Favorite Gun Fiction Authors?

[Jason Demond]

John Sandford just put out Hidden Prey, the newest in the series.
Also Robert Crais has a new one coming out soon.

I also like the Clete Purcel character, in James Lee Burkes, Dave Robicheaux series.

 

[Herself]

L. Neil Smith, hands down. (I'd move to the NAC tonight, if I knew the route!).

Then Robert A. Heinlein. With him, it's more attitude than specifics; RAH never described anything in any more detail than he had to.

--Herself

 

[techmike]

L. Neil Smith, hands down. (I'd move to the NAC tonight, if I knew the route!).

I'd be right behind you!!

 

[Lone Star]

You may wish to visit: www.johnsandford.org and sleuth your way into the Message Boards. Takes a little attention to what you're doing; you have to scroll all the way down on the page with the (modest) rules, then click on the link at the bottom to get to the actual boards.

Sandford's latest is JUST out, and you can read an excerpt. His daughter, Ros, runs the forums.

Can you believe he has a character named Carl Walther in it?!

Some may find his action scenes a bit stressful, but he's a fine writer of cop novels.

Lone Star

 

[Smoke]

Nightcrawler.



Smoke

 

[Drizzt]

I would say Koontz has a definite libertarian (small "L") bent to his writing. Very much into the personal freedoms and responsibility. Plus, the guy obviously has a love of Labrador Retreivers. I can only think of 1 book of his that I've read that didn't have a Lab.

 

[jAK-47]

Koontz, like Robert B. Parker, has the ability to keep things FRESH! Most authors would have moved on but Koontz is just so damn good.

Thanks for everyone's input. I will be reading authors and books from this thread for a LONG time!

jAK-47

 

[vi9er]

Our very own Matt Bracken!!!

Enemies Foreign and Domestic

And it was played out in the best damn state in the union!!

Ed

 

[grendelbane]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Jerry Ahern. His hero, John Thomas Roarke carried a pair of Detonics .45's, a 6" Python, and a 2" Colt Lawman .357.

Fortunately, he never fell in the water.

He is the only author I know of who lets you know the manufacturer's index number of the ammunition that his character is using.

He also informs you of the custom finish, and Pachmayr grips everytime his character draws a weapon.

 

[Bruce H]

Firarms fiction.
Sarah Brady
Tom Diaz
Josh Sugerman
Diane Feinstein
Ted kennedy
Henry Waxman
Michael Moore
Don Perta
Frank Lautenberg

 

[azrael]

grendlebane,
I read alot of the "Survivalist" books...In one of them the hero falls into the ocean or stream of somekind, and he immediatly pulls all the pistols apart and cleans and oils them...IIRC

Wasnt a bad series of books for the time they were originally set in...the first 12 or so werent bad at all...


How about...William Johnstone...he wrote the Ashes series as well as Hunted and Prey...Some are pretty good...Some are pure "rehashings" of the books that came earlier in the series<~why i dont read them anymore

 

[Devonai]

Andy McNab's Remote Control was indeed a great book.

As for best, I'd have to shamelessly plug my own book.

 

[bill2]

books

How about Lee Childs who wrote the Jack Reacher novels - he's got several of them out and usually puts in several guns in them, and not in a bad way.

 

[bigmtnman]

Herself and techmike-
It's about a mile from where I sit typing this.

 

[grendelbane]

I think that H. Rider Haggard ought to at least receive an honorable mention. His adventure stories usually included firearms, and though, like Heinlein, he did not go into great detail, they usually were acceptable.

Nothing ruins a story for me quicker than really sloppy writing about firearms. I don't understand why writers do not get some one firearm savvy to check their work.

The author of the Parker stories usually got his firearm models right, but I feel like his knowledge of guns came from reading catalogs. This is better than the research many writers do.

Robert E. Howard's character, Francis X. Gordon carried a "fat black automatic". I have always wondered if this was a model 1905, or a model 1911. Could you even buy .45 ACP in Afghanistan at that time?

 

[Travis McGee]

I almost choked when I read a Robert Crais novel, I think it was "The Hostage" but I could be wrong. In a pivotal early scene, a convenience store owner is killed in a robbery when he draws his Glock but can't get a shot off, because under pressure, he forgets to "push down the safety button." Classic example of a writer who can't be bothered to do minimal research.

Let me recommend a truly great writer who gets guns right. He's a Brit named Gerald Seymour, his books are in every library. Read "Harry's Game" (SAS in Northern Ireland) Archangel (Brit spy in Soviet Gulag) The Contract (crossing East German border) or At CLose Quarters (Brit sniper in Lebanon.) He doesn't write Clancyesque "comic book superheros," his stuff is at the realistic end, if you prefer that style (as I do.)

And of course, there is always

 

[trooper]

Yeah, Gerald Seymour is pretty good - very down-to-earth, he avoids the sensationalism that some other thriller authors always seem to fall for.

As for Lee Child, I read "Without Fail" on my last vacation and liked it. He does go into great details about firearms, even down to different scope brands. Very good reading, too...

While a knowledge about different guns is always desirable for a writer, I think good storytelling comes first by a long measure. If I want to dig into technical issues I can always open a catalogue... However, I wish writers would stop making up things they don't know crap about - either leave the details out or go ask somebody.


Regards,

Trooper

 

[Locke]

Nightcrawler

Here, here!!

I also have many of the authors already mentioned on my books-to-buy list, but haven't bought nor read them yet.

Ryan

 

[The_Antibubba]

Favorite Gun Fiction?

Guns N Ammo Magazine.

Especially the parts where all their advertiser's products are Super-Duper Best Ever!!

Or the Super Tactical $7000 Customized 1911.

 

[RevDisk]

Robert Heinlein, of course.


Dean Koontz. If "Dark Rivers of The Heart" was written today, I think Koontz would probably be in Gitmo.


Andrew Vachss. Not as commonly known, he's an attorney that solely defends children. His books are excellent, if not disturbing. Very accurate in what weapons can and cannot do.

Check out his site.

http://www.vachss.com

 

[jAK-47]

Just picked up my first John Sanford book, "Rules of Prey". I'll dive into it after I fininsh the last few pages of Hunter's, "Black Light".

So glad I started this thread!!

jAK-47

 

[patentnonsense]

ROTFL about the Glock safety button!

OK, let's start a second thread about WORST gun knowledge in an author who should know better -

My favorite would be a pulp series called "The Executioner", which ran to more than a hundred books -
and in one of the first ones the "hero" decides to attack a Mafia gathering, from an adjacent rooftop, using an elephant rifle in .460 Weatherby!!

 

[jAK-47]

and in one of the first ones the "hero" decides to attack a Mafia gathering, from an adjacent rooftop, using an elephant rifle in .460 Weatherby!!

I think the author was making a statement on the hazards of a diet exclusively dedicated to pasta!

 

[macman37]

W.E.B. Griffin has impressed me thus far in his "Under Fire" book I started on vacation. Takes place during Korea. One character in fact laments having to leave behind his National Match M1 Garand at one point.

Clancy may not be 100% on the mark with his writings on guns but is always entertaining - I believe it's "Executive Orders" where the old timer dies saving Ryan's kids - very well written.

F. Paul Wilson is one of my favorite authors and while he doesn't have a love affair with guns, his "Repairman Jack" character has a few and they seem accurately depicted.

I'm sure I'll think of 5 more after I hit "submit reply" but can't think of them now ; )

jim

 

[ddc]

Anybody who enjoyed the Steven Hunter/Bob Lee Swagger novels should take a look at "White Star" by James Thayer.

The main character was, like Swagger, a sniper in Vietnam.