Writing Influences

   It all began with a heartbeat below the floor boards. As a child, I stumbled upon Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart in a schoolroom, and found myself afflicted with a fascination for the macabre. That single story flung open a door to a dark dungeon and my love of all things horror was born.

  Then came the lightning strike: Carrie by Stephen King. Reading it felt like stepping into a storm; electrifying, terrifying, and unforgettable. I devoured King's books at a pace no school or public library could satisfy.

  Enter Dean Koontz. My next infatuation. Phantoms didn't just scare me, it possessed me. As did Watchers, The Bad Place, Nightfall, Strangers, Twilight Eyes.

 Next came the discovery of the genre bending phenom, Clive Barker. Books Of Blood was like a revelation to veins previously untapped. These stories aren't for the weak of heart. They are raw, unnerving, and utterly relentless.

  These titans of horror literature weren't just writers to me; they were inspirational to my choice to stretch the boundaries of horror fiction and create a my own place in the corridors of terror.

  I write from the shadows they cast, always watching, always listening, always ready to explore the next chill that creeps up my spine--and maybe, just maybe, send it skittering up yours.