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Books that had a big impact on me over the years. (This isn’t necessarily a “top” ten, but a list of ten books going all the way back to my childhood.) In no particular order:
OH, BROTHER by Johnniece Marshall Wilson. The same 3rd grade teacher that got me into writing also gave me this novel, which was about two brothers with jarringly different personalities who had to share a bedroom. I found a ton of parallels in it when I considered my relationship with my own older brother (it’s written from the POV of the younger brother.) I read it several times, just absorbing it over and over, and as I reflect on it, I’m glad my teacher knew me well enough to know what book would find a place in my being the way this one did.
UNWIND by Neal Shusterman. I could write pages and pages about this book. Let me just cite two things: first, Shusterman found a way to take a hot-button social issue (abortion) and write a story about it that examined a very, very scary solution to it…without revealing his own opinion on the matter. And second, there’s one particular scene in the book that made me put it down and just not say anything for a while. It kind of wrecked me, it was so powerfully written and well thought-out, and it jarred my soul. If you’ve read this book, you know which scene I’m talking about. Nobody could mistake it. I want to learn how to do what Shusterman did in this book.
EDUCATION OF A WANDERING MAN by Louis L’Amour. If I hadn’t taken one of my college English classes, I would never have read this. Louis L'Amour was a frontiersman and a writer. These two things, plus his own views and philosophies about life, history, the world, and his craft, made for an impactful combination, and I find myself wanting to emulate a lot of his attitudes and methods on things. His writing philosophies especially shaped my approach to historical fiction.
HARD MAGIC by Larry Correia. Oh, man. What a rip-roaring adventure. This was the book that taught me never to hold back, that you don’t have to have just one good idea in a story or a series or a world. If you want to have magical secret wizards using X-Men style powers with awesome guns on airships while they fight magical samurai in an alternate 1930s Prohibition-era America, then by golly, why would you not? Because if you write the dialogue and the narrative bits the way that you would write any other serious piece of fiction, all of the cool bits are just icing on the cake.
THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl. Another great book from my 3rd grade days. I read the cover off this thing almost. I can only say that about a few books in life, and most of them are on this list.
BRIAN’S WINTER by Gary Paulsen. Of all the Brian Robeson books that Paulsen wrote (aka the Hatchet series) this one swept me away the most. I read it half a dozen times in the span of a few months back in 1998, and every time I read it afterward, it was less of a book and more of an experience. Paulsen knows how to sweep you into a world of wild solitude and show you the ways of survival without making it a tale of conquest. Love it.
THE SUPERNATURALIST by Eoin Colfer. One of his least-known titles, but probably his boldest. It’s only ten chapters long, but Colfer does more in those ten chapters—in terms of injecting ideas, details, motives, settings, characters, and scenarios—than a lot of writers can do in three books. This was the first book I gifted to my wife back when we were dating. We’re married now and have two kids. You do the math.
THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner. Watching James go from a practically-unknown dude with two books in the Jimmy Fincher series with a small publisher, to the megastar that he’s become now, really grounded my own dreams and visions for me. I’ve read plenty of books that were hugely successful and got turned into movies and so forth, but this was the first time that I saw it happen in real-time. James explained his idea for the book at a writer’s conference I attended in 2006, and three years later I was reading the ARC courtesy of the publisher. While it’s not my favorite book, it’s definitely important in my lexicon of encouraging publications, a testament that dreams really can and do come true, to real people, people I’ve interacted with and watched over the years. I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that.
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Washington Irving. Imagine that, a classic that’s actually worth reading centuries later! Irving’s style and prose capture so much in such a short span, it’s hard not to get swept up in a book like this when you start reading the first few lines. I read this one regularly and I love it more every time. One day I will write a book that ties into it, but I’m almost scared to, because I know it won’t really be on par with Irving’s craft. (That won’t stop me, though.)
THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen. If Larry Correia taught me to kick every component of my story up to Level Ten on the Fantastic Awesome Magic Firepower Scale, Jennifer Nielsen taught me that you can still punch people in the stomach with a fantasy book using nothing but the characters and the story. Seriously, for a “fantasy book” (set in a fictional kingdom), there is no magic, no non-human races, no monsters, none of that, and yet it blows most of its competition sky-high. I was floored by the roster of intriguing, ruthless, amusing characters, led by an incurable smart-mouth named Sage, who proves over and over again that you have no idea what he’s going to do next. This book is a true testament to wit.
Funny thing is, I used character models for many of these people, and a lot of them were friends and family. (Calvin and Godfrey were based on my wife's two brothers, Patrick and Joe.) If they were to be cast for a film or something, I think I'd like some unknowns for those roles. I will say that I think Jonathan Frakes should play Commodore McCracken, and Marina Sirtis should be his wife Edith, for nerdy reasons. And I would demand a side role for myself, I'm just that vain. I think I'd like to be John Penn, the man who recruits Calvin to join the cause. That would be pretty meta.
What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers?

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What writers inspired you to become an author? 

If you could travel to any time in history, when would you visit? 

If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? What food would you serve?

If you could travel anywhere, on earth or off, where would you go?

What color would you wear if you had only one choice? 

Describe your dream writing spot.