What I write : I write post-modern fiction, with an alternating light or heavy skew towards the fantastic. Short stories, long stories, big stories, little stories – stories are my thing.
My goals as a writer : I strive to maintain a sense of realism and connection with the characters I create – a good character is a guide to a world, but a great character is a friend in that world. And, naturally, you visit your friends from time to time.
I want to find what is unique, and what is emotionally relevant, in each story. I wouldn’t read something that I couldn’t connect to, and I promise I’ll never let you suffer the same.
The writers who’ve influenced my work (in no particular order, or relation to medium) :
Neil Gaiman, Ed Brubaker, Nick Hornby, Haruki Murakami, Robert A. Heinlein, Caitlin Kittredge, Duane Swierczynski, Garth Ennis, Matt Fraction, Miguel de Cervantes Saveedra, Herman Melville, Grant Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, Brian K. Vaughan, Warren Ellis, Brian Clevinger, Charlaine Harris, Douglas Adams, George R.R. Martin, and The Russians (Dostoyevsky, Chekov, and Bulgakov).
S’good list ya got runnin’ there. Any love for, say, Bret Eastion Ellis or Chuck Palahniuk? I always felt they bundled up fairly well together, though Palahniuk’s stuff reads much quicker. I got a feeling Vonnegut would fit in your list pretty snuggly, as well.
I can’t believe how many of my favorite authors you listed just now. I finished “American Gods” by Neil Gamon last week and before that I was reading “Anansi Boys”. I also love Haruki Murakami and I just let a friend of mine borrow a copy of “Sputnik Sweatheart” because she was trying to get a teaching job in Japan. And George R. R. Martin is my wicked fantasy indulgence.
yes, it’s a great list. I recently read ‘American Gods’ too.