​Jon Acuff: Start

Kevin J. Anderson: Death Warmed Over Dan Shamble

Jim Butcher: It's a hard call deciding between the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera series. Storm Front launched my reading into the urban fantasy mystery genre, mixing magic and detective mysteries in a way I'd never imagined. Furies of Calderon (despite apparently being some kind of dare) did things with magic that inspired wholesale changes to the way I imagined various systems in my newer works.

Richard Castle: Riiight, just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Jack L. Chalker: Four Lords of the Diamond series Lilith: A Snake in the Grass

Anthony Francis: Anthony's Skindancer series is a gripping urban fantasy world filled with creatures of every source and a heroine employing magical tattoos of all things. His magic is backed by practical science hard enough to send me off on a research tangent just to fully understand the elegance behind its  principles. I highly recommend it, starting with Frost Moon.

Kim Harrison: Dead Witch Walking - The Hollows series

John G. Hartness: Hard Day's Knight

Faith Hunter: Skinwalker Jane Yellowrock series

Stephen King: Not really a fan of the types of stories he prefers to tell, but I really enjoyed his On Writing.

Mercedes Lackey: There's so much to love, but my favorite has to be The Elvenbane and the rest of the Halfbood Chronicles by Mercedes & Andre Norton.

Anne Logston: I read Shadow when I was a teen. The story stuck with me, driving me nuts until years later I finally figured out the book's title and author. It's older fantasy, but I still enjoy it.

Devon Monk: Magic to the Bone

Jana Oliver: My exposure to Ms. Oliver started at a convention where he description sent me into The Demon Trapper's Daughter. The book's setting of nearby Atlanta, represented as a character equal to Riley her protagonist, rang so incredibly true it made a lasting impression. I have high expectations for her recent gift to me of Socially Engaged: The Author's Guide to Social Media. I highly recommend her works.

Dave Ramsey: Total Money Makeover

Branden Sanderson: Mistborn: The Final Empire

This list is horribly out of date, more to come...

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When it comes to my favorite movies/TV, I'm not apologizing. Some I like for a check your brain at the door, some for story, some for other reasons. Deal with it.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend: I don't get to say this often, but this movie fooled me. The surprise ending caught me entirely flatfooted, though after another viewing I saw all the hints I didn't notice.

Real Genius:

Titan AE:

The Incredibles:

The Court Jester:

Doctor Mordred:

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog:

Gamers: Dorkness Rising: Awesomeness seldom seen which extends into all the Gamers shows - especially the one I got a poster of Murder in Wizard's Wood into

Dungeons & Dragons:

Castle: He acts like a real writer. That's rare enough in today's television, but Nathan Fillian is constantly making fun of himself.

Once Upon a Time: I love the writing on this show, simultaneously honoring the original stories while building an intricate but believable plot.

Firefly: Do I even need to comment?

Tron Legacy: Not a great plot, but gorgeous.

Burn Notice: Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar and a guy named Michael blowing things up. Enough said.

The Postman: I know, Kevin Costner? This movie was an Epic, the kind we don't see made anymore.

Waterworld: Another Epic, and I actually like Costner.

iRobot: Gorgeous with a thought provoking plot and some fun action.

Sky High: Superhero High School, reminds me of the old Teenagers from Outer Space RPG.

Zoom: Snarky (cousin?) Tim Allen and angsty kids with superpowers.

The obligatory mention for a fantasy /science fiction writer - Star Wars & Star Trek: I grew up on them. They've got their good points and their bad. Either way they'll always hold a special place in the heart of a five to seven year old who saw their first releases in theaters. Feel free to add Battlestar Galactica (old and new), Buck Rodgers, Andromeda, and Farscape to them.

Greatest American Hero:

The Rookie: I'm sorry to say this Mister Shatner We love you, but Nathan's a much more convincing cop...maybe he's got Richard Castle doing the writing.

The Orville: I have to say I haven't been a huge fan of Seth MacFarlane until this show, but he's making up for it.

This list is  also horribly out of date, more to come...

Elite Dangerous/Gold: My love for Elite goes way back to gold. This is one of the games that inspired the Scion series, and lets face it, you get to be a space pirate!

Starflight: Totally ancient PC game from the early EA studios. Loved it to pieces. I spent countless hours on this old clunker, so naming it one of my inspirations for Scion in general and the rilduron in specific shouldn't come as a surprise.

Wing Commander - Privateer: Another golden oldie very much like Elite that's responsible for concepts in Scion, and more space piracy! 

Mechwarrior/commander: Come on, MECHA! I liked the mechwarrior series a bit more than the top down commander, mostly because it filled the same kind of desires playing an engineer in the robotech RPG did (not that Veritech aren't awesome, but someone in the party has to be able to fix them). Yes, there are mecha in my story future.

The Sims: Yeah, so sue me. I'm a writer. I like playing god with characters' lives.

Civilization: Building cultures, running armies, competing with other players...oh yeah.

Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri: Civilization on other planets, that's a total win.

Sid Meyer's Pirates!: Not quite as cool as being a space pirate, but this one included wenches.

More to come...