My influences are literature itself.  Being from the South, I do like Southern writers, but dislike the insinuation that a writer from the South must write like Faulkner, Welty or any of the others to be a Southern writer.  I did not choose my location.  I was born here.  I do not emulate being from a place where I am already at.  I do like Faulkner, Welty, Williams, Wright, Morris, Miller, and even Shakespeare, and even more which I am sure I will neglect to include.  Although some may dislike the classics because they have been overrated and worshipped, I still like them for the level of their skill, but do not blindly adore them.  I have enjoyed Science-Fiction from the old to recent; and have enjoyed the greater respectability which has been afforded to the writing of comic books (now termed graphic novels as a respectable label).  I was one of the quiet avid readers of the stories of Super-heroes when I was a boy.  My religious converion in 1989 has also been a major influence and, perhaps, the inspiration for me to write.  My writing is often adapted toward theology, but I intentionally avoid straight-line preaching which is a poor effect anyway.