My favourite authors

Back in 1984, it was all 1984, the book. Being how I am, I refused to be
caught up in it and thought I was all cool reading Brave New World
instead. Unfortunately, Brave New World had the effect of haunting me,
the damn thing is embedded in my head for some reason, not sure why as
it’s not actually a very good novel. Years later, having only read
Animal Farm at school, I was in Goa 1994. I was in a bookshop in
Calangute, stuffed full of second-hand books. I think I got a bunch to
take back to read and one of them was Coming Up For Air, by Orwell. The
book made me a huge Orwell fan. I have only read it once. I sold that
copy back to the book shop. Then I had to buy it again in England, it
had had that profound an effect on me. I wrote my own version, that
novel was sent to agents. Once, during an argument with my ex-wife, I
took all my books down the end of the garden and burnt them. She hated
my books. Then, later, I was digging over the dead bonfire and the only
cover that survived was… Coming Up For Air. I profound moment (if you
have read the book you’ll know what I am saying). It was a sign. I’d
never read that brand new copy. I’d actually had another copy of that
book before and lent it to her brother, who lent it to someone else, and
I never saw it again. I’d also not read that copy. So, later again, I
got another copy of it, and I still have not read it again. Maybe one
day I will. But it is lodged in my head like Brave New World. Anyway, I
read so much more Orwell after that, he was a great writer. Coming Up
For Air will always be my favourite book as it said something to me that
no other book ever had. Oh, and 1984 is not Orwell’s best. In-fact he
often just pontificates, telling his vision of dystopia without even
writing it as a fiction novel. I’ve also been to Jura, the Scottish
Island where he wrote it.

Gerald Durrell

I loved My Family and Other Animals when I was a kid. I had an audio tape of it which I
would play over and over again. It was my dad’s fault. Durrell wrote
books about going off around the world to collect animals for his Zoo in
Jersey. My dad would read me one of these books at bedtime. It was
probably he who got me that tape too. Dad had several Durrell books and I
read them all. I then read many more over the years. At the time I
loved them. I even went to Corfu once due to him (My Family and Other
Animals is set there, before WW2). Though Durrell’s Corfu is long gone
(if it ever existed at all). Later I discovered that the books are
memoirs and not actually autobiographical. This did disappoint me
rather, I’m not a fan of memoirs… or fibbing, as the case may be. Gerald
had rather a lot to fund, Zoos, drinking, smoking and parties, he
needed the money from the books. there were entertaining, even if rather
exaggerated. So how did I discover this fibbing?

Lawrence Durrell

A character in Gerald’s books is his brother, Lawrence. He’s often shown
as a potty author in them. I discovered Gerald was fibbing as Lawrence
didn’t live with them in Corfu at all. I read several of Lawrence’s
books. One is of his time on Corfu and, he doesn’t live with his family.
It is very different to Gerald’s version. However, he opened the door
to his brother’s works. The Alexandria Quartet is a fantastic book
(well, 4 in 1). It’s very dense to read and you have to take your time,
close to prose poetry I feel. Of course the book made me want to visit
Alexandria, I’d never had much desire to go to Egypt before that. So I
did indeed travel to places just due to those two brothers. I caught
Alex on the cusp of old Alex. They have a habit of building new and
destroying the old. I saw the Villa Ambron where Lawrence lived for a
bit not long before it was demolished. Gerald’s work was good to the
time and did inspire me. Then I finally read Lawrence and also found
inspiration there. Gerald was partly responsible for my interest in
conservation too.

W.E. Johns (Captain)

So he wasn’t a captain, he self-promoted himself for a writing pseudonym.
The author of Biggles books among many others. These were mostly aimed
at children, though he did try to write for the adult market a lot. I
always liked how the books weren’t written as if to children, and
explains a lot when you discover that early books were attempting to be
books for grown ups. John’s grammar is spot on and he doesn’t waste
words. I struggled greatly to read as a kid due to dyslexia and Biggles
books helped a lot. The story was interesting and the fact that he
didn’t waste words was perfect. As I read so slow, I extracted every
last flavour from the words. He greatly inspired me to write, as I
certainly thought I could do it too. He also had endless ideas. Johns
also wrote science fiction. Again, another author who inspired me to
travel, well, the main one. Biggles pops up all over the world and
John’s had me wanting to go to all these places, even though he’d not
been there himself. In later years he moved to Scotland, same with me.

Alistair MacLean

Many read MacLean as kids, I didn’t. I did see Where Eagles Dare from a
young age though. Later I picked up the book of it that my dad had in
his bookcase. Later still, I started reading much more MacLean. Really,
they are just adult Biggles books. That said, they also inspired me to
do the same. Burning Wolfhound is very inspired by When Eight Bells
Toll. His plots are very improbable though, even if enjoyable. Later
books tend to be ghost written somewhat. He was a hard drinker it seems
and probably pickled his brain. The improbable nature of the plots is
sort of inspiring too, as when my own plots go wacky I just think, well,
no worse than MacLean. Travel? Yes, MacLean had me wanting to see
castles in Germany and the island of Mull in Scotland.

Charles Bukowski

Bukowski doesn’t pretend that his books are real life, as they are all following
a man called “Chainski” his alter-ego. I say all, later books are made
out to be autobiographical, but you just know it’s only 80% true, which
he said himself. I first saw the film of Factotum with Mat Dillon doing a
very good Bukowski impression. I like his poetry, which is all
confessional style. The post Office is a super book. Factotum is superb.
Women has him meet his future wife (who in real life had money and
connections), and Hollywood has him at the mocking of Barfly, based on
his early life. It’s interesting to follow the progression. The style
certainly inspires me to write my own non-fiction, or, that there is a
point. Fibbing like Durrell though, but using Chainski works.

J. G. Ballard, Frank Herbert

Their stories are different. I like different. Though Herbert’s Dune is the
most popular science fiction novel of all. His short stories are
unusual. Ballard always comes up with interesting ideas, except when he
doesn’t. I’ve read collected short stories 1, which is very good, and
vol 2, which is terrible. Currently on High-Rise, a novel. They both are
inspiring for my own writing.

Douglas Adams

I loved hearing the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy on the radio when I was young. It
was just so awesome. No-one had really managed “comedy” science fiction
until then. Adams hits the notes perfectly. The radio version had the
Radiophonic Workshop special effects, which were incredible. I’ve read
most of Adam’s work, shame he died so young (ish). He did waste a lot of
time on other projects, and himself admitted he was best at “putting
one word after another”. My favourite is “Long Dark Teatime of the
Soul”, which is a Dirk Gently private eye story. Again, he always
convinced me that I could do it too, as his writing is simple, and,
having seen him talk on TV, his delivery is his writing voice. Also, the
final Hitch Hikers “Mostly Harmless” is a superb book.