I was asked what influenced me as writer recently. At first I thought it was an easy thing to answer. I’ve said before that Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End is what got me hooked on science fiction, the ending blew my teenage mind. That lead me to reading more Clarke and Asimov then authors such as Greg Bear and Ben Bova. Also, I grew up at the time of the Apollo missions and the moon landings. As a young lad, how could that not captivate my imagination? Then later films such as 2001, Close Encounters and Star Wars were taking science fiction on the screen from clunky B Movie status to the mainstream.However, having given my standard answer it occurred to me that these were things that had sparked my interest as a consumer of science fiction, and later fantasy through authors such as Raymond Feist and David Eddings. However, had they influenced my writing? In terms of the subject matter, yes. I have adapted themes that those writers have explored before me (and I presume they adapted from earlier writers). As for my actual writing, perhaps much less than Imagined. They may have placed that spark, the desire to write. However, as to influencing my writing that comes later, from the authors I’ve read just before and while I’ve been writing.
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