Now, I had been reading fantasy as a teenager and started with The Sword of Shannara, which was given to me by a friend.   I was hooked and started reading lot's of fantasy.  But, since a was a young boy I loved CONAN in the comics, so as a teen I began reading Robert E. Howard Conan books.  Man, Howard is by far the greatest pulp fiction fantasy writer ever in my opinion.  I love Conan stories the most and that inspired a good bit of my story, The Darkslayer.  Of course, there are many factors that go into my story from other sources and personal life events and beliefs. 

To me, a story should be entertaining to the reader.  To often I read stories that I think entertain the writer and lose focus.  I try to make every page count so that I don't waste the readers time.  I like smash mouth, fast paced, hard hitting action, with good dialogue, believable characters, humor, surprises with twists and turns.  I don't want the reader to see what is coming, I hope to catch them with there guard down. 

I have been writing for about ten years now, and I am amazed how changes in life can effect ones writing as well.  That is why I wrote back then and I can look at it today and wonder what I was thinking.  I am so glad I took typing in High School.  It lead me to things one could never imagine I could ever do.