William George Gilbert Patten (October 25, 1866 - January 16, 1945) was a writer of dime novels and is best known as author of the Frank Merriwell stories, with the pen name Burt L. Standish.
He was a writer of dime novels. His first published dime novel was The Diamond Sport; or, The Double Face of Bed Rock, published in 1886 by Beadle. He wrote westerns with the pen name Wyoming Bill, but is best known for his sporting stories in the Frank Merriwell series, written as Burt L. Standish. Patten started writing the Merriwell stories in April 1896 for the publsher Street & Smith and produced one each week, at a length of twenty thousand words, for twenty years. The series, which appeared in Tip-Top Weekly, was immensely popular, selling some 135,000 copies a week, and the brothers Frank and Dick Merriwell became icons of All-American sportsmanship, entering the jargon of sports commentators. Patten, however, never received any royalties for them, being paid up to $150 per story as a hack writer. The series was originally inspired by the success of the British Penny Dreadfuls like Jack Harkaway. Gibert Patten also contributed to the Frank Merriwell comic strip from 1928, and supervised the 1934 NBC radio series. In 1893, he hired Edward Stratemeyer as a writer for the Street & Smith publication Good News. From 1927 to 1930, Gilbert Patten would start a new series of Frank Merriwell stories, aided now by a few ghostwriters. In 1930, Patten started his own publication, The Dime Novel, but only one issue appeared. Apart from the Merriwell stories, Patten wrote 75 complete novels and an unknown number of stories. He estimated that he had written 40 million words as an author. In total, some 500 million of his books were in print, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.
He lived most of his life in Camden, Maine, but moved to California in 1941. He died in Vista, California in 1945.
Georges Simenon
Famous Writer: Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (pronounced [ʒɔʀʒ simˈnɔ̃] in French) (February 13, 1903–September 4, 1989) was a Belgian writer who wrote in French. He is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Harold Robbins
Famous writer Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author.
Robbins, born Harold Rubin in New York City, claimed to be a Jewish orphan raised in a Catholic boys home; actually, he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn. And his first wife wasn't a Chinese dancer who died from a parrot bite as he had also claimed. She was, in fact, merely his high school sweetheart (when that marriage ended after 28 years, he remarried twice.)
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948) created controversy with its graphic sexuality. Ian Parker says that according to Robbins, publisher Pat Knopf bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on."
The Dream Merchants (1949) was about Hollywood's film industry, from the first steps to sound era. Again Robbins blended his own experiences, historical facts, melodrama, sex, and action into a fast-moving story.
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamor of Hollywood. Its sequel, The Raiders, appeared in 1995.
Since his death, several new books have been published, written by ghostwriters. On the last couple of books, Junius Podrug has been credited as cowriter.
His often profane style was referred to in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk cites his work to explain how people in the 20th century talk.
Robbins, born Harold Rubin in New York City, claimed to be a Jewish orphan raised in a Catholic boys home; actually, he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn. And his first wife wasn't a Chinese dancer who died from a parrot bite as he had also claimed. She was, in fact, merely his high school sweetheart (when that marriage ended after 28 years, he remarried twice.)
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948) created controversy with its graphic sexuality. Ian Parker says that according to Robbins, publisher Pat Knopf bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on."
The Dream Merchants (1949) was about Hollywood's film industry, from the first steps to sound era. Again Robbins blended his own experiences, historical facts, melodrama, sex, and action into a fast-moving story.
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamor of Hollywood. Its sequel, The Raiders, appeared in 1995.
Since his death, several new books have been published, written by ghostwriters. On the last couple of books, Junius Podrug has been credited as cowriter.
His often profane style was referred to in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk cites his work to explain how people in the 20th century talk.
Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 - May 17, 2007) was a widely-influential American author of more than forty books, mostly fantasy novels for children and adolescents, as well as several adult books. His most famous contribution to the field of children's literature is the fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain. The concluding book of the series, The High King, was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1969. Alexander's other books have also won multiple National Book Awards. He was also one of the creators of children's literary magazine Cricket.
Alexander began to receive significant critical acclaim with the release of his Chronicles of Prydain series. The second book, The Black Cauldron, was a 1966 Newbery Honor book. The fourth book in the series, Taran Wanderer, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. The fifth and final book in the series, The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the American Book Award. However, Alexander's other books were praised as well "The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian," won a 1971 National Book Award. He also won a 1982 National Book Award (at that time temporarily known as the American Book Award) for Westmark.
Among his other awards were the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for The Fortune-Tellers. In 1972 he was included in the prestigious reference series, Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators.
Alexander began to receive significant critical acclaim with the release of his Chronicles of Prydain series. The second book, The Black Cauldron, was a 1966 Newbery Honor book. The fourth book in the series, Taran Wanderer, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. The fifth and final book in the series, The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the American Book Award. However, Alexander's other books were praised as well "The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian," won a 1971 National Book Award. He also won a 1982 National Book Award (at that time temporarily known as the American Book Award) for Westmark.
Among his other awards were the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for The Fortune-Tellers. In 1972 he was included in the prestigious reference series, Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators.
Richard Adams
Richard George Adams (born 9 May, 1920) is an English novelist who is best known as the author of Watership Down.
In 1972, Adams published Watership Down, from which he gained international acclaim. In 1974, following publication of his second novel, Shardik, he retired from government service, and since then has been a full-time author.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, and they insisted he publish it as a book. It took two years to write and was rejected by thirteen publishers. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972. To date, Adams' best-known work has sold over 50 million copies world-wide.
In 1972, Adams published Watership Down, from which he gained international acclaim. In 1974, following publication of his second novel, Shardik, he retired from government service, and since then has been a full-time author.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, and they insisted he publish it as a book. It took two years to write and was rejected by thirteen publishers. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972. To date, Adams' best-known work has sold over 50 million copies world-wide.
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