#GuestPost A Handful of Superlative Writers by Mike Jalland
A Handful of Superlative Writers by Mike Jalland
Recently I have enjoyed re-reading many old books from my substantial collection and would like to share what I consider are some of the merits of the authors concerned with you. It is a brief journey that I hope we will enjoy together, featuring just a handful of superlative writers.
Ian Fleming. There are many reasons that made him one of the biggest selling authors ever and of course the creator of Agent 007 James Bond whose adventures in books and films have made him massively popular worldwide. Fleming’s attention to detail was masterful, superb, when he describes a room such as the Russian spy headquarters featured in From Russia with Love it seemed that you were in the room, when he described a character’s face you got a very real true picture of exactly how they looked. His plots were tremendous, his super villains larger than life yet such was his writing skill that he made them plausible. I have all of the original books and agree with popular consensus that the first actor to portray Bond, Sean Connery, was the quintessential Bond, “tall, dark and cruelly handsome”. “A superlative thriller from our foremost literary magician” – New York Herald Tribune, “the best new English thriller writer since Ambler” – Sunday Times, “probably the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England” – Raymond Chandler, “Urbane savagery, mighty smooth tale spinning” – New York Herald Tribune, are just a handful of accolades from people who knew what they were talking about.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft. “The 20th century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale” – Stephen King. Well, follow that as the saying goes. No one could build the tension page by page like Lovecraft, without much actually happening sometimes, “The Call of Cthulhu” collection of short stories is a fine example of his great talent.
Edgar Rice Burroughs. For sheer extraordinary imagination I consider him unbeatable. When you travel through his entire iconic Martian series, which I have, you are continually amazed and enthralled by the fantastic incredible creatures and situations that he creates and the twists and turns in the plots. He teases the reader into second guessing what the hero should do because you can see where events are leading, because he WANTS you to, a truly fabulous imagination.
Dean Koontz. He has of course written many successful book however the one that I enjoy re-reading is The Taking. I believe that the way he portrays the visit to Earth by no less a figure than “the Father of lies”, Satan himself, is tremendous. Through his unique talents he actually gets over to the reader the complete, utter and total difference between true evil and anything even remotely decent. The two cultures are not compatible, they cannot exist side by side, it is a choice of one or the other, Evil being completely abhorrent and fatal to humankind. To say that his description of a creature, an approach to existence so fundamentally different in fact opposite to normality and decency, is so difficult. He achieves this admirably in this most excellent publication.
Harry Harrison. He possesses an easy going easy reading style which can on occasion be deceptively deeper than you might initially think at first glance and with excellent backgrounds. I have particularly enjoyed re-reading his “Deathworld” trilogy and “Captive Universe”.
Isaac Asimov. Who could leave out the Father of the Robotic Laws, as time goes by I still fondly retrieve “The Rest of the Robots” short stories from the bookcase, my favourite being “Victory Unintentional” containing just the right mixture of humour and action. A giant of the genre.
Many thanks to Mike for writing this guest post. I’ve actually read and own books by most of these authors but haven’t read them for many years – I’ll have to get them out again soon, especially those by Isaac Asimov!
Here’s some information about Mike Jalland’s book, Insecto-cide:
Title: Insecto-cide
Author: Mike Jalland
Release Date: 29th August 2019
Genre: Short Stories
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Summary:
Five highly innovative and entertaining short stories that will grip and surprise the reader. Big Game hunters thought that the perfect environment had been created for them but were they really committing
INSECTO-CIDE
The World teeters on the brink of disaster, what is the incredible surprising solution?
THE ULTIMATE QUESTION IS ANSWERED
An extraordinary untold tale only recently rediscovered from archives concerning the infamous death camp
ONE CERTAIN NIGHT IN AUSCHWITZ
Was the most famous ancient relic really there? Was the world ready for it’s discovery?
GOD’S PROPERTY
A dark violent story of a parent’s unlikely revenge on an evil murderer in a seemingly safe place, how can the messenger of death possibly reach him?
TRUE JUSTICE
Introductory story to a place within our world where usually successful Hunters become prey – No return ticket required ! This story will hold extra appeal to everyone who dislikes hunting
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47891321-insecto-cide
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Insecto-cide-Other-Amazing-Mike-Jallard/dp/1913136264
Tour Schedule
Monday 26th August
Tuesday 27th August
Wednesday 28th August
Thursday 29th August
Friday 30th August
Saturday 31st August
Sunday 1st September
Many thanks to Mike Jalland for his post and to Faye Rogers and Authoright for providing materials used in this post and organising the tour it is part of.
