I am a long time employee of the airline industry who has always had an interest in writing but was too lazy to do it until just a few years ago. My first effort was the co-authoring (with my sister, Lark Pogue) of the novel "Missing Ingredients." This book, while fiction, is based on our lives growing up in a dysfunctional family. My more recent novel, "About the Rapture," is available in paperback and for kindle readers. This book is a comedy, and I would advise everyone not to buy it if you are looking for something inspirational to restore your faith. It's not that type of book. Both novels are self published.      Other than that, I have written a few short stories which are available to read on this site. I don't feel that this (my body of work) is enough to say that my writing has been influenced by anyone in particular, especially considering the disparity in the things that I have written. I don't yet know what type of writer I am. My tastes have changed often over the years, and resulted in my having read a varied group of authors. Sadly, I am greatly lacking in the classics. I do find that I am currently drawn to offbeat characters, especially when an author can make those characters believable and sympathetic. My favorite examples of this type of character creation are John Irving and Ann Tyler.