Just a list of authors and artists who inspire me. This page will be updated as I remember people to add.
Karen Traviss
Believe it or not, I was in a bit of a cultural wasteland post college. I had just finished with school that had taken up most of my free time with assignments and I didn’t have a lot of time for reading things that didn’t have to do with my course work.
Then I was introduced to the Republic Commando series.
It was refreshing, it was new. Her use of language wasn’t purple or flowery, but it was descriptive enough that you could see yourself in the scene. And on top of which, the part of the Star Wars universe she was exploring was new, something most people didn’t think about. I read several of the books twice. She also was the lead writer on the only Gears of War game whose plot I can remember.
Tetuzoh Okadaya
[contains mature content]
I kept seeing the manga The Man of Tango (for mature audiences only) pop up on certain sites of artist and I kept wondering what it was. I found a preview online and as soon as I finished I had to find more. The story was engaging, the characters likable, the artwork interesting. If I had the skills, I would want to produce a manga like this. But what interested me more than the work itself was what I found when I went to the artist’s website.
I look to Okadaya as a marketing example that I’d like to follow, using as many resources that are available to get the work out there.
I just finished the whole of the Man of Tango and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was that good. I’m eagerly waiting for her other works to be available in English.
Octavia Butler
Right before I started Noxus, I started reading everything I could find. Multiple genres, varying authors, but the only black female author who wrote Sci-Fi that I could find at the time. I blew through Kindred and wanted more.
I read the Lilith’s Brood series and was left feeling unsettled, but sated. It was the type of story I hope to write some day soon.
Rat Queens
Full of sass, attitude, and female gaze. Rat Queens is just overall awesome and if you haven’t read it, I think you should give it a try.