for a Chinese History and Latin American history class , but that was centuries ago. He
never followed up until 2007 under the prodding of friends and coffee when he would tell
his stories aloud in Starbucks. The first ones were pretty crude not having a firm grasp of
grammar and still an issue with his editors. Spelling was and is a horror.
Some of his inspiration comes from the 1960’s counter culture, Monty Python, Shell
Silverstein, Joseph Heller, Aristophanes, so called holy books and Joseph Campbell to
name a few. Then there is life, that’s a major inspiration. For example, watching people
drive by with some animal in their laps, wondering if they even consider the affect of an
airbag exploding, and the same with the passenger who props his or her feet on the
dashboard. It will get ugly rather quickly. Other sources are his grandchildren asking
questions that make him stop and think, as in “Where do dust bunnies come from? How
do they move they have no feet?” He interviewed many people for a month with those
very questions before he could write a poem about it, titled DUST BUNNIES, of course.
He does not have a great attention span for reading or writing, and formulaic writing
bores him to tears. . He does have a few themes that I keep going back to but the stories
are not continuations from one to another. All in all I write when something clicks.
Sometimes it’s a poem and other times a story.
His short stories are short. He calls them bathroom readers. He enjoys Flash Stories the
best. Those are 1000 word or less in length. They are extremely difficult considering they
require all the same elements of any story to make it work, only on a very compact space.
Rick always had an interest in art and illustrations too. He studied at The Art Students
League in NYC years ago and dropped out to meet responsibilities of a family. He
continued to keep and interest in art and science fiction as well as pick up a degree in
History and Asian Studies from Rutgers University. A couple of years ago he began
taking drawing classes at a local college, after a 40 year hiatus, so he could possibly
begin illustrating some of his children’s poems for a book for his grandchildren; if
possible get it published and distributed as a free book for disadvantaged areas.
He has been collecting art for over 30 years, and writing science fiction, fantasy stories
and poetry for just under 10 years. Art and writing came together when he was asked to
assist the Editor of Quantum Muse as the Art Director. Every month his tasks are to
identify and get different artists to allow the ZINE to display a few of their pieces.
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