My writing influences, simple as they may be...

I have a number of people that I have admired as writers. Not for their style, genre, or grammar, but for their approach and where they write from. The first is Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons), Twain wrote from exaggerations of his life experiences. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were the life he wanted as a boy growing up. Twain also wrote about the observations he saw wherever he went, and didn't hold back in speaking his mind. He spoke what he believed and I have been the same since as long as I can remember.

The second is Hunter S. Thompson, once again a writer that spoke his mind and what he believed. But unlike Twain, he lived the wild life he wrote about. Thompson's philosophy matches mine, along with a sharp wit and sarcastic tone. His antics are unmatched (I wish I could walk a mile in his shoes).

Carl Hiaason is another influence, his development of characters and their tics is beyond what other authors have and can achieve in my opinion. His story line is usually the same, corruption in south Florida, but it is diverse set of people in the stories that drag you in and keep you. Carl has also branched out into children's literature and has cultivated a new audience amongst young readers using the same formula as his adult fiction.

Now I have others I grew up with in the pulp fiction genre like Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague DeCamp, Robert Jordan (before he sold out). I have also read series by James Rollins and David Morrell.

(Note: Twain and Thompson both smoked cigars but had no influence on my liking them or my cigar habit, it just makes them cooler in my eyes)