Susan Mary Cooper (born 23 May 1935) is a British author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume fantasy saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology (Arthurian and folkloric elements) with original material (e.g. "the Old Ones"). She has written works for children, adolescents and adults.
Susan Cooper is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a not-for-profit organization in the U.S. that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
Born in 1935, in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, Susan Cooper lived in Buckinghamshire until she was 21, when her parents moved to her grandmother's village of Aberdovey, Wales. She attended Slough High School and then earned a degree in English from the University of Oxford.
Jack Higgins
Jack Higgins (b. July 27, 1929) is the principal pseudonym of UK novelist Harry Patterson. Higgins is the author of more than sixty novels. Most have been thrillers of various types and, since his breakthrough novel The Eagle Has Landed in 1975, nearly all have been bestsellers. The Eagle Has Landed sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.
Patterson's early novels, written under his own name as well as under the pseudonyms James Graham, Martin Fallon, and Hugh Marlowe, are brisk, competent, but essentially forgettable thrillers that typically feature hardened, cynical heroes, ruthless villains, and dangerous locales. Patterson published thirty-five such novels (sometimes three or four a year) between 1959 and 1974, learning his craft). East of Desolation (1968), A Game for Heroes (1970) and The Savage Day (1972) stand out among his early work for their vividly drawn settings (Greenland, the Channel Islands, and Belfast, respectively) and offbeat plots.
Patterson began using the pseudonym "Jack Higgins" in the late 1960s, but it was the publication of The Eagle Has Landed in 1975 that made "Higgins'" reputation. The Eagle Has Landed represented a step forward in the length and depth of Patterson's work. Its plot (concerned with a German commando unit sent into England to kidnap Winston Churchill) was fresh and innovative (although the plot is clearly reminiscent of Alberto Cavalcanti's wartime film "Went the Day Well?"), and the characters had significantly more depth than in his earlier work. One in particular stood out: Irish gunman, poet, and philosopher Liam Devlin. Higgins followed The Eagle Has Landed with a series of equally ambitious thrillers, including several (Touch the Devil, Confessional, The Eagle Has Flown) featuring return appearances by Devlin.
The third phase of Patterson's career began with the publication of Eye of the Storm in 1992, a fictionalized retelling of an unsuccessful mortar attack on Prime Minister John Major by a ruthless young Irish gunman-philosopher named Sean Dillon, hired by an Iraqi millionaire. Cast as the central character over the next series of novels it is apparent that Dillon is in many ways an amalgamation of Patterson's previous heroes - Chavasse with his flair for languages, Nick Miller's familiarity with martial arts and jazz keyboard skills, Simon Vaughn's Irish roots, facility with firearms and the cynicism that comes with assuming the responsibility of administering a justice unavailable through a civilized legal system.
Patterson's early novels, written under his own name as well as under the pseudonyms James Graham, Martin Fallon, and Hugh Marlowe, are brisk, competent, but essentially forgettable thrillers that typically feature hardened, cynical heroes, ruthless villains, and dangerous locales. Patterson published thirty-five such novels (sometimes three or four a year) between 1959 and 1974, learning his craft). East of Desolation (1968), A Game for Heroes (1970) and The Savage Day (1972) stand out among his early work for their vividly drawn settings (Greenland, the Channel Islands, and Belfast, respectively) and offbeat plots.
Patterson began using the pseudonym "Jack Higgins" in the late 1960s, but it was the publication of The Eagle Has Landed in 1975 that made "Higgins'" reputation. The Eagle Has Landed represented a step forward in the length and depth of Patterson's work. Its plot (concerned with a German commando unit sent into England to kidnap Winston Churchill) was fresh and innovative (although the plot is clearly reminiscent of Alberto Cavalcanti's wartime film "Went the Day Well?"), and the characters had significantly more depth than in his earlier work. One in particular stood out: Irish gunman, poet, and philosopher Liam Devlin. Higgins followed The Eagle Has Landed with a series of equally ambitious thrillers, including several (Touch the Devil, Confessional, The Eagle Has Flown) featuring return appearances by Devlin.
The third phase of Patterson's career began with the publication of Eye of the Storm in 1992, a fictionalized retelling of an unsuccessful mortar attack on Prime Minister John Major by a ruthless young Irish gunman-philosopher named Sean Dillon, hired by an Iraqi millionaire. Cast as the central character over the next series of novels it is apparent that Dillon is in many ways an amalgamation of Patterson's previous heroes - Chavasse with his flair for languages, Nick Miller's familiarity with martial arts and jazz keyboard skills, Simon Vaughn's Irish roots, facility with firearms and the cynicism that comes with assuming the responsibility of administering a justice unavailable through a civilized legal system.
