I discover the ebooks I read mostly from searching my favorite authors and looking for the titles I haven't read yet. Also from suggestions from fellow readers.

I've been jotting down the stories in my head for as long as I can remember, but I'd say the first one I ever intended to publish was a novella-length Christian spec manuscript I wrote back when my first son Jared was born ... in 1999. I ended up re-writing it as a full-length novel in 2010, but utterly decided to shelve it. I intend to rework and release it at some point as a seven-book action & adventure saga.

Believe it or not covers come to me first. I usually make a mock cover and then start transcribing the story that's playing out in my head. I can usually transcribe about 2,000 to 3,000 words per day and write in chapter chunks then I have to stop to research the next chapter, rinse and repeat until the story is told.

The first story I read was Jack London's WHITE FANG when I was 10 years old. It had a profound impact on me. I felt transformed from the inner city of Brooklyn, New York to the Klondike. That book taught me that written stories had the power of transporting people to different places, times, eras ... fantastic places and times with extraordinary characters.

Like I said ... cover concepts come to me first, even before I pen the first word. I usually start with a mock cover design. My cover designs are based on the specific series in which the story belongs. Each of my series has a certain look, certain fonts, etc. Then I write the story and come back to the mock and finalize it. From there I create a separate layout for the paper editions.

Five favorite books is a silly question ... it's like saying my five favorite colors. So, if I said, blue, green, red, orange, and purple, none of those colors would be my favorite color for the banana I wanted to eat. I read books for varied reasons - the Bible for my faith; text books to learn; historical fiction to learn about the past in an interactive way; sci fi when I'm feeling adventurous; westerns when I want to rid myself of modern tensions, etc.

For those looking for a list ... I'll list what comes to mind (not counting the most important book to me, The Bible):
1- Any installment of W.E.B. Griffin's THE CORPS series
2- All Sherlock Holmes
3- All Jack Ryan Tom Clancy
4- Most of Shakespeare
5- Tolkien, Christie, Stephen Hunter, ... on second thought. It's a silly question ... ha!

What is ... pleasure? Oh, you mean the time when a person isn't working. I call that sleep.

The one nearest me that has a charge. Lately, that's the Kindle or Kindle Fire that I bought my wife. I don't own one. I just borrow hers.

Writing the next book and improving on the last <-- by far, the best book marketing technique.

It's basically an eight-foot by two-foot finished board covered with stuff. My laptop and extra screen sits near the center. Oh, and most importantly, my butt rests on the ultimate seat - one my dear friend, founder of the rock band ANTHRAX, Dan Spitz turned me onto ... the Swopper!

I grew up in Ridgewood, New York (on Stockholm Street & Seneca Avenue). Growing up in Ridgewood had a significant impact on shaping me. That in turn shaped my writing. To give you an idea of the how much so ... my protagonist, Cris De Niro just happens to have grown up in exactly the same apartment as did I. Coincidence?