A Meme Shamelessly Stolen

from The Reluctant Draggard

Fifteen Authors who have influenced me

1. St. John of the Cross/St. Teresa of Avila
2. St. John (author of the The Apocalypse)
3. Charles Baudelaire
4. John Keats
5. Stephane Mallarme
6. Basho
7. Lao-tzu/Chuang-tzu
8. Salvidor Dali/Rene Magritte
9. James Joyce
10. William Shakespeare
11. Henry Vaughn/Richard Crashaw
12. Li Po/Tu Fu
13. Virginia Woolf
14. Henry James
15. H.P. Lovecraft

List not necessarily in order of degree of influence--and influence includes not merely flavoring the writing by changing my life. Surprise, I had to stray a little because while some of those listed above are not authors in any way that people of common sense would define the term--they certainly are story-tellers. I doubled up on some simply to cheat and have more--because there is probably a list a mile long.  I did not list Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and a host of others who were all profound influences at one point or another. 

A more difficult task would be to list those under whose spell you still walk.  My list would include 1, 2, 9,  perhaps 13 and 14.  I would add, perhaps, Yiyun Li, whose prose and style and poise, and story-telling acumen I profoundly admire--and I am awaiting additional work by other more modern influences to decide.

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