Ode to a small lump of green putty I found in my armpit one midsummer...

From the mind of Tony Laplume comes the  Ode-athon to end all  Ode-athons...

For the purposes of this occasion, we’re considering our favorite writers, the ones who inspire us, whether merely as readers or even as writers ourselves.  They’re the ones we couldn’t live without, and have treasured for years (unless we just discovered them this year!), reading them religiously, waiting breathlessly for their next release (unless they’re dead), recommending them without reserve to all your friends.
Tony Laplume

Via Deviantart 

Douglas Adams has influence me more than any other writer. I found out about him from his work on Doctor Who. I was a mallrat, I would have my parents drop me off at the local mall, and I would hang out at 3 places The Record Bar(music shop), Yesterdays(arcade), and Waldenbooks(if you can't tell this is a book store then you really need to get out more). I had to special order the Doctor who Target books, so as I sifted through the books I found it... The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. His writing style was very influential on me. I tried to emulate it in everything I wrote, to the dismay of several English teachers!
I wrote in a past post:
He has a way of making fun of technology that reflects our humanity. In The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy he puts human emotions on robots and doors. We get Marvin the Paranoid Android although he really is just super stoic and depressed. The doors would open and thank you for using them and validating their existence. In his book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency he had and Electric Monk that was made to practice the religion of the owner vicariously, so the owner didn't have to.

Tony Laplume wrote about him on Saturday:
11/02/13 Known best for the Hitchhiker’s, er, “trilogy,” Adams also created holistic detective Dirk Gently, and wrote a number of nonfiction works I still hope to catch upon some day.  Personal favorite: The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, the second Dirk Gently book, which cleverly updates Norse mythology.

Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in my Armpit One Midsummer Morning

Putty. Putty. Putty.
Green Putty – Grutty Peen.
Grarmpitutty – Morning!
Pridsummer – Grorning Utty!
Discovery….. Oh.
Putty?….. Armpit?
Armpit….. Putty.
Not even a particularly
Nice shade of green.
As I lick my armpit and shall agree,
That this putty is very well green.

(Excerpt) by Grunthos the Flatulent (translated by Douglas Adams)

Via In the Dark

Via Goodreads

Gary Jennings was influential to me, by doing with Aztec what James Clavell did with Shōgun. Taking the historical fiction and making it realistic and believable to the reader, while telling a story that intrigues the reader with attention to detail and thought provoking characters. The books have plenty of gore that is expected in the type of society that the Aztecs lived in. There are several books in the series.  Here is his Aztec Series on Goodreads.

Via FanPop

Via Geeksofdoom

From a past Post:

I love J.R.R. Tolkien! I watched The Hobbit cartoon as a kid and fell in love. . When I was older I read the book, then I had to borrow the LOTR from my sister. I also had to borrow The complete Tolkien Companion to understand some of the words. I love that he created this complete mythos Languages and all. He was so very dedicated to his craft .Only if I was just half, or a quarter to mine. I like the movies, and so far the Hobbit, but you can never recreate what was born in my imagination as a child and now an adult.

via  www.katikaticollege.school.nz

It's almost like you can't mention Tolkien without Lewis.    
C.S. Lewis is known for his Chronicles of Narnia stories, but he also penned The Space Trilogy. I like his works, but one book in particular had an influence on me Mere Christianity.
A Christian Apologetics book that was
adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1942 and 1944, while Lewis was at Oxford during World War II. 

I was given a copy of this from a youth minister in my church when I was a new christian. It helped me to explore why I believed what I believe.
Another book of his that has been influential to not only me, but to different writers was The Screwtape Letters.
The idea behind it is a demon named Screwtape writes letters to Wormwood a lesser demon. All on how to cause the damnation of a man know as the Patient. From this came the books from Frank Peretti about actual spiritual warfare This Present Darkness, and Piercing the Darkness.

Via Do you see the light?

The Ode-athon continues!

11/4 David Walston at Blah Blah Blah Yackity Smackity
11/5 Pat Dilloway at PT Dilloway
11/7 Nigel and Maurice Mitchell at The Geek Twins
11/8 The Armchair Squid at The Armchair Squid
11/9 and back to Tony at Scouring Monk and Tony Laplume

Who are your favourite or most influential writers?