I have recently self-published a collection of eight stories under the hardcover printed 'Table Fables'. One of the stories, "Bukosi - King of the Ants" was released as an ebook available on Smashwords as well as other sites. The 8-story collection is now available at my author Website www.earl mathis.com or www.thetablefables.com as well as Amazon.com. Reviews have been fantastic and I'm excited to see feedback from new readers.

I'm working on some new fables which will be added to the series in the next year or so.

Some of my favorite authors are George Orwell, Langston Huges, and Jasmine Kumallah.

My mind begins racing with ideas and things to do around 4:00 am, and with two small children, my inspiration is complete.

I run a Web retail and consulting business. When not doing that, I'm totally immersed with my children's activities.

From many sources.

I believe the first creative thing I ever wrote was a poem at the age of eight or nine. My test audience, brother, and sister, were not too kind.

My creative flow starts with storytelling. Stories come to me when I start talking (not knowing where it may go). At the end of the story, I quickly grab my laptop to write it down. When I write memoirs, of course, I can sit at my laptop and write non-stop.

I can't remember the first story I read, yet there were so many stories I heard, given I grew up in a community of storytellers in my home and the culture of the people all around me.

I think on it for some time and look for some inspiration. The cover art for "Table Fables" came from a night vision or dream.

My favorite books are more in the non-fiction genre that includes many texts of ancient world history especially ancient Egypt, United States history, and cultures. I should have been an anthropologist.

Narratives of ancient and recent history, and cultures all around the world.

Laptop.

Well, I'm new at this, so I hope to be able to answer that question in the next year or so.

The kitchen or dining room table.

I grew up in southeastern North Carolina, USA, in a community where tobacco farming was the chief industry. My life on the farm with the rural culture of the 1960's had a tremendous impact on my writings.

Around the age of 8, I created one or two poems but did not spend any serious time writing until much later in life around forty. There were a number of times throughout my life that I sensed writing was a gift through encouragement from college professors, and co-workers in a corporate landscape. At forty, it became memoirs base on my upbringing. Not until my children arrived, did I publish.

My book "Table Fables" is a collection of stories told to my young daughters around the kitchen table. They were intended to share my love of storytelling, give them glimpses of my life as a kid on the farm, entertain and inspire them, and share life lessons and morals.

I always had this hidden desire to become an author. The indie approach felt as a natural fit to my personality and skill set.

Smashwords has helped get more exposure to my writing.

Seeing it all come together and reading the final work and feeling that it was a story that I was pleased to be chosen to bring it forward.

I love that my fans can connect with what I've written and that they see their story in my story.