As a writer, it’s very important that I read other authors’ work to improve upon my own and get new ideas. You can’t create in a vacuum, after all. At least I can’t.
Then the question arises: what am I reading?
Here’s a short list of some of my favorite authors, mostly dead, one still living.
Dean Koontz
I consider Dean Koontz to be one of the greatest living thriller writers. I have enjoyed every book of his that I’ve read. His way of capturing the inner thoughts of his characters is remarkable, and he has mastered the suspenseful buildup. What I love most about his work is his way of taking an incredibly dark plot and giving it an uplifting conclusion, bringing in Christian themes of redemption. They are truly remarkable works.
Robert E. Howard
Howard regarded as the “King of Pulps” and this is a title that I will not dispute. He is best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, but he also wrote my other characters, such as Bran Mak Morn and my personal favorite, Solomon Kane. He also wrote many science fiction, horror, and western stories. He certainly had a way with words; not as baroque as his friend and fellow writer, Lovecraft, but with a flair for the dramatic that make many of his stories true page-turners in my opinion.
My only criticism would be the racist viewpoints that taint much of his work. However, that doesn’t take away from his talent as a story teller, in my humble opinion.
H. P. Lovecraft
And speaking of Lovecraft, his style of weird horror has been highly influential on my own writing. He’s also probably a distant relative, but that’s a story for another time. He had this ability to evoke a sense of awe and wonder and dread that is difficult to adequately describe. He was a master of building suspense; quite possibly the best in his genre. He had a way with words; reading his stories greatly expanded my vocabulary.
Unfortunately, Lovecraft, like Howard, had many problematic viewpoints on race in particular, but once one is aware of this, one can enjoy his stories without being surprised by this unfortunate fact.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Burroughs is known as the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, and indeed, that was his most popular character, but my personal favorite would be John Carter of Mars, the stalwart Virginian who found himself on the Red Planet.
Burroughs’ main characters display a nobility and virtue that provide positive role models for young men and boys everywhere. His use of language was rich and evocative; a style that I have imitated in my own work, as a few readers have pointed out. I’ve come to believe that every man should read John Carter at least once in their life.
C.S. Lewis
No other author has influenced my personal development more than C.S. Lewis. Narnia was the first fantasy series I think I read and it still is a favorite of mine. It’s richness still strikes me today. His non-fiction writings have benefited me in ways I cannot fully express, and have grown me mentally and spiritually.
It’s also worth mentioning that we are basically living in his novel That Hideous Strength so you might want to read it just so you understand what’s happening.
Arthur Machen
What Lewis is to fantasy, Machen is to horror. Arthur Machen was a Welsh fantasy horror writer who lived in the late 19th-early 20th century. Many, if not most of his stories took place in the Welsh countryside. There is speculation that Machen experienced something preternatural in that strange, faery-haunted wilderness as a young lad. Lovecraft took a lot of cues from him, and I’m given to understand, consider Machen the greatest living horror writer. He had a way of weaving together archaeology, ethnology, myth and legend into a bizarre fabric of wonder and dread. One almost believes that his fiction was fact.
Unlike Lovecraft, Machen was a Christian – High-Church Anglican to be precise – and this, in my opinion, made his writing that much richer. People who believe in the supernatural are more apt to write better horror, as they actually believe in what they’re writing.
Clark Ashton Smith
According to Lovecraft, "In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled" and I agree. Smith was another member of the Lovecraft circle of writers, and contributed some material to the Cthulhu Mythos, though he had his own mythos, which in my opinion was just as rich and vivid as anything Lovecraft created, perhaps more so. He even created his own set of Elder Gods. Smith had a sense of the macabre that is reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe.
Many of his stories revolve around the lost civilizations, such as Atlantis, or Hyperborea. These prove to be excellent settings for his preternatural tales that kept me on the edge of my seat.
Now, I want to hear from you. Which authors do you read? Which have provided the most entertainment or help to you? Which would you recommend to others?
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This is a great list! Even some I have never heard of.