Hello all you people who are going to be reading this with admiration and fascination someday! ;) (even if that 's only three people in the world, I'll consider it a success!)
I'm right now most of the way through the manuscript for my first novel, which is exciting, to say the least.

Some of my influences have been Iris Murdoch (The Green Knight, plus countless other novels), Angela Carter (Nights at the Circus, Artificial Fire, The Bloody Chamber), Francesca Lia Block (Weetzie Bat, Dangerous Angels), David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, Number9Dream) and Michael Swanwick (Stations of the Tide, The Iron Dragon's Daughter).
This is just to name a few of the authors I really like. I also like Doris Lessing, Ursula LeGuin, and a number of Japanese and Czech writers. (I don't speak either language, however)

My own novel, a work of speculative literary fiction, will tie together ideas about science, art, nature, architecture and urban theory, psychology, sociology, love, and philosophy. There will be tide and solar generators for the ecologically minded, plus no cars, and cities designed for walking and living, not driving. :) Aside from the occasional dust storm or tidal influx, the weather will be mild and the scenary enrapturing. While it is not utopia, the world I'm creating will be a mysterious and exciting place for the reader to immerse within. And there will be some illustrations to look at, to help in picturing the places you will be transported to. Watch from the comfort of your favorite chair, while I, the capricious god, dole out tribulation and mercy upon my characters as I see fit! Nobody gets hurt, but there is a lot of change and personal realization as the characters transform through their predestined fates. I've tried to avoid formulaic plot constructions, in favor of more innovative and subtle dynamics.

Stay tuned for more about the writing, plus the odd piece about why Kundalini yoga is the best form of exercise in the universe, and possibly other topics when I eventually emerge from my cave and do something other than writing or yoga. Cheers!