I go through phases with my reading. My favorite author is Alistair MacLean, a now gone British author who wrote excellent suspense novels that always had unforeseen twists at the end. I read a mixture of thrillers, historical fiction and fantasy. A genre of particular interest is Alternate History, asking the question "What if?" While authors sometimes go a little overboard in this genre, I find it intellectually stimulating. When I write, I prefer to base my stories in worlds of my own creation. They mirror the worlds we live in (so no magic or elves or anything like that, sorry) but allow me a great degree of freedom. I am not constricted by locale or history but can freely use artistic license to create a world where everything is where it needs to be. These stories generally have some military/suspense storyline.