Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Happy Birthday, Michael Crichton!

The fact is, I prefer those early novels to the later ones (those I've read, which I admit are few).

The Writer's Almanac from American Public Media: "It's the birthday of Michael Crichton, (books by this author) born in Chicago (1942), who went to medical school at Harvard and began writing paperback adventure novels to pay for his tuition. On top of his schoolwork, he managed to produce 10,000 words a day, ultimately publishing eight novels in three years, including Zero Cool (1969), The Venom Business (1969), and Drug of Choice (1970).

By the time Crichton finished medical school, he had decided to become a writer, though he said, '[It] struck most people like quitting the Supreme Court to become a bail bondsman.' He's gone on to write many best-selling novels, including The Andromeda Strain (1969), Jurassic Park (1990), and Next (2006)."

4 comments:

Randy Johnson said...

I remember your earlier post on The Last Tomb. I ordered that one and four other Lange books, as well as one he wrote with his brother under the name Michael Douglas. Do you know that Hard Case Crime has reprinted one of the Langes(Grave Descend) and has Zero Cool slated for early '08. I hope they get to the three high priced used books as well.

Unknown said...

I think I reviewed the Hard Case one somewhere here. I also remember liking A Case of Need which won an Edgar, I think. That one was by Jeffery Hudson.

Randy Johnson said...

I bought the reprint of A Case of Need years ago. I'm working on Scratch One now. And, lately, I seem to like each new novel less than the previous one. I agree that the early novels seem to be more enjoyable.

Benjie said...

And that's the deal. When you become famous you can even get your tripe published. Which stands to reason--just keep writing the good stuff and stay "un-famous".