Tolkien is the reason we have such rich fantasy novels today. Before The Lord of The Rings, there wasn’t any notion of elves, dwarves, and wizards in popular fiction. He practically invented them. Generally, when you think of elves, you think lean, tall, pointy-eared etc. Tolkien is responsible for that vision. Most fantasy books today have some trace of Tolkien in them; when you read through Force of Nature, one of the elves even comments on Tolkien’s uncanny sense of fantasy. 4. Bram Stoker 
Ah, yes, Dracula. Considering the boom of vampire culture right now, it’s no wonder that Stoker makes this list. There are no vampires in the Force, and I don’t plan on ever using them, in the traditional sense that is. Alex does suck energy out of people, don’t forget. (Funny, I never made that connection until just now.) But the main reason for Stoker goes back about 10 years ago. I was in university, taking a Germanics class called “The History of Vampires in Film”. We watched vampire movies each class. Part of the assignments required reading Stoker’s original text. I remember having such a vivid picture in my mind while reading that I thought, wow, I wish I could write like that. Since then, two vampire novels have again inspired me to write. First, yes, I’ll admit it, Twilight. I devoured the series very quickly. Shortly after, I found I had nothing to read that was similar, so I decided to write the kind of book I would want to read. Force is what came out of that. Second, Jennifer Rardin’s Jaz Parks series. I picked the first book up on my way camping and ended up having to buy the rest of the series before the end of the first day. When I got home, I realized I hadn’t touched my novel (this time it was Force of Nature) for months, and started finishing it. I also love Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, and refer vaguely to her in the third (still untitled) story in the Force series. Nonetheless, it was Stoker who is the most widely recognized author who brought the myth of the vampire to the novel.
3. Cecilia Ahern 
Remember her? She wrote this little book series called “Harry Potter”. Rowling is such an inspiration, both through her words, and through her story. She made reading cool again. She changed the world with her stories. I remember first reading HP after my mom had one a boxed set of the first three books. They hadn’t hit it big yet in Canada, and we both didn’t know what to do with these “young adult” books. Who was going to read them? I ended up reading the first book quite by accident, and told my mom she HAD to read it. I wasn’t finished the second one when she started pawing for it! We were starved for more Harry! Her determination to write, despite all odds against her (a single mom on welfare in England) only furthers my admiration of her. She’s now got a whole empire around her. You go, girl!
1. Neil Gaiman 
I remember when I first joined twitter (@shawnapiranha), I started following Neil, (we’re on a first name basis, apparently) and I kept saying to people, "I wish Neil Gaiman was my friend!" He’s so unbelievably AWESOME! He writes the way I only hope to write. His words come out like music, even on something as restrictive as twitter! The first book I read of his was Neverwhere, which blew my mind. What a fantastic concept! I followed it up with Stardust, and American Gods. If you’ve read Force, you’ll know how these were strong inspirations for some of the characters in the novel. I’ve read all of his books, though I must admit, I haven’t yet read the Sandman graphic novels, basically because I’m a wuss. Gaiman invites the creep factor in when everyone else is afraid to (like Shadow’s wife in American Gods... creeeeeeeepy)... even The Graveyard Book isn’t afraid to delve into the dark depths of a child’s mind. So fantastic. There’s something about the imagery he creates that makes his books feel like paintings. The best example of this is to read the short story Mirrormask...then watch the movie. It’s exactly how you see it in your mind. A lot of his novels are getting turned into movies: Stardust was highly successful, Neverwhere was made into a miniseries, Coraline was nominated for an Oscar, and according to IMDB, The Graveyard Book is getting the film treatment! I have to say, my biggest inspiration for writing comes from Neil.
