When done right, writing is a form of mind control. Doing that has to be the greatest joy of writing. When people read through different parts of a book, I know what they're thinking and how they're feeling. I know what they're taking away from each scene. It's something that's hard to get from another area in life.

For years I've been thinking about this guy who can do anything but only once. So he can fly...that one time. He can have super strength but just that one time. Finally, the main character started coming into focus. Very complex story and character. I'm going to finish it when I'm done with all the In Blackness stuff. However, I'll dabble with it from time to time. It'll be done before the new decade, hopefully

I love me some Kurt Vonnegut. I also have read my share of Clive Barker. Not that I've read a lot of her but Joyce Carol Oates seems to do it for me. I like authors with a lot of style in their narrative. I like experimentation coupled with entertainment. I like drama that I can't see in my actual life. At the same time, genres kind of bore me, so these three are a good fit.

I have no choice but to do the routine of waking up, urinating, getting ready for work and blah blah blah. Not my idea. It's something I haven't found a way to avoid. If it were up to me I'd get up in the afternoon, nap in the evening, whiskey and then some writing in the library or some place. Maybe some basketball every here and there.

I honestly look for a story that's actually about people. A lot of ebooks seem to be about situations but not the people in the situations, and you can tell by the back cover copy. At least I think I can. Once I get a sense of people in the back cover copy I'll get a preview. If I can just read the preview I'm ready to meditate about a full download. To be honest, I don't care about the picture or cover at all. I mean, it needs a cover picture but if it's bad I just don't care. I'll check it out anyway. Most covers, even on paper books, are sheer rubbish, in my opinion. Put it this way: if you give me an amazing title and a great font then you can sell a lot more to me than a melodramatic or ironic cover that I have to try and ignore.. Aside from that it's word of mouth or by title.

No

I decided that for all the In Blackness books I didn't want a whole lot of color on my covers and I wanted them all hand drawn. I like organic. So I got a cover person who I saw her art and said there it is. I liked her art because some if it reminded me of Pus Head, and it seemed to fit the tone of not just the story but the whole series. All I want on my cover is an image that means something to the story somehow. Not necessarily in a specific way. To me it's more how the title is written than the picture that goes with it. If it's a decent title then it lends itself to a personality of letters. I love the subtitle to my newest novel The Reinvention of Man. Basically anything sinister fits perfectly behind it. It should look like it belongs on a thumbnail too.

I read a lot of comic books for pleasure. The writing is very simple and overdramatic. Love it. They're overly written and drawn and it's fantastic. I also read a lot of news articles, specifically on tech. I read all news but I'll read more articles on tech than anything. I try to read novels but most of the time I feel like the author thinks I'm an idiot, so I have to put the book down. But I love reading a little of everything.

My work station is simple. A monitor next to a docked tablet. In back of those are computer speakers. The separated keyboard is charging almost directly underneath the screen. I like to have facebook and twitter open on the tablet screen, while the other screen has my document up or the news. It's actually pretty cool when I do research. I have my research open on one screen and the document on the other. My actual desk is all glass with a keyboard that slides in from underneath. No papers on it. All that stuff is on my tablet. Wireless keyboard by the way.

Sometimes I connect the keyboard and write in bed or head to the coffee house or I go outside on the patio.

My latest book is the middle of the three. The first one built up to itself and exploded at the end. This one is moving from the opening. Or better put, In Blackness is about discovering. The Reinvention of Man is about doing something with what you discovered. The third will be about owning the consequences of actions taken in ROM. In Blackness: The Reinvention of Man will undoubtedly be the bloodiest of the three. There isn't so much a lot of people dying as there's a lot of people who are dead and not buried or flying through the sky or bleeding on top of someone.