Sasya Fox
This one wasn't as easy to answer as I initially thought it was going to be. The closer I came to an easy answer, the further I found myself from any answer at all!
In my pre-teens, I consumed a steady—if eclectic—diet of Asimov, Heinlein, Tolkien, Niven, Piers Anthony (?!), Pournelle, Margaret Weis (and accordingly Tracy Hickman, of course), plus quite an array of speculative fiction, much of it involving alternative history during various large wars and historical inflection points. I also rabidly consumed "blow-by-blow" ship's log type war stories, most of them set during the naval battles of WWII.
From my teenage years on, I started diverging into Anne McCaffrey, Christopher Rowley, Lois McMaster Bujold, and other more character-driven stories. I also started working with computers in a much more advanced capacity, becoming heavily invested in Unix, networking, and security... which, in a way, was its own unique influence.
So my first instinct was to just answer the question with the standards (Asimov, Heinlein, Tolkien, etc) and tack on the modern greats (Bujold, McCaffrey, Rowley, etc)... but I realized, as I was thinking about it, that the question is more nuanced. I've read many authors whose works I loved, and every experience in my life has influenced my writing ... but the question was about SF authors who influenced my writing, and that is much more difficult for me to narrow down.
In the end, my most undeniably direct influences would have to be Lois McMaster Bujold and Anne McCaffrey. The hard science fiction of my childhood always left me with a bad taste in my mouth, because it wrote tomorrow within the strict constraints of today... and I never liked science fiction without a plausible basis for existence. For me, the stories which moved me most—and thus had the most influence on me—were those set in a future that was plausible without being limited; stories whose characters, and their motivations, drove the plot. Stories which didn't attempt to justify their technology, but had a consistent level of technology consistent with their worldbuilding, even if such worldbuilding was opaque to me. Rowley was also an influence, despite being on the fence between "SF and F." There were innumerable others, but those three have, so far, played the largest role.
Thank you for your question! I hope the answer wasn't too meandering.
-Fox
In my pre-teens, I consumed a steady—if eclectic—diet of Asimov, Heinlein, Tolkien, Niven, Piers Anthony (?!), Pournelle, Margaret Weis (and accordingly Tracy Hickman, of course), plus quite an array of speculative fiction, much of it involving alternative history during various large wars and historical inflection points. I also rabidly consumed "blow-by-blow" ship's log type war stories, most of them set during the naval battles of WWII.
From my teenage years on, I started diverging into Anne McCaffrey, Christopher Rowley, Lois McMaster Bujold, and other more character-driven stories. I also started working with computers in a much more advanced capacity, becoming heavily invested in Unix, networking, and security... which, in a way, was its own unique influence.
So my first instinct was to just answer the question with the standards (Asimov, Heinlein, Tolkien, etc) and tack on the modern greats (Bujold, McCaffrey, Rowley, etc)... but I realized, as I was thinking about it, that the question is more nuanced. I've read many authors whose works I loved, and every experience in my life has influenced my writing ... but the question was about SF authors who influenced my writing, and that is much more difficult for me to narrow down.
In the end, my most undeniably direct influences would have to be Lois McMaster Bujold and Anne McCaffrey. The hard science fiction of my childhood always left me with a bad taste in my mouth, because it wrote tomorrow within the strict constraints of today... and I never liked science fiction without a plausible basis for existence. For me, the stories which moved me most—and thus had the most influence on me—were those set in a future that was plausible without being limited; stories whose characters, and their motivations, drove the plot. Stories which didn't attempt to justify their technology, but had a consistent level of technology consistent with their worldbuilding, even if such worldbuilding was opaque to me. Rowley was also an influence, despite being on the fence between "SF and F." There were innumerable others, but those three have, so far, played the largest role.
Thank you for your question! I hope the answer wasn't too meandering.
-Fox
More Answered Questions
Nova
asked
Sasya Fox:
I was able to buy a copy, but I could not through kindle phone app. I had to use the web site. I was getting a 404 error for foxprints. the site seems to be up now. :) Kindle said it was a permission issue & they will contact you. Theta did not come up in search in the app on my phone. Might be different on the actual device. Those apps tend to be buggy but the tech on the phone had the same problem finding Theta. ?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more