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In kindergarten that used to be my job, to tell them fairytales. I liked Hans Christian Andersen, and the Grimm fairy tales, all the classic fairy tales.

I was raised on the brothers Grimm, but my favorite fairy tales in the world are Oscar Wilde's - 'The Nightingale and the Rose,' 'The Selfish Giant.' The latter is probably my all-time favorite.

When I was a kid, the book that I liked the most was 'Aesop's Fables.' There was a version of it that my father read stories to us kids out of. I liked the idea of the short story format.

I liked Hans Christian Andersen because the tales were so dark and tragic.

I loved fairy tales growing up.

As a kid, I was obsessed with myths and legends and the haunting beauty of gothic stories.

I didn't know children were expected to have literary heroes, but I certainly had one, and I even identified with him at one time: Doctor Dolittle, whom I now half identify with the Charles Darwin of Beagle days.

I tell 'Hansel and Gretel' stories about heroic children who are lost in a world that seems friendly at first, and then isn't.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to be close to family members who were - and still are - great storytellers. I was a gullible country boy from Rocky Mount, Virginia, and I believed every folktale they told me, no matter how fantastic.

My parents told me any and every fairy-tale from all around the world. I usually gravitated towards ones with interesting, strong heroines.