I started writing serious books so late because I knew I'd be accused of riding on my father's coattails.
From Thomas Steinbeck
I've always been fascinated by the Chinese. This goes a long way back to my childhood. The Chinese invented money, movable type, clocks, and built the largest ships in the history of the world.
I thought my dad was out of work, because my friends had fathers with briefcases who'd go off somewhere with bow ties on. But my father would finish breakfast and go back to his room.
My only job is to write in such a way that the reader gets a new handle on humanity.
For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.
When I was fifteen, my father gave me a first edition copy of Ray Bradbury's magnificent work, 'The Martian Chronicles.' I had read other science fiction by noted authors, but this book was something else altogether.
I was eighteen when I first read Joseph Heller's stunning work 'Catch-22,' and was at that time close to being drafted for the fruitless and unenlightened war in Viet Nam.
You didn't grow up in the shadow of John Steinbeck. He put you on his shoulders and gave you all the light you wanted.
The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.
I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.
3 perspectives
2 perspectives
1 perspectives