Tell us a little about your background. A short version of your life story.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, just across the border from Liberal, Kansas. I attended school in a small college within the state, where I got a degree in Business Administration. Following college, I spent about a year in California trying to break into the music business. Most of my time there was spent working in a toy store in Newport Beach. Following that unsuccessful venture, I returned to Oklahoma, where I worked as the Business Manager for a small public school. I also attended a nearby junior college, where I received a degree in Sound Technology. Eventually I became an instructor at the school, and have held the job ever since. I'm married and have two children, one getting her degree in nursing and the other completing his teacher's certificate. We live in Texas.

I was fortunate to grow up in a very stable home, with two Christian parents who attended church. I became a Christian at the ripe age of six, on a rainy day in a Sunday school class in a Baptist Church. The teacher was explaining the rapture, and as the weather looked exceedingly ominous, I felt it prudent to give my life to Christ, just in case this proved to be the Last Day. Although I was quite young, the decision was a real one. Over the years I have attended various Protestant denominations, and am currently going to an independent church with Baptist leanings.

Teaching allows me summer's off, so I make the most of my writing time then, though I try to write every day.

I tend to gravitate toward science fiction and fantasy, though I am interested in a lot of different kinds of works. I've come to the classics late in life, which is actually not a bad way to do it. Since I began attending science fiction conventions, where I often meet people who read 300+ books a year, I've begun keeping a list of what I read. I manage about 50 books a year. I had designated this year the Year of the Pulp, where I will finally clean up my library by reading many of the books I've been 'meaning' to read, some for as long as 10 years. But I've also managed a few classics as well. The last five books are Ayn Rand's "Anthem" A Merritt's "The Metal Monster," Ray Bradbury's "From the Dust Returned," "Tess of the Dubervilles" by Thomas Hardy, and Phillip K. Dick's "Martian Time Slip" I'm in the middle of both "Islandia" and Tim Power's "Anubis Gates."

Ray Bradbury, I think. I began writing in study hall when I was fourteen years old. When I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, my hobby became pretty firmly fixed. I was probably one of the few high school students who asked for an electric typewriter for his birthday.

Bradbury and Tolkien. After that, the entire Ballantine Book's Sign of the Unicorn series published in 1969-1973. I was lucky as a young man to be exposed to that level of writing skill: Dunsany, Peake, Morris, Hodgson, etc. It did have a down side, however. After being so heavily influenced by such verbose writers, it took me a long time to create a style accessible to the modern reader. I would go off on flights of prose in my early stuff. . . .

I believe that Christian writers have the same responsibility to follow Christ as any other Christian. Even though I may be writing an action-adventure fantasy novel, I believe it should still reflect Christian values. In the case of my two published novels, which involve a house that is the mechanism God uses to run the universe, I found myself always treading close to the Unseen--the premise lends itself toward asking spiritual questions. I think my second book may have made my publisher a bit uneasy, though she never said as much, since, along with other issues, it deals with a test of faith for my hero. C.S. Lewis is a big hero of mine--not so much for his fantasy, which is good, but for his theological works. George MacDonald is also an influence, and G.K. Chesterton was surely one of the finest Christian minds of the 20th century. I am fascinated by his "A Man Who was Thursday." There's a little bit of all three men in my books.

Through the act of a gracious editor. George Scithers, editor of Amazing Stories magazine, saw some promise in a story I wrote called The Perfect Day. It was very Bradburyesque. George rejected it twice, always with words of advice and a promise to look at it again if I "fixed" it. He taught me tons about writing with his brief suggestions. It came out in 1985. Unfortunately, because I was torn between wanting to be a writer or a musician, I did what any sane person would do at such a moment of success. I quit writing for ten years to concentrate on my music career.

But having that story published helped me through a number of dark years; it gave me a sense of worth about my abilities when I had little other evidence. I owe Mr. Scithers much more than I can ever repay.

I'm working on several things right now, some of which I'm afraid to discuss for fear of jinxing them. I did recently finish a labor of love--for several years I've wanted to rewrite William Hope Hodgson's "The Night Land" The book, a flawed masterpiece, was written in 1912 in an extremely verbose style, using an archaic language of Hodgson's own design. It's the story of a man who wakes in the future to discover the sun has gone out. All of humanity lives in a 8 mile high pyramid set in a rift 100 miles in the earth. Forces of Evil surround the pyramid, waiting for the moment when its defenses fail, so they can destroy the last remaining vestiges of humanity. And, of course, our hero has to travel out into The Night Land on a quest. Its a fabulous book--science fiction, fantasy, and romance novel all wrapped into one. By the time I pared down Hodgson's original work, it had gone from 200,000 words to 100,000. I've just sent it to my agent, who will either love it or think I've lost my mind. Time will tell.

Honestly, I've never thought of it, though rewriting Hodgson's book was a kind of collaboration. I spent a lot of time trying to retain his thoughts and ideas, many of which he merely alluded to, leaving me the job of fleshing them out. But he was a silent partner. Writing is such a solitary activity; I don't know if I could write with anyone else, though it would probably make it less lonely.

As I've mentioned, both The High House and its sequel, The False House, are set in an endless house called Evenmere. The heroes must keep the house running--the candles lit, the clocks wound, etc, or the universe fails. Its a daunting task for the Master of the house, Carter Anderson, since he is constantly being assaulted by a group of anarchists, who hope to change the nature of existence by changing the nature of the house.

About the nature of my own creative process. Books are fun to write, but the difficult part is when I reach a point in the story where I don't know what will happen next. That involves allowing the subconscious mind to work, which means taking long walks and waiting for inspiration to work. I've had to learn to be patient, to let the story unfold.

No rituals, really. I write on a laptop, so I tend to drift from desk to fainting couch. I try to write at least an hour a day, five days a week, and more hours in the summer. I plot a lot of my story, in a nifty computer program called Power Structure. This only takes me so far, however, because I tend to write toward "discovery," I write to see what happens next. Or, as Dennis McKiernan puts it, I write toward the horizon--I know what will happen up to a point, but then I have to reach that point before I can see beyond it to discover what comes next.

Just write, mostly. Read the best books in the world and read fluff as well. The first teaches craft, the second fills the subconscious mind with material to use later. Join a writer's group so others can critique your work. And the best piece of advice, which I read years ago in an article by Barry Longyear: regardless how important you feel your writing is, remember that no one--not even those who love you best--will consider it as important, even when they are supportive. Because of this, you don't have the right to ask others to sacrifice in the name of your "art." Or, put another way, you can't act like a jerk around your family. That's an important thing for all writers, artists, and musicians to remember.