Sure! My influences are many, both whent it comes to art and writing.

Like I mentioned before, I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from European comic artists, like Moebius, Loisiel, Alessandro Barbucci and even Milo Manara…. really, Manara’s comics are often really badly written (characters are unlikeable and the plots are a study in contrived ways for a comic artist to get to show some pussy), but at his best he’s a master of sensuality. I also love the work of Norwegian comic artist InkaLill, who blends high fantasy and cartoony humour in a really beautiful way. I do like a number of American comic artists too, though; Colleen Doran has beautiful artwork and people who really look like people, Jill Thompson’s nice and quirky, and of course if I ever think I’ve figured out the art of inking I need only look at the work of Walt Kelly and Wally Wood and be reminded I don’t have a clue. 

Writing-wise, I probably obsess a little more about Terry Pratchett than is probably healthy… though I also like Neil Gaiman (I don’t like ALL his work, but when he’s on he’s ON), Ryan North, G. Willow Wilson. Drew Hayes and Christen Lester. And as of late, Jessica Townsend, whose writing has come closer than any to recapture the whimsy and sheer FUN of early Harry Potter, but without J.K. Rowling’s underlining mean-spiritedness and surprisingly narrow mind; DEFINITELY without her fransphobic and heteronormative nature. 

I suppose I should mention Rowling as well; she did have a big influence on me as a writer… and though her flaws have grown more obvious with time, both personally and professionally, I would be lying if I said she hasn’t been some influence on me when it comes to snappy dialogue and the crafting of a good mystery story…. though she has also been an in other ways, mainly I now know what NOT to do if any of my stories become multi-million dollar franchises.  

And of course the grandfather of them all, J. R. R. Tolkien. He could get very dry and longwinded, and his characters weren’t the most interesting, but nobody could create a fantasy world, and make it feel like a living and breathing place, like him. With Tolkien, you BELIEVE that his world is a vast place and not just a convenient backdrop for the main characters. In fact, only two fantasy authors I’ve read even come close to ol’ Tolkien in making worlds live and breathe… the first is Terry Pratchett (of course) and the other is L. Frank Baum. Yeah, the guy who wrote the Oz series. I don’t know how or why, because Oz is riddled with surrealism and nonsense and continutiy errors… but in Baum’s books, it LIVES. It feels like a real place. (That’s another reason why I hated the MGM movie with Judy Garland. Those idiots turned Oz into a dream!) 

So those are a few of my influences! You’ll notice that apart from the European comic authors like Milo Manara, there aren’t a lot of erotic or fetish authors there… and that’s true. That’s because my main influences when it comes to erotic and hypnofetishy stuff come from the Internet. And when it comes to online creators, especially fellow writers and artists of erotic and hypnofetishy stuff, there are just too many influences to list.