"Gods do not answer letters": Ryan on Updike

[Steak Snabler]

No fiction, Waylon. It wasn't in the literary soil yet.

Poe did a detective work, dabbled in criticism, classical translations, newspaper and magazine writing and fronted a book about shellfish for drinking money. Who knows what more he would have tried out if not for an early grave.

Same with Orwell, though he's obviously not American ...

 

[Boom_70]

 

[Ace]

Fiction, though?

Wonder how Ben would be perceived today. Little Ben had a tendency to wander.

 

[spud]

He's considered a lightweight by some, but when you consider the variety of subjects tackled in Michael Crichton's novels, he'd have to be in the discussion.

 

[Harry Doyle]

Yes, but would he have been able to turn out a gamer on deadline?

 

[rpmmutant]

I'd put Jack London and the good doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, on this list. Big fan of Ben and TJ, Poe and Twain, but I think John Steinbeck tops them all.

 

[Boom_70]

Seems like most of list are writers from another era. Who are the current writers that fit the bill.

I would offer up Mark Bowden.

 

[WaylonJennings]

Seems like most of list are writers from another era. Who are the current writers that fit the bill.

I would offer up Mark Bowden.

I almost put his name up there, as well. Has he tried fiction at all? Halberstam, though he's gone now. From a purely journalistic standpoint, Maraniss does a great job dabbling in both sports and politics and never comes off like a dilletante. An underrated one, to me, is John Ed Bradley.

 

[Boom_70]

Seems like most of list are writers from another era. Who are the current writers that fit the bill.

I would offer up Mark Bowden.

I almost put his name up there, as well. Has he tried fiction at all? Halberstam, though he's gone now. From a purely journalistic standpoint, Maraniss does a great job dabbling in both sports and politics and never comes off like a dilletante. An underrated one, to me, is John Ed Bradley.

Agree on John Ed but don't think he has enough in book form.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I threw out Crichton --- who wrote novels about dinosaurs, the Japanese mafia, an Old West train robbery and space, among other things. He also wrote non-fiction books about 1960s hospital practices and the early days of computers. And then, of course, he created and produced ER, one of the longest-running and most successful television dramas of all-time.

Much of what he produced was dismissed as fluff --- and maybe it is --- but the guy was incredibly versatile.

 

[WaylonJennings]

How about David Simon?

 

[verbalkint]

Steinbeck?

Adapted his (brilliant) novels for the screen, wrote long and short fiction, wrote memoirs about traveling here and in Russia, and covered World War II - while already an acclaimed novelist -- with great narrative journalism. And, relevant to this board, his "Then my arm glassed up," a 1965 piece in SI explaining why he couldn't write a piece for SI, is wonderful. (Available at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078035/index.htm)