That's easy, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Philip K. Dick and there are many others. I'm a fan of hard science fiction and write stories that have a reasonable grain of scientific truth. There are no fantasy elements in my stories and that disappoints many readers, especially since science fiction is now being confused with fantasy. This trend is leading many science fiction writers to mix the two genres. I want to inspire people to think about questions in science, engineering, psychology and philosophy. I want to inspire engineers to invent the devices we create out of a glimmer of an idea, to inspire scientists to get out of the box and to warn of possible consequences if the fruits of science are misused and humans don't act in concert to belay the consequences of corporate science and engineering actions. I'm not preachy about this, it's just a logical progression in some of my stories.

I spend a good amount of time being one of those engineers I write about. There are some great stories here as well but I may have to wait for some of the people involved in my past to die before I can write that book.

Yes, I was in High School and I was supposed to write a research report. Instead I put my heart and sole into a story called "The Big Brain" about a computer (vacuum tubes at that time) that took up four city blocks and emulated a human brain. By today's standard it was very naive. If such a computer was built it would have had the compute capability well short of my iPhone5s. I had no idea about mean-time-before-failure calculations so it never would have worked with that many components. I got a C since it was off subject and I didn't follow instructions. Lesson learned? Unfortunately not.

I don't have a ritual or set process. Once in a while, a story just explodes and I write as fast as I can type. At other times, I dress up a key character and let the character loose. The character then writes the story. By dress up, I mean I give the character a bio, likes and dislikes, a temperament and a flaw or two. I never outline a story but I do for nonfiction. For me, stories tend to take on a life of their own and the outline would be a waste of time or get in the way.

I read Arthur C. Clarke's Childhoods End while in High School and it was like a revelation. I became an avid science and science-fiction reader after that.

Probably. However, it is not gratuitous sex. The story you are referring to is the Tillian 5 Trilogy. The android Maggie, the heroine of Tillian 5, is a sex addict and it is this aspect of her persona that contributes significantly to her being a successful leader. It also creates many of her problems as well. She is the only character that I've developed that I fell in love with. As a writer, you are not supposed to do that.

It limits what you can do with or to the character. It also make the book harder to judge dispassionately. It kind of paints you into a corner. It made the third volume very difficult to write. I did it though and am reasonably pleased with the result.

My desk contains 5 computers. Why? I have programs that run under Windows 7, some that are older programs that run under XT. some that run on Mac OSX, some the run under linux, you get the idea. Besides, they keep my room warm. The walls are lined with books and I wish I had a huge whiteboard. The books will eventually go since I get mostly e-books now.

When I have a character that just takes off and writes his or her story. It's very exhilarating and hard to type fast enough to cast the thoughts into concrete. This happened in the first volume of "Tillian 5" and in the novella "Well of Mirrors." It would be wonderful if this would repeat on command but it is not to be.

I'm writing a series of short stories for a collection when time permits. Time seems to be in short supply these days. Too many things seem to demand my attention.

Making and keeping money. I spend a significant amount of time reading about stocks and watching the market. I don't want to repeat my 2008 experience when everything went to hell while my attention was elsewhere.

Life! Life is good. I'm interested in everything except sports. Baseball and golf are like watching grass grow. When I see football and boxing I see people getting their brain connections yanked apart with every blow to the head.

Currently using an iPad.

Start with "Well of Mirrors." If you don't like that story then you probably won't like the others. If you have a problem with stories with some fairly explicit sex scenes then avoid "Tillian 5." I hope you don't though because Maggie is someone everyone should meet.

In the San Francisco Bay Area. I think it gave me a rather liberal outlook on life and I was always involved with and an avid fan of science and technology. I didn't have the luxury of time to write science fiction until I retired but I alway wanted to.

I don't have the time or inclination to deal with agents or publishers. If I have something to say I just want to get it to the public as quickly as I can. Smashwords came along at just the right time to make that possible.

This is an interesting question. For the most part, I don't know who they are. Smashwords could help out here by providing a channel of communication from an author to buyers of that authors books.