 His early writing influences were the film "Dracula", novels by Kenneth Roberts, and a poem which he read in the newspaper "Brooklyn Eagle", where he published his first short story at age eight.He entered Brooklyn Technical High School in 1939, graduated in 1943, and served with the Army in Europe during World War II; this formed the basis for his 1960 novel "The Beardless Warriors".He attended the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, earning his BA in 1949, then moved to California.