BEST AUTHOR BEST : BLAKE CROUCH

'' I write the way I like to read. I love lots of white space on a page. I like short paragraphs that move.'' Season 2 of the Apple TV adaptation of his sci-fi thriller '' Dark Matter '' begins streaming this month. 

.-  What's the last great book you read?

'' Piranesi, '' by Susanna Clarke. I finished it a few months ago and was floored by the restrained prose, unreliable narrator and other worldly images, which have stayed with me to this day.

There's something so dreamlike and terrifying and beautiful about it. I wish David Lynch were still with us to do the movie adaptation.

.-  What's your favorite book no one else has heard of ?

I don't know if '' no one '' has heard of it, but the 1995 thriller '' Vertical Run '' by Joseph R. Garber, is an absolute blast from start to finish.

It's about a guy who wakes up, goes to work and quickly discovers that everyone he sees is trying to kill him.

They really don't make them like this anymore.

.-  Your favorite antihero or villain?

Hannibal Lecter, and it's not even close. Thomas Harris's creation, first introduced in his masterpiece, '' Red Dragon '' is the apex of fully realized characters, not just villains, in modern fiction.

To me, he's as iconic as Dracula.

.-  Your novels often incorporate elements of contemporary science. Are there researchers or popular science writers you especially admire?

I'm in awe of Elizabeth Kolbert [ '' The Sixth Extinction ''], Yuval Noah Harari [ ''Sapiens,'' '' Homo Deus,'' etc ], Carlo Rovelli [ '' White Holes,'' '' The Order of Time '' and '' Seven Brief Lessons on Physics ''].

.-  Many reviews of '' Dark Matter '' took note of the book's breathlessness. Its short paragraphs and sentences. What do you make of that criticism?

I don't know, I write the way I like to read. I love lots of white space on a page. I like short paragraphs that move. I want the experience to be as immersive as possible for the reader.

Maybe it's a weird quirk of mine, but how the text looks on the page is very important to me.

.-  Describe your ideal way to procrastinate from writing.

Ha! I would never put that madness out into the world.

.-  What do you plan to read next?

'' Wild Dark Shore,'' by Charlotte McConaghy. I've heard amazing things, and I am a sucker for stories set in Antarctica.

.-  What book has the greatest impact on you?

'' The Prince of Tides,'' by Pat Conroy. It was the first '' adult novel '' I ever read.

I think I was 12. I was so swept up in Conroy's story of the Wango family.

A few incredibly disturbing scenes in the book not only shook me, but showed me the power of great writing.

!WOW! thanks The New York Times.