Doug Dollard

I don't think writers write because they expect to sell books or even because they want people to read what they've written. I think writers write because they are driven to explore their inner fantasies, even in the absence of an audience. Much like Robert Frost's, "The Road Not Taken" we wonder what lies beyond the bend in the undergrowth and find we are inexorably drawn to its seductive mystery.

Writers are an odd lot, compelled by their fertile imaginations to weave intricate plots, construct compelling characters and set them dancing to the drumbeats of their peculiar passions.

One of the greatest pleasures in my life has been reading what others have written, and though I have read across the broad spectrum of fact, fiction and fantasy I find the works of John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler still hold the same fatal attraction for my soul they did in my youth.

I think, in the end we are more than the sum total of our experiences. Much like the perfect soufflé the temperature, timing and quality of our ingredients make all the difference.