Favorite & Least Favorite Gun Authors?

[tipoc]

Raymond Chandler didn’t just know his guns, he's one of the all-time great authors of American fiction and the originator of the hard-boiled detective archetype in our culture.

Chandler? Or was it Hammet, the Continental Op, Sam Spade?

tipoc

 

[NoirFan]

Chandler? Or was it Hammet, the Continental Op, Sam Spade?

I think Dashiell Hammett wrote before Chandler, but Chandler was the one who raised the archetype to an art form. I like Chandler a lot better so I'm just gonna give the title to him anyway

 

[tipoc]

You may be right that Chandler lifted it up some but I gottta listen to what he said about Hammett in his essay "The Simple Art of Murder":

Chandler reserves his praise for Dashiell Hammett. Although Chandler and Hammett were contemporaries and grouped as the founders of the hard-boiled school, Chandler speaks of him as the "one individual... picked out to represent the whole movement," noting Hammett's mastery of the "American language", his adherence to reality, and that he "gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse."

Chandler concludes his essay by moving from reality in literature to reality itself, "a world in which gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities... it is not a fragrant world, but it is the world you live in." He states that this world requires the hero of Hammett's (and his own) fiction, a man who walks the "mean streets" with a sense of honor and a notion of justice, who neither wears them on his sleeve nor allows them to be corrupted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simple_Art_of_Murder

Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of The Glass Key is the record of a man's devotion to a friend. He was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before. - Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler

Hammett's began writing in the early 1920s. His first novel "Red Harvest" was published in 1929. It served as the inspiration for the Kurosawa film "Yojimbo", for Leones' film "A Fistful of Dollars" and several more movies. No one ever spoke the Continental Ops' name.

Chandler's first short story appeared in 1933.

I think Chandler was the better writer. But Hammett, like Chandler says, set a pace. His writing was spare.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell_Hammett

tipoc

 

[Aragon]

Favorite = Most Respected = Ian Hogg, Blake Stevens, Edward Ezell

Least Favorite = Least Respected = John "Jeff" Cooper, Charles Askins, Evan Marshall, Edwin Sanow

Ian Hogg is excellent. Smart and well researched, Humble (depite his English accent.)

I read somewhere that Ian Hogg and others were contracted to do research when gun shows started on cable. Time after time he would deliver his promised material on time and in excellent order, while other "experts" floundered to meet their commitments.

 

[Thermactor]

Larry Correia anyone? He's one of our own

 

[Elkins45]

I haven't bought a gun magazine in probably 10 years (other than my NRA Rifleman subscription) so I don't really have a modern favorite. I learned how to reload from the works of Dean Grinnell and really liked everything of his I remember reading, so he's near the top. I like Ayoob a lot, but some of his cautions are a bit over the top. In the pre-internet days I mailed a question to John Taffin at American Handgunner and received a personal reply (in an envelope with a middle school address printed on it) so that gave me two reasons to like him.

Dislikes? Well, Jeff Cooper and Charles Askins are at the top of that list. Cooper because he seemed to be one of those puffed-up old he-men who thought they pooped gold and that once they had made a pronouncement that any further discussion was over. Askins because he enjoyed killing people WAY too much. I can't say I'm a big fan of any of the modern crop of writers who call people sheeple if they are less 'tactically aware' than the writer deems appropriate. Anybody who tells me I need 1K rounds for my 'tactical rifle' MINIMUM stockpiled in my basement for example.

 

[Red Wind]

I think Chandler was the better writer. But Hammett, like Chandler says, set a pace. His writing was spare

I agree. Chandler elevated the art. No one has seriously challenged him since. Marlowe is the Citadel for all other crime writers.
But Hammett was excellent and started the hard boiled genre rolling.

I enjoy them both immensely.

 

[NoirFan]

I agree. Chandler elevated the art. No one has seriously challenged him since. Marlowe is the Citadel for all other crime writers.
But Hammett was excellent and started the hard boiled genre rolling.

I enjoy them both immensely.

You guys are definitely right that Dashiell Hammet was crucial to the genre but I dunno, his writing was a little too dry and lean for me. I could never get into the world of Sam Spade or the Continental Op the way I could Marlowe's L.A.

Back to the OP, I think the thing that separates a good gun writer from a lousy one is humility. Never been a fan of writers who think they know everything and use their limited knowledge to build up a cult of personality.

 

[DPris]

Richard Prather.
Who else introduced the Gyrojet into a murder mystery?
Denis

 

[JFrame]

For "gun authors" in the world of fiction, Stephen Hunter tops my list.

.

