In an effort to reduce my volume of repetitive email and the time I spend answering these same questions in person, I started this FAQ page. Please email me your comments, questions, etc., and if I get them several times, I will add them to this page.

A. This depends on where I am when I have an idea. If I'm at or close to my computer, then I use the computer--unless I am busy working on something and can't open a new window. If I'm not at the computer, I use old envelopes, backs of cancelled checks, receipts, napkins, whatever comes to hand. If I'm walking down the street, I have even been known to write on my arm.

I use my computer to experiment with layout, different words, different ideas, and so on.

I don't know why I get asked this question so often (usually I got it in France); maybe it's something to do with fear of computers.

A. Yes. And No. That is, the details might really have happened, at least in the same room I was in. And the stories, in a very broad sense, happened, too. But the details and the stories have very little to do with each other. This is art, not autobiography, not diary, not introspection. I've written essays about this, and as soon as they are published, you'll find them on this site.

The "I" in my fiction and poetry is not really I, the writer, but a fictional character. It's a trick of the trade; using "I" (assuming the character is consistent) leads the reader to identify more easily with the "main" character, and therefore to enter more readily into the suspension of disbelief. The other characters are also fictional; even if the details actually did happen to me and another person, that other person has no link to the story or poem. Details are used to advance the plot, or give verisimilitude to the story or poem.

A. I write because ideas come to me, and no matter how they are inconvenient, or unwanted, or not even very good, they won't quit pestering me until I at least try to do something with them! And, then, of course, once in a while I have a really good idea that I have enough skill to do something with.

A. I do! I choose what to write based on two reasons: what I'm interested in, and what someone will pay me to write.

A. The writer who has influenced me, personally, is Philip K. Dick.

The writers whose style I admire are Don Marquis, Thomas Stearns Eliot, Harlan Ellison, Ogden Nash, and the English women novelists before the 20th century. I'm particularly fond of Jane Austen. I also like M.R. James ("Children at Play" is my tribute to his craft), Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Machen, and Colin Wilson.

I also use a lot of reference works by mythologists, anthropologists, mystics, psychologists (especially Jung), and linguists. Many ideas come from these kinds of reference books; occasionally I get an idea reading another writer (my novel-in-progress is the product of reading another novel that didn't turn out to be the novel I wanted); but most of my ideas just "come to me." (Gratefully expressed thanks to my muse.)

A. In all probability, yes, if it was published before 1945. I have a working library of about 10,000 books. No, I haven't read them all, but I have large numbers of reference works, because something told me to buy those books at the time I ran across them, thinking that perhaps someday they would come in handy, when I was up at 4 am with a new story idea, and couldn't wait two or three days for interlibrary loan. Also, the public libraries in Europe are not of the same size as the libraries in the USA, and sometimes the book you need is impossible to find.

A. I started out not liking it, and then I discovered it was an acquired taste, and then I discovered it was a taste worth acquiring.

A. I don't know why everyone thinks opera singers have no sense of humour. Remember, we're the ones out there seriously pretending we don't recognize someone just because he or she changed clothes. (A brief look at most any opera, particularly La Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni will make this abundantly clear.)

Anyway, those parodies are not nearly as funny to us as Anna Russel's analysis of the "Ring" cycle, or even "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Summarize Carmen in 3 1/2 minutes." [Herb Alpert's Ninth: Carmen for you aural masochists.]

Next to the version of Carmen cited above, the strangest musical experience of my life was a Mexican-polka version of the theme from Star Wars.

A. In the case of the art gallery, I work with a photographer in a different city, who is even busier than I am. We are collaborating as fast as our schedules will permit. As for the sound samples, that requires coordination not only with other musicians, but also with the recording engineers. We're working on it as fast as possible.

For already-presented work, it's necessary to sort through my archives, and it takes time to find a copy, transfer it to the computer, [in the case of writing] proofread it, and link it up.

The fencing is a matter of sorting through the content available (a lot) and deciding what to include. I hope to present a site that is extremely content-driven, and designed in the best way possible at each point to present the information.

A. I didn't think anyone was interested. I plan to add that before the end of the year 2000. Again, it requires sorting through an enormous amount of content, as well as collaboration from other sites (and permissions to link to them).

Ok, I started it. I got behind schedule since I had an enormous amount of work to move the three sites I maintain when my former web hosting provider went to pay service.

A. I put it up as fast as I can publish it. I want to preserve my rights to the work, and unauthorized reproduction is a problem on the WWW. (As I once heard in a very different context, "Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?")

A. What do you expect from a writer? :) As a group, we tend to be concerned with content, and with words. I know it's heavy on the text, but given the content, I have tried to do the best job I can of making my writing accessible to the widest possible range of users.

In the long term, I expect to put up some of my major projects, which will add user interaction to my work. So please be patient, the "flash" is coming! :)

A. A lot of very demanding work goes into everything I do. Also, I make the choice to take many risks. Not everyone wants to move to a country where they don't speak the language, and take advantage of those kinds of opportunities. Anyone with the right amount of dedication, hard work, and risk-taking could do similar things.

A. As a writer and artist, much of my personal life is public. My general philosophy, worldview, opinions, and a lot more can be determined from the writing on this site (and in the work that will be put on here in the future). In order to keep some kind of balance, I prefer to keep other details private. I'm not a fan of the "up close and personal" brand of journalism that too often passes for news these days.

A. Don't hold your breath.

A. I used to play a valley girl character in a Marvel Super Heroes RPG. Unfortunately, she couldn't communicate with the Celtic deity we also had in our group without an interpreter, so when we switched from Marvel Super Heroes to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, my GM told me that I wouldn't be allowed to play a valley girl character. In my quest for a name, I happened upon the German word "Thal" (now spelled "Tal"), meaning valley, which led me to the word "Thalen", meaning valley dweller, and I added the "a" ending to make it feminine, in keeping with proto-Indo-European usage.

It's pronounced "TAL-n-ah" (there being no schwa or unaccented character in this character set); the "h" is silent. I didn't write the rules of German pronounciation--I just follow them.

A. Now that I've stopped rolling on the floor, laughing, de gustibus non disputandum est.

A. I need to live in new places to create. I need different people around me, different ideas, different cultures, different landscapes, different languages. It's the combination of ideas that stimulates creativity for me.

A. Latin, French, Italian and German were required for my degree in opera. I discovered that I am influenced in my writing by the "mouth feel" of the words; it's how I know what is "right" and "wrong" in my writing. I write very different poetry in Czech than I do in French, in German than I do in English. And, yes, I write directly in those other languages; I don't write them in English and then translate them.