Tony Breeden

I mostly grew up in West Virginia, but my family moved up and down the east coast a lot. I've probably been to Disney World a lot more times than any kid has a right to. I grew up amongst snow-covered mountains and warm, pristine beaches. I loved the open road and the adventure that called from the horizon. But I always thought of West Virginia as my home.

I grew up with two brothers who were my worst enemies and best friends all rolled into one. We went on noble quests to slay dragons, free planets from the evil Empire and to bring treasure back from lost cities in the jungle. Our imaginations knew no limits... at least until simple physics and minor injuries taught us better.

I grew up watching movies by Spielberg before he lost his optimism, Lucas before he started selling out and Harryhausen before his work was replaced by CGI. Special effects pioneers Harryhausen and John Dykstra were my heroes; in fact, I give them both a more than obvious nod in Luckbane. My dad and I had little in common except love for each other and our love for fantasy and science fiction, but I clearly recall watching the original Star Trek on TV and going to see Return of the Jedi and Clash of the Titans on the big screen with him. I began imagining my own movies, writing my own stories, creating my own story boards. It's little wonder that when I write, I write cinematically.

I grew up in the 80s. I played Pong, Atari and Super Nintendo. My favorite US President is still Reagan, whom I think of every time I eat a jelly bean or see Michael J Fox. I still think cassette tapes are better than CDs; just try playing a CD after you've kicked it around on the floorboard for about a week. I wanted my MTV and I absolutely do not recognize that MTV in either today's MTV or MTV2. Some of the best movies ever made came out of that decade. And some of the worst. For better or for worse, I was raised on a diet of Gremlins and Goonies, ET and Alien, Star Wars and Star Trek, Willow and Back to the Future, Big Trouble in Little China and the Dark Crystal, Blade Runner and the Running Man, the Last Dragon and the Last Starfighter. Die Hard is still my favorite Christmas movie. Yippee-ki-yay, Hans.

I grew up in church. Church is not God... and thank God for that. Children were expected to be in the sanctuary for the entire service back then. I sang hymns and listened to hellfire sermons. I endured hard pews and watched saints who's survived the Great Depression testify of the goodness and faithfulness of God. I watched televangelists rise to excess and fall from grace. I witnessed lesser known hypocrisies on the local level. I believed a science teacher who told me the Bible was a myth and I only believed what I did because my parents told me to believe it; I didn't appreciate the irony of his pitch until after a decade of decadence at which point I returned to the faith with a vengeance.

I grew up but I didn't forget... and I think my writing shows that.

That is actually a pretty difficult question because, well, I read a lot more than I write.

My all-time favorite: The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. I pretty much devoured the entire series and then drifted off into some of Harrison's other works. I think it was the first time I'd ever ran across an anti-hero as protagonist. Harrison's work is tongue-in-cheek and a lot of fun!

Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony also deserved a special nod. I ended up going back and reading the first several novels in the Xanth series and then followed it for about a decade after. Maybe it's because I've always loved a good pun. I dunno.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in the Dragonlance saga by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, launched my obsession with that series. Irrepressible kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot will always hold a special place in my heart.

What else? Oh, have to mention Terry Pratchet's Landover series. Magic Kingdom For Sale was pure genius.

Last but never least, I've always loved the adventure, intrigue and magic of the Bible. I think people take the grand scope of its tales for granted, but there is definitely a reason they call it The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Honorable mentions include: a stand-alone book by Piers Anthony called Kill-O-Byte (As you might imagine from reading Luckbane, I found the idea of folks playing a video game on a whole different level very compelling); LOTR; Harry Potter; Narnia; Dragonriders of Pern; and, as my favorite new book, Flight of the Angels by Allan and Aaron Reini.