Enid Blyton
Enid Mary Blyton (August 11, 1897 – November 28, 1968) was a British children's writer. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the twentieth century. Once described as a "one-woman fiction machine", she is noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups. Her books have enjoyed popular success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 400 million copies. By one measure, Blyton is the sixth most popular author worldwide: over 3400 translations of her books are available in 2007 according to UNESCO's Index Translationum; she is behind Lenin and almost equal to Shakespeare. One of her most widely known characters is Noddy, intended for beginning readers. However, her main forte is the young readers' novels, where children ride out their own adventures with minimal adult help. In this genre, particularly popular series include the Famous Five (consisting of 21 novels, 1942 – 1963, based on four children and their dog), the Five Find-Outers and Dog, (15 novels, 1943-1961, where five children regularly outwit the local police) as well as the Secret Seven (15 novels, 1949 – 1963, a society of seven children who solve various mysteries). Her work involves children's adventure stories, and fantasy, sometimes involving magic. Her books were and still are enormously popular in Britain, Malta, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Australia, and as translations, in the former Yugoslavia, Japan, and across most of the globe. Her work has been translated into nearly 90 languages.
Clive Barker
Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English author, film director and visual artist.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 - 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1986). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories. His most recent novel (2007) is Mister B. Gone.
Barker's distinctive style is characterized by the notion of hidden fantastical worlds coexisting with our own, the role of sexuality in the supernatural and the construction of coherent, complex and detailed universes. Barker has referred to this style as "dark fantasy" or the "fantastique". His stories are notable for a deliberate blurring of the distinction between binary opposites such as hell and heaven, or pleasure and pain (the latter particularly so in 'The Hellbound Heart').
When the Books of Blood were first published in the United States in paperback, Stephen King was quoted on the book covers: "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker."[citation needed] A critical analysis of Barker's work appears in S. T. Joshi's The Modern Weird Tale. (2001)
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid (written first by James Robinson, then by future Matrix co-creator Larry Wachowski, with art by Steve Skroce), Hokum & Hex (written by Frank Lovece, art by Anthony Williams), Hyperkind (written by Fred Burke, art by Paris Cullins and Bob Petrecca) and Saint Sinner (written by Elaine Lee, art by Max Douglas). A 2002 Barker telefilm titled Saint Sinner bore no relation to the comic.
Barker horror adaptations and spin-offs in comics include the Marvel/Epic series Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Pinhead, The Harrowers, Book of the Damned and Jihad; Eclipse Books' series and graphic novels Tapping The Vein, Dread, Son of Celluloid, Revelations The Life of Death, Rawhead Rex and The Yattering and Jack, and Dark Horse Comics' Primal, among others. In addition, Clive Barker also served as a consultant and wrote issues of the Hellraiser anthology comic book.
In 2005, IDW published a three-issue adaptation of Barker's children's fantasy novel The Thief of Always, written and painted by Kris Oprisko and Gabriel Hernandez. IDW is also currently publishing a 12 issue adaptation of Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show.
In December 2007, Chris Ryall and Clive Barker announced an upcoming collaboration of an original comic book series, Torakator, to be published by IDW.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 - 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1986). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories. His most recent novel (2007) is Mister B. Gone.
Barker's distinctive style is characterized by the notion of hidden fantastical worlds coexisting with our own, the role of sexuality in the supernatural and the construction of coherent, complex and detailed universes. Barker has referred to this style as "dark fantasy" or the "fantastique". His stories are notable for a deliberate blurring of the distinction between binary opposites such as hell and heaven, or pleasure and pain (the latter particularly so in 'The Hellbound Heart').
When the Books of Blood were first published in the United States in paperback, Stephen King was quoted on the book covers: "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker."[citation needed] A critical analysis of Barker's work appears in S. T. Joshi's The Modern Weird Tale. (2001)
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid (written first by James Robinson, then by future Matrix co-creator Larry Wachowski, with art by Steve Skroce), Hokum & Hex (written by Frank Lovece, art by Anthony Williams), Hyperkind (written by Fred Burke, art by Paris Cullins and Bob Petrecca) and Saint Sinner (written by Elaine Lee, art by Max Douglas). A 2002 Barker telefilm titled Saint Sinner bore no relation to the comic.
