About The Author
Thanks for stopping by, whoever you are.
My name is Craig Snyder and The Empty Head is my website. For the past three years I've been surfing the internet, learning about websites and how to build them. I've also written some short stories just for fun and posted a few of them here and on some other sites. I enjoy the challenge of trying to write something that qualifies as good fiction. My favorite authors include Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Wolfe, and William Gibson, author of Neuromancer.
I build webpages using Notepad and freeware image programs. The current version of this site is 2.5, which means it's the second version to go online, and there are four beta versions that never went live. This site is hosted for free. That means I never know if or when I'll lose this space, so I'm planning on adding content slowly, including this page which contains intriguing hints about my mysterious inner life, horrible future destiny, and eventual agonizing death in the radium mines.
I was born in southern Michigan but moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend Ohio State. I graduated with a degree in Child Development, and have spent a number of years working in child care centers with preschoolers and infants. This is what I really love to do. I'm currently living in northern Michigan in a small town called Big Rapids and doing a lot of fooling around with writing and web design, though I don't expect to make any money at either of those things.
I post fairly regularly to a weblog called Ethereal Code and infrequently to a CSS linkblog called CSS Flow. I also designed and contribute as editor to rumble, a small e-zine for very short fiction. When I have extra time online I usually spend it surfing web design blogs looking for new ideas to steal and use in my own webpages, 'cause this is how we do things in cyberspace.
faqs
Q: How much talent do you have as a writer?
A: Very little. Though that doesn't stop me from trying. With hard work I hope to become slightly more technically proficient at writing fiction. However, I'm excellent at spelling words, and I've written some damned fine paragraphs.
Q: Are you any good at web design?
A: I'm better than most amateurs. But that's not saying much. There are only a small number of really top notch designers out there. Most people who build their own sites use programs that do a lot of the work for them. They remain happily ignorant of many basic aspects of HTML.
Q: You sound kind of arrogant. I'd like to punch you in the face.
A: That's not a question.
Q: Okay, so how hard is it to learn HTML?
A: Surprisingly easy, if you have the time. You could learn how to build a basic web page in a day using only Microsoft Notepad. There are a number of great websites that can take you step by step through the process. One of them is Slacker Html. Once you learn the basics, however, the learning curve gets rather steeper.
Q: Do you spend a lot of money on your sites?
A: I've never spent a dime building or maintaining my sites. Everything's been done using free resources and programs found on the web. If I had access to some expensive imaging programs I could make my websites look even better, I think. Currently I cannot afford them.
Q: Are you one of those geek boys who spends most of their time playing video games and jacking off to internet porn?
A: Absolutely not. I knew nothing about computers until 2001 and didn't even have an e-mail account. I really don't like any of the modern video games. I'm more comfortable with Miss Pacman. She's a honey. You know what I'm talking about.
Q: I'm a writer and/or miscellaneous person who wants to get some writing and/or useless information out on the web. Do you ever help people with that kind of thing? Are you a commercial designer?
A: I'm not a commercial designer, and can only do so much. For example, I cannot design interactive websites. I can design clean, simple websites which look good across most browsers. Sometimes I help writer friends with design work for free. I also accept money. I wouldn't call myself a particularly artistic designer however. Whatever. I do my best.
Q: Are you into comic books, and if so, what is your favorite comic?
A: All true Americans love comic books. If you don't love comic books you should maybe get out of this country because you don't really belong here and will be miserable, hanging around getting drunk and not enjoying comic books. So yes, I'm into them. Some of my favorite comics are Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing, Neal Adam's Batman, and John Romita's Amazing Spiderman run. I also groove on The Dark Knight and Kingdom Come, some of the best work ever done in comics, in my opinion. And yes, I like alternative comics too.
Q: Can you see my future destiny clearly?
A: I have that power, among others. You will die one day and not enjoy it, then someone will dress your stiff corpse in clothes you didn't pick out. There will be some other stuff between then and now, some of it pretty good. You will have sex, for example.
Q: What is your favorite book slash movie slash band? And why should I care?
A: Mmmmm...I have many favorites. Look Homeward, Angel is one of the best novels ever written, but so is Of Human Bondage. As far as movies go I can't narrow it down to one, but West Side Story and Dr. Zhivago are hard to beat. The Ramones are a great band and if you don't like them there is something wrong with you. You should care because it's pathetic not to like the things that I like, obviously.
Q: Why are you such a smart-ass?
A: It's part of my phenotype homeboy. It's all chemicals and bio-chemical energy man. I was freaking made that way because of freaking evolution.