This was an homage piece to Stephen King. I think I had too much caffiene when I came up with the idea, and wrote it down in a fever, before I had an attack of good sense. I ended up doing a re-write of this piece a couple of years ago, when I did a rework of almost all of my early pieces, to efface the early formulaic nature of my stories.

In retrospect, I have concluded this piece is unsalable, due to the heavy references to Mr. King, as well as the fact that it works as a writing exercise, but not really as a story. I think that it is just a series of cliches strung together, with just enough original material to make it hold together.

I chose this piece to illustrate how much I was influenced from Stephen King. I would also list C.S. Lewis, Ralph Peters, and J.R.R. Tolkein as having left deep imprints on me too, but I would say that Stephen King was the first, and most formative.

I recall my interest in things that go bump in the night had been channeled into non-fiction about ghosts and poltergeists. However, a trip to the library in the summer before high school re-ignited my somnolescent interest when I found a copy of Pet Semetary. After reading it, I went on a two-year jag, where I tried building a complete collection of his works by combing the used book stores.

I must admit that I have not been reading him with the same passion of late (I'm trying to get my way through the extensive library I've already accumulated) and I am missing a couple of books (Wolves of the Calla and Susannah's song). However, I still thoroughly enjoy his labors whenever I get a chance to pick up one of his books.

(Just a note, since it takes too d*^^%ed long to get these updates done - I have indeed finished the Dark Tower cycle, and I for one think that Mr. King got it right. It will be up to somebody else to write the new adventures of Roland, or maybe it should be up to the readers to write their own adventures in their mind. Roland of Gilead is no longer Mr. King's alone, but he now belongs to the ages.)

Anyone who has worked as one of my coterie readers is likely to recognize at least a few of his fingerprints. I have adopted the idea of the deadlights, incorporating it into the warp and woof of my mythos. Randall Flagg has an analogue in my stories, and while I cannot say the scope of my stories is as ambitious as his, he has also influenced me in the idea of a unified world. I plan on getting an exposition up on my other page about the scope of my vision. Stay tuned.