Goodreads asked Glen Sharp:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Glen Sharp With my short, failed career as a professional boxer, I was intrigued by Pat Jordan's account of his struggles as a minor league baseball player in "A False Spring." Our paths were similar in several ways, including earning English degrees and become writers, and I wanted to tell my story, too.

But I was also impressed with the writing of Richard Rodriguez, especially his "Hunger of Memory," and knew that the relationship I had with my father would need to be an elemental part of the story. Like Rodriguez, I had a father for whom it was important that his children had all the educational opportunities that were not available to him. Rodriguez embraced what his father made possible, but I rebelled against it. In both cases, though, the gift of education brought unintended consequences. Rodriguez wrote eloquently about his father, and I tried to do so as well.

Finally, I have to mention the influence of Norman Maclean. I wrote my master's thesis on "A River Runs Through It," but "Young Men and Fire" is equally unforgettable. Maclean saw tragedy in what most would only see as catastrophe, at the same time detailing both the science of firefighting and the heroic qualities of smokejumpers. While investigating the horror of the Mann Gulch fire, he also examines his own young adulthood and explores the elements of storytelling.

These three writers were foremost in my mind as I wrote "Punching from the Shadows." I wanted to tell a story of athletic failure, of the timeless and universal struggle between father and son, and of both the mechanics and the meaning of boxing.

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