The first two novels I remember reading are H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" and Stephen King's "The Shining, " which I read when I was ten. They plunged me into the wonders and terrors of SF and Horror and became imaginative compulsions for me. The works of Poe were added to the mix, and Lovecraft's cosmic horror. Later, Cronenberg's body horror, Ridley Scott's SF masterpieces, and Cyberpunk joined the incestuous mix. I went into pre-med, almost became a priest, and science and religion became obsessions for me. I soon found a tribe in the Goth/Industrial scene.
Visual arts are as much an inspiration as written ones. My novel, Crucifer was inspired by an "icon" by H.R. Giger, and the book I'm writing now by the paintings of Francis Bacon, and the photographs of Joel Peter Witkin. My aim is to capture the sublime on paper, where beauty and terror meet and become something greater. Eroticism is the drug I use to get there. I've still got a long way to go, but the journey is a thrill.