Early reading was mostly non-fiction like "The Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles Lindberg, "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Dana, and Krakatoa the volcano story, and later Robert Massey works. And in high school, historical fiction such as Agony and Ecstacy, were inspiring. The first serious attempt at writing was in college English classes, with poetry and short story pieces. There was some concept of what it would take to write a novel length story. There were years spent trying to get into magazine fiction. The first novel completed, but never sold, was "World War Four" 1983, a post WW III story. It was a good lesson, but embarassing on reflection. After that and many interuptions, short story pieces were written and being sent to various regional journals and some competitions.