I'm working on a couple of books that will change how I write in the future. After a great deal of reading in the action and war fiction genres, I've taken notice to a couple of authors I really like: Mathew Reilly, from England; Tom Clancy's ghost writers under the name of David Michaels, all American (John Spence, I think for one), Dan Brown, an American writer, of the Da Vinci Code, and, of course, Tom Clancy, who is very American, if you know what I mean.

Out of all of these, Mathew Reilly is the most exciting and Tom is the most prolific. Of the two, I have to proclaim Reilly as my favorite. I love reading the very young Reilly. I simply have a hard time putting his books down. And they aren't small, either!

What makes them so great? The action. The flat-out, burning fast, kick-ass action that doesn't stop until the last page, and leaves you wanting more. Reilly. Don't for forget the name. Mathew is the first name. From England, no less, and I don't usually go for Brit writers. Grab one of his books. You'll thank me later.

My style has always been very close to the great Stephen J. Cannell, whose writing I love, to say the least. However, after reading these other guys, I've decided to loosen up the binds retaining my conservativism and explode. I can see how previously held conventions of writing have been thrown out the window by guys like Reilly. The English language is changing. Literature is evolving into something more understandably what I call ,"now writing", stuff that deseves to be held up as the modern linguistics, the style of the streets, if you will. Frankly, I never liked the stiff upper lip sort of writing from Europe and the American past. Conversely, I didn't want to appear hoolaginstically illiterate, either.

From the Zen techniques of Ray Bradbury to the highly technical prose of Isaac Asimov to the historically correct and philosophically challenging epics of Clancy, there must be a convergence of words I can effectively assemble in an aesthetically pleasing, yet intellectually provocative manner, bulging at the seams with masculinity and muscular fast action story that works, but doesn't reek of someone else's style, only that of my own construction. To that end will I punch the keys.

If I can somehow tell a good story in an enjoyable way, I'll be happy. TRB