Books, writing, teaching, religion and spirituality, sociology, anthropology, medical subjects, good journalism, history, anything paranormal or occult-related. And so much more!
Readers! Fellow writers! And, generally speaking, people with brains and talent and compassion. People who like art, museums, history...and anything spooky.
It's a mixed bag, and I listen to music all friggin' day: Loreena McKennitt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Nora Jones, Michael Buble, Santana, Pink, Lisette Melendez and many other free style greats. Mozart: Symphonies 25 & 29; Beethoven symphony no. 9.
Amadeus, CLUE, The Changeling, The Breakfast Club, Enchanted April, Aimee & Jaguar, Buena Vista Social Club, anything Almodovar, and, of course, Predator.....(I know: the list really doesn't have an internal logic, but there you have it!)
CNN, all the time. I also enjoy: Most Haunted on Travel Channel, Still Standing, CSI, Law & Order, reruns of Unsolved Mysteries and NYPD Blue, and Trauma: Life in the ER.
This, my friends, is a dangerous question. A very short list of titles: Rebecca, Dracula, Jane Eyre, Sons & Lovers, White Fang, Giovanni's Room, Ceremony, The Stand, Interview with the Vampire, Solstice, In Cold Blood, Love Medicine, Cruel & Unusual, A Home at the End of the World; My Side of the Mountain, The Egypt Game, Harriet the Spy, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Holes, Hoot, Caddie Woodlawn, Number the Stars, The Phantom Tollbooth....I can go on and on. Let me give your eyes a rest...A few YA/Middle Grade authors I also love: Scott O'Dell, Lois Duncan, Marcus Sedgwick, Paul Zindel, Robert Cormier, Jean Craighead George, Michelle Paver, David Levithan, Donna Jo Napoli, Meg Cabot...and so many more!!Other authors I love: Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Scottoline, Anne Rice, Peter Robinson, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Tess Gerritsen, Jennifer Egan, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Coel, Clive Barker, Harlan Coben, Umberto Ecco...and quite a few more.
My immediate family members. Followed by: Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper, Matthew Chance, Bono, J.K., Ms. Cornwell and Mr. Turow. And Saints Therese of Lisieux, Francis of Assisi, and Joan of Arc...and the Archangel Michael. (Ten years of Catholic school...I think the saints are pretty cool...)