These are the five most-published writers, with nine or more (in the case of Brooks and Chesbro, many more) novels published.
-a recent photo