A Writer's Moment: 'It's life's greatest adventure'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's life's greatest adventure':   “Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of th...

'It's life's greatest adventure'

 

“Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of the noble and the learned.” – Taylor Caldwell

 

Born in England in September of 1900, Caldwell emigrated to the U.S. in 1907 and spent many of her formative years living in poverty after her father died.  It shaped her values and she said she always wanted to have money and never again live in fear of want.

 

A writer even before leaving England (where she won a Charles Dickens Prize for young writers) she became a prolific author of popular fiction, writing under her own name and the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback. 

 

In her fiction, she often used real historical events or persons combined with her own vivid imagination, writing bestsellers like Dynasty of Death, Dear and Glorious Physician (about Saint Luke), The Earth is the Lord's (about Genghis Khan), and Captains and the Kings.   Over her long lifetime (she died at age 85), she had nearly 50 novels published and purportedly discarded more than 150 more.  To date, her books have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

 

“A born skeptic” she believed firmly in education and hard work.  “I wanted to acquire an education, work extremely hard and never deviate from my goal to make it.”

A Writer's Moment: Responding to every challenge

A Writer's Moment: Responding to every challenge:   “A trap is only a trap if you don’t know about it.   If you know about it, it’s a challenge.”  – China Miéville Miéville, author of suc...

Responding to every challenge

 

“A trap is only a trap if you don’t know about it.  If you know about it, it’s a challenge.” – China Miéville

Miéville, author of such bestsellers as King Rat and The City & the City, was born in England in September of 1972 and said he got his name in a rather unorthodox fashion.  “My parents went through the dictionary looking for a beautiful name, nearly called me Banyan, flicked on a few pages and came to China, which is cockney rhyming slang for mate,” he said.

 

Miéville intended to have a career in academics, earning degrees in social anthropology and international relations, then teaching English in the Middle East before trying his hand at writing in the late 1990s.  He has won dozens of writing honors, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award (three times) and the British Fantasy Award (twice).  In 2024 he co-authored the bestselling The Book of Elsewhere with actor Keanu Reeves. 

 

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has authored 14 novels (a 15^th is ready to publish), several books of short stories, illustrated comics and children’s books, 6 nonfiction books, and a number of collections of essays. He said he plans to write a book in every genre, if possible.

 

“Every book I write, the first thing I have to do is get into the voice,” he said, “and the voice varies from book to book - that's part of what's interesting to me.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Correcting Injustice; Confronting Danger'

A Writer's Moment: 'Correcting Injustice; Confronting Danger':   “We crime novelists have a great pulpit. We write about justice and about correcting injustice.”  – Jesse Kellerman   Born in Los Ange...

'Correcting Injustice; Confronting Danger'

 

“We crime novelists have a great pulpit. We write about justice and about correcting injustice.” – Jesse Kellerman

 

Born in Los Angeles on this date in 1978, Kellerman is the oldest son of bestselling mystery novelists Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman.  He studied psychology at Harvard and playwriting at Brandeis, authoring the critically acclaimed play Things Beyond Our Control, winner of the Princess Grace Award given to the top “emerging authors in theater, dance and film.”

 

Also a musician, he was lead guitarist for the LA-based indie rock band "Don't Shoot the Dog" for a number of years before embarking on his crime-writing career.

 

While he has his own distinctive style that has made him a favorite in the crime scene genre, he also said people shouldn’t be surprised to see influences of his famous parents.  “All writers start out mimicking other writers,” he noted.  “I've never relinquished that. I have a good ear for speech and writing patterns.”   Several of his dozen books have been co-authored with his father, including his most recent, The Burning.  

        

“I prefer to write about ordinary people who find themselves in a singularly bizarre situation - that is to say, the one moment in their lives when they are forced to confront danger or mystery.”

A Writer's Moment: 'A sower of verses'

A Writer's Moment: 'A sower of verses':   “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”  – Jorge Luis Borges   Born in Argentina in August of 1899, Borges w...