My influences  are counterculture in nature. Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, John Steinbeck and Hunter S. Thompson are favorites, as James Michener, Ernest Hemingway, Ernest K. Gann and Thomas Wolfe in the more conventional sense. Joel and Ethan Coen are influences as movie directors - I can't think of any of their movies I don't like. They are authors, only with cameras and screenplays. I hope my books have that movie feel to them, constantly moving you to the conclusion,  with enough levity and black comedy to keep it all interesting. As far as causes, being a diver I feel strongly about environmental issues involving the oceans - such as the deplorable practice of shark finning or the hunting and cold blooded murder of our cetacean brothers in the name of 'research' and other depredations and exploitations of the world's oceans. My characters will champion the defense of our oceans - a work of fiction can inspire the formerly idle to real action, this I believe.