I started in theatre. I don't know if I've ever had fans, but I've had some great supporters of my work. The people who stayed around to chat after a show or during intermission are such fuel for a writer. As a novelist it's a bit different. People have to commit to reading your book and dedicate a lot of time to doing so. If people can spend their time reading Chuck Palahniuk, Brett Easton Ellis or Neil Gaiman and they choose to spend their time reading my book, that is an honor and a blessing.

I'm working on a novel that started as a short story in Immortal L.A. It's called "Farnoosh." It's about a Persian American woman who escapes the Iranian Revolution with the help of her genie who lives inside of a hookah. We follow Farnoosh (the aforementioned Persian woman) as she immigrates to America and grows up in "Tehrangeles," a section of West Los Angeles home to a thriving Iranian community. When we meet her she is trying to figure out her final wish after having the genie for 38 years. I'm very excited about this book, it's been a blast to research. The Iranian community in Los Angeles has been incredibly helpful.
I'm also working on a play with my theatre group "Live Theatre Band," we're doing investigative-journalism-theatre on American sub-cultures. "Our Crowded Skies" is about the UFO sub-culture in America. We went to Area 51 and to an alien abductee conference for research, it's been a ton of fun.

Off of the top of my head, I just love John Fante, Anton Chekov, Tony O'Neil, John Patrick Shanley. All of them are total studs. Ibsen is also my boy. I love Elizabeth Gilbert and I don't care who knows it. I have such a crush on Mary Roach. R.L. Stine of Goosebumps K.A. Applegate of Animorphs must be mentioned as well. Also, without John Bellairs I don't know where I would be.

Right now I work as a behavioral therapist for autistic kids. They're just great. It's a really nice change from sitting and typing all day. Honestly, they're a great inspiration because they are so involved in a world that you get no access to. As a writer, you're always wondering what the world looks like from another person's eyes. Those kids have some fascinating eyes to look through.

Also, if I don't get out of bed in the morning I won't be able to drink any coffee. Drinking coffee lying down is difficult.

I love to travel to strange places more than anything in the world, Rachel Nevada, Tbilisi Georgia, and Kathmandu Nepal are some of the more memorable places I've gotten to check out. I do yoga and ride my motorcycle (not at the same time). I also listen to podcasts at all waking hours and go to see live performance when I can. Sometimes I tend to try out new hobbies which never pan out. I tried doing puzzles, but that was really frustrating. I also really wanted to start pickling things, I still may do that.

I try to keep up on Twitter and Facebook. I'm a newbie to the indie-author world, but I love the things that are coming out of it. As usual, anytime I hear about a new ebook I want to read it immediately, and then it's just in that ever-expanding line of books I really want to read in my life.

I was learning word processing on a real computer in my elementary school. It was the tragic story of Bob and a room that he should have never gone into. The story went like this.

Bob walk into room. BOOM. Bomb.

Haunting.

Sit at our local coffee shop and stare at the computer until I get at least 1000 words. I drink coffee until I can drink no more and I listen to music if nothing is coming to me. Right now, I find Jay-Z, Kendrick Lemar, Kanye West, Astornautalis, and Chiddy-Bang to be particularly inspiring.

I loved the book The 5 Chinese Brothers as a kid. I don't think it's read much any more. It was about these five Chinese brothers who all had super powers. They each used their super powers to save one of the brothers from being executed. I spent a lot of time wishing I had super powers after that. I also spent many years suspecting that I might have super powers and just waiting for them to manifest. Still waiting.

Me and my best friend Dave sat down with Photoshop and tried to figure out what would look cool. We mess around with the photo until we both think it looks cool. Than my mom looks at it. Once we all think it's looks cool, we high five and call it a day.

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Northern Albania and I was pretty darn scared to come home. When something scares me I just start researching it and trying to find a way to understand it. So I treated Los Angeles like a city that I was visiting for the first time, even though I grew up there.
I started reading about the history of Los Angeles and there was so much that I never knew before. There are so many ancient and mystical cities in the world and I wanted Los Angeles to be one of those. I started augmenting the strange history of L.A. and making it into a city that I was excited to go back to and explore.
Also, L.A. is an interesting experience for the people who live here. You're around people all day, but you're alone. In your car, at work, or at home, you're alone more often than not. So many incredible cultures exist here and they rarely mix with one another the way they to in New York or Boston. I wanted to write a book about the supernatural community of Los Angeles.