Barker horror adaptations and spin-offs in comics include the Marvel/Epic series Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Pinhead, The Harrowers, Book of the Damned and Jihad; Eclipse Books' series and graphic novels Tapping The Vein, Dread, Son of Celluloid, Revelations The Life of Death, Rawhead Rex and The Yattering and Jack, and Dark Horse Comics' Primal, among others. In addition, Clive Barker also served as a consultant and wrote issues of the Hellraiser anthology comic book.
In 2005, IDW published a three-issue adaptation of Barker's children's fantasy novel The Thief of Always, written and painted by Kris Oprisko and Gabriel Hernandez. IDW is also currently publishing a 12 issue adaptation of Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show.
In December 2007, Chris Ryall and Clive Barker announced an upcoming collaboration of an original comic book series, Torakator, to be published by IDW.
James Patterson
James B. Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an award-winning American author.
Patterson received his bachelor's degree from Manhattan College, and his Masters degree at Vanderbilt University.
He lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife, Susan, and son, Jack.
James Patterson is an award-winning American author. Formerly the chairman of advertising company J. W. Thompson in the early 1990s, Patterson came up with the slogan "Toys R Us Kid." Shortly after his success with Along Came A Spider, he retired from the firm and devoted his time to writing. The novels—featuring his character, Alex Cross, a black forensic psychologist formerly of the Washington, D.C. Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, now working as a private psychologist and government consultant—are the most popular books among Patterson readers and the top selling US Detective series in the past ten years.
In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover novels sold was a James Patterson title – totaling an estimated 16 million books sold last year in North America alone. In total, Patterson’s books have sold an estimated 150 million copies worldwide. He has won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the Year award. James Patterson was called "the man who can’t miss" in Time magazine. He is the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on The New York Times adult and children’s bestsellers lists, and to have two books on NovelTracker’s top-ten list at the same time. He holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 39 New York Times bestselling titles overall. He even made an appearance on the Fox TV show The Simpsons (in the episode "Yokel Chords") as himself.
Patterson is also well known for sharing the spotlight with different co-authors such as Maxine Paetro and Andrew Gross and has often said that collaborating with others brings new and interesting ideas to his stories.
He also founded the James Patterson PageTurner Awards, now in its third year. Patterson has personally given away over $600,000 to reward “people, companies, schools, and other institutions who find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading.”
Patterson’s bestselling Women’s Murder Club series was adapted for a television series show starring former Law & Order star Angie Harmon. The show premiered in the fall of 2007 on ABC and ran for one season. Other movie deals are currently in the works with various Hollywood studios including a major motion picture based on his Maximum Ride series, to be produced by Avi Arad, the producer of the X-Men and Spiderman film series. Most recently, the forthcoming Dangerous Days of Daniel X has been optioned by New Regency.
Patterson received his bachelor's degree from Manhattan College, and his Masters degree at Vanderbilt University.
He lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife, Susan, and son, Jack.
James Patterson is an award-winning American author. Formerly the chairman of advertising company J. W. Thompson in the early 1990s, Patterson came up with the slogan "Toys R Us Kid." Shortly after his success with Along Came A Spider, he retired from the firm and devoted his time to writing. The novels—featuring his character, Alex Cross, a black forensic psychologist formerly of the Washington, D.C. Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, now working as a private psychologist and government consultant—are the most popular books among Patterson readers and the top selling US Detective series in the past ten years.
In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover novels sold was a James Patterson title – totaling an estimated 16 million books sold last year in North America alone. In total, Patterson’s books have sold an estimated 150 million copies worldwide. He has won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the Year award. James Patterson was called "the man who can’t miss" in Time magazine. He is the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on The New York Times adult and children’s bestsellers lists, and to have two books on NovelTracker’s top-ten list at the same time. He holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 39 New York Times bestselling titles overall. He even made an appearance on the Fox TV show The Simpsons (in the episode "Yokel Chords") as himself.
Patterson is also well known for sharing the spotlight with different co-authors such as Maxine Paetro and Andrew Gross and has often said that collaborating with others brings new and interesting ideas to his stories.
He also founded the James Patterson PageTurner Awards, now in its third year. Patterson has personally given away over $600,000 to reward “people, companies, schools, and other institutions who find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading.”
Patterson’s bestselling Women’s Murder Club series was adapted for a television series show starring former Law & Order star Angie Harmon. The show premiered in the fall of 2007 on ABC and ran for one season. Other movie deals are currently in the works with various Hollywood studios including a major motion picture based on his Maximum Ride series, to be produced by Avi Arad, the producer of the X-Men and Spiderman film series. Most recently, the forthcoming Dangerous Days of Daniel X has been optioned by New Regency.
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