Poe, Ramsey Campbell, Harlan Ellison, James Herbert, Frank Herbert, John Dickson Carr, Ira Levin, Ian Fleming, HP Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, and Stephen King.

I have so many favorites that it's almost impossible to list them all. Since I write horror and dark fantasy, I'll list five books that frightened me the most.

AMERICAN PSYCHO by Brett Easton Ellis; THE FACE THAT MUST DIE by Ramsey Campbell. Though I'm not a big fan of the serial killer sub-genre, these two novels are hard to beat. Both present a thoroughly lovable yet thoroughly monstrous protagonist. Both place the reader inside a deeply disturbed mind ... an experience that is not soon forgotten.

COLD PRINT by Ramsey Campbell. Campbell's collection of Lovecraft-inspired short stories, paired with the surreal illustrations of J. K. Potter, is greater than the sum of its parts. Chilling stuff that sticks with you, in spite of the rough-edges found on some of Campbell's earlier stories.

THE HAUNTING by Shirley Jackson. The finest and most frightening haunted house novel ever written.

I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson. A very creepy and effective novel with a socially- and politically-subversive ending that still packs a wallop. Frequently adapted to film, but no one has yet done it justice. Sit down on a cold night and read the passages about vampires swarming Neville's house and try not to get the shivers.

THE HELLBOUND HEART by Clive Barker. This is one of the few books that causes me to look over my shoulder when entering a dark room. The images associated with solving the puzzle box (tinkling of distant bells, unexplained lights, and the cries of birds) are haunting in the purest sense of the word.

The first story I ever wrote was a vampire-on-a-ship opus called "The Light of Day on an Ominous Night." I wrote it by hand on legal pads during the summer months between elementary and middle school. I was watching a lot of Hammer horror on late night TV back then.

The less said about this story, the better.

This probably won't be a popular answer on Smashwords, but I don't have an e-reading device of choice. I think that a good book is best enjoyed on the printed page. They're magic in being able to hold a book in your hands, to feel the texture of the paper. Even the smell of a book can tell a story.

Aside from providing easy access to the works of indie authors, I feel that e-reading is ultimately destructive to literature.

My desk is about half the total length of my body, and made of bone and human flesh. My desk is fully mobile and can be stretched out in front of me at a moment's notice. The desktop is deep, but narrow, and terminates in a pair of (usually) stockinged feet.

Stop interrogating me!