 

[DPris]

First time I ever heard of Super-Vel was in a Prather book, back in the 60s.
Nobody else is old enough to remember Shell Scott?
Denis

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

as Cajan stated, Skeeter Skelton, Jackk O'Connor, Warren Page, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, Robert Ruark +( Bpb Milek sp) Taffin, Neil Knox Russell Anable (sp)

 

[KevinB]

I was also going to mention Larry Correia. I picked up a few of his books to support a fellow member, and enjoyed them enough that I'll be ordering the rest of the series. It's so refreshing to read something that has technically correct firearms references. Allows me to not become distracted from the story.

 

[shafter]

I favor Jeff Cooper, Taffin, Skeeter, Askins and Elmer Keith. Not only were these guys knowledgeable but they also possessed excellent writing and storytelling skills. Each had his own style and viewpoint. T

oday's gun writers don't feel authentic. Much of the time I get the feeling that they are writing to please the firearm manufacturers rather than entertain and inform their readers. Maybe the old writers were a product of more interesting times and guns. Who can say.

I don't bother with firearm magazines these days. There's only so many articles I can read about which pocket holster I should buy or which tactical light shines the brightest.

 

[Conelrad]

Blake Stevens

Clinton Ezell


DDG

 

[Ramone]

No one mentioned Jerry Ahern?

while a bit purple, his "the Survivalist" series were some of my favorites circa 1980.

While he's not a 'Gun Writer', I have never caught a error in John D MacDonald's work- though I do occasional get the impression that he consulted with, and then repeated verbatim an expert when it came to technical details.

 

[HEAVY METAL 1]

Least favorite is Zumbo. His betrayal of our cause is something I will disrespect him for forever.

 

[Red Wind]

While he's not a 'Gun Writer', I have never caught a error in John D MacDonald's work- though I do occasional get the impression that he consulted with, and then repeated verbatim an expert when it came to technical details.

I think you are right. Although not really a gunny, John D., an Intelligence Officer with the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific in WWII and a perfectionist, always tried to get things right with Travis and company. I really miss McGee and Meyer and Bahia Mar, slip F-18!

As did the fine Ross MacDonald, author of the brilliant Lew Archer series, beginning with The Moving Target in 1949. More psychological and perhaps a bit more humane than Marlowe, Archer sets a high standard.

Guns were not as a big a factor as with Spade, The Op and Marlowe, but Archer can hold his own with just about the best of the hard boiled guys.

And the Southern California settings, from 1946 to 1975, are to die for!
They bring me back to my California roots.

 

[Highpower0]

My favs are of course dead now and would be Skeeter, Elmer Keith and Major George Charles Nonte Jr (anyone remember him.

Really don't have any I dislike, find some good in all of them. But will say the new crop of writer are no where as interesting as the old...

 

[TRX]

Most favorite: Massad Ayoob

Least favorite: Dick Metcalf

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I don't have a favorite. I like many though.

My least favorite..... I don't even know if he'd be considered an author, but I have read a few of his articles and commentary. Larry Vickers. I can't stand him. I find everything about him irritating, overly dramatic, egotistical, and self serving.

I'm grateful for his service to America, but that's where my respect for the guy ends.

His videos make me want to throw my computer.

 

[boatdoc173]

Hey all. Do you have a favorite gun author? How about least favorite? Most importantly, why?

tie between Massad Ayoob and Albert league-- both helped make me the shooter I am today--- I do no t know if that is a good thing though ---LOL!!!!

 

[J.E. Walker]

somebody mentioned Russel Anabel. He wrote for one of the major outdoor magazines 50-60 years ago and was generally regarded as a fiction/adventure writer because of his concentration on cryptozoan such as the "Onca or Onza" member of the cat family.
Writers who are primarily known for writing magazine articles and gun-related books do not have wide name recognition even among enthusiasts. An informal survey on a couple of these message boards a couple of years ago put Massad Ayoob, John M. Browning, B.Tyler Henry and Ted Nugent right at the high end in terms of familiarity. Ayoob is multi-faceted having written for a wide array of gun publications for many years, producing several definitive books and serving as a highly respected expert witness. Nugent is known more for other public activities than gun writing though he has written such articles for American Handgunner and others.
Gun writers well liked decades ago and now deceased are virtually forgotten and current writers who appear in one or two publications may be recognized by certain enthusiasts but be completely unknown to the culture as a whole. A lot of people do not recognize Elmer Keith or Skeeter Skelton 'though they are informed about specific areas of interest. There is one writer who invests 30-60 percent of his articles on autobiographical data but less than fifty percent of the audience (informally) polled had heard of him.

 

[GBExpat]

My Favorite "Gun Author" is Larry Correia.

 

[EIB0879]

Favorite- Jack O'Connor

Leaser favorite - David Petal