I was pretty sick as a little kid. While everyone else was outside playing I was reading everything I could get my hands on - from mythology and Mark Twain to our entire set of encyclopedias.I wrote poetry and short stories through high school but in college I drifted into the graphic arts field and worked there for almost 20 years. Now I am writing again and loving it. My writing influences would be Terry Pratchett, Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut. Each of them tells great stories with a nice touch of humor, which is something I strive for in my work. I also have to give some creidt to Walt Simonson and his run as writer/artist on the Thor comic books. (I own a couple thousand comics, mostly from the 70s.) I am a longtime geek so there are all sorts of anime and manga that have fired my imagination over the years as well.