myth, humor, the ironies of human machination (which often cause one to go under the influence, yet often there is wisdom gained), lighthouses, solitude, and the quest for a life free from appointments and schedules.

Two Mayor's Citations for work in creative writing and photojournalism, Nicholl Fellowship nominee for screenwriting, James Tiptree Award nominee for prose, Marquis Who's Who in America, People to People Ambassador to China, Harvard mentorship scholarship, yadda yadda...are these things what matters? Of course not. I wish I could say that I am a good person in the sense of my contribution to the world. Maybe one day the saying will honor me by having a faint ring of truth.

I try to write a novel a year, in addition to shorter works. I also enjoy creating music, and have composed and performed over 600 original songs (with no audience to play them to, it's easy to move on to the next song...lol). Early April of 2005 has seen me fortunate enough to have the # 1 ranked progressive rock song download on Amazon.com, and the # 1 Indie download of all-time. I've included the AP/UPI press release for that in my News section, as well as a link below, and an exclusive AuthorsDen download of the song. New and upcoming books for 2006 & 2007: Veteran of the Ardennes, Swarm of Five, Groveling Music, Soldier of the Ardennes, The Confessioner's Ghost, The Mandrake SongBook.

Former Official Homepage: thatword.com
Bits and bobs, free mp3 and video downloads, and over 400 unique links from around the world. Over 200 hits per day. "Francis DiPietro's thatword.com is an eclectic mix of news, music, arts, opinion, writing, and 'more links than a sausage factory'!" --Hillcrest Review, Jan. 2006

New Official Homepage: francisdipietro.net
Free downloads of stories, songs and videos, information on my 20+ books, and various uncategorizable nonsense.

My Amazon AuthorConnect Page
Just what it sounds like. All visitors welcome.

The Roger Zelazny Project
To honor the works of Zelazny. Also, there is madgov.com, to remind the red states of their political choices ;-)