For we who live to write, always remember to consider the young who will read our work, and how our work might affect them. All writers want to breathe life into life-changing works of literature...but we must make sure that the change is geared to the positive.

In many ways I grew up deep in the boonies with very few friends, no social life, and no father figure. Surprisingly enough, it was the hundreds of science fiction and fantasy books I read that gave me the guidance I needed, not only on understanding the world around me, but especially on being a good man, guidance that I never would have received otherwise.

In my opinion, a writer should try to adhere to the credo of the medical profession: "Do no harm". Break truckloads of eggs, dropkick every sacred cow, and rip away the blinders forced upon the masses by society, but do no harm.

There are too many books to mention, but here are the SFF authors that changed my life: Heinlein, Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Niven, and so many others, and most of all, the O.G. punster Asimov (read his short story "Shah Guido G." and you'll see what I mean)