A Few of My Favorite Things.

Thought I’d write about some of my favorite influences.  I’m guilty in the fact that two are really big names and the other is a huge success in his own right.  Still, if I could add the effortless plot of Ken Follett , the unique characters and dialogue of Stephen King (I think he’s Mark Twain’s reincarnation sometimes) and the beginning, middle, and end of a Peter Straub novel I think I’d be in business.

Ken Follett:  If you haven’t read Pillars of the Earth, regardless of your reading proclivities you’re in for a treat.  This is still the only novel where I’ve ever found myself physically angry at the antagonists (disclaimer: in the sequel I found myself more annoyed with their forced vileness).  The characters are well fleshed out and, for better or worse, you know why the good people act the way they do and you understand the motivations of the evil characters and how close the line between the two sits.

Mr. Follett (rhymes with wallet, a fact I went more than a decade without knowing) like the two authors below is also a master of writing page turners.  I’ve yet to meet someone who can spend more than three days reading one of his World War II thrillers.  Other authors have imitated the style but nobody makes a page turn like this man when he’s on his game.

I enjoy Stephen King for two different reasons.  One, his characters are incredibly believable and varied.  You can tell the difference between a writer (from his earlier works) and the guy who buries the dead in the cemetery.  I’m in the Pacific Northwest where everyone speaks the same twang’ free dialect but reading Mr. King I sometimes feel that I’m missing out on the enviable experience of listening to every day people speaking differently.  The second reason I like Mr. King is that his two books, On Writing and Secret Windows (only going to find the latter online) make the dream of being published a reality for anyone willing to put in the effort and write, write, write.  I can do that; so can you. 

Last on this morning’s list is Peter Straub who I was introduced to in an essay in Secret Mirrors (it’s on the genre of horror).  Ghost Story was my second go ‘round with Mr. Straub courtesy of the difficulty of tracking down a copy but was well worth it; even my wife enjoyed it!  The book starts with a very awkward beginning with a protagonist coming across as, at a minimum, off his proverbial rocker and ends with the same situation spelled out clearly and sympathetically.  In the days when it feels like not all the threads of a novel are ever satisfactorily tied up Mr. Straub (in the few works I’ve read) is a refreshing exception especially when you consider how far out there he can take his characters to tell the story.