I grew up in a small town in Virginia and as a teenager worked in a reputedly haunted threater.  I began writing horror stories for adults, but soon found that I enjoyed writing for teens just as much.  Authors like Stephen King, John Saul, Dean R. Koontz have probably influenced me along side of Poe, Shakespeare, Byron and Yates.  Sometimes I think I need to put them all in a cage match to figure out who's influenced me the most.