From 1997 to 2000, I worked as a phone monkey and content writer for America Online. You can say what you want about AOL (and I’ll agree with some of it), but it was exciting to work for that company as the world really discovered the Internet.

One problem of that job was the boredom. You can only say “have you tried turning it off, then back on” so many times before you start surfing the net while making calls. My surfing eventually brought me to Dark Lord Rob — an old-school hippie and writer who posted his work online before authors started doing that.

His work is psychedelic, sensual and creepy. It reminds me of the best of Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac and Stephen King. He kept me entertained and inspired when I was first getting published myownself.

More than 10 years later, his site has evolved into American Entropy. His body of work has expanded, and his presentation is easy to use and full of his personality. Check it out. I especially recommend his Lovecraft-meets-Iron Butterfly novel The Miskatonic Acid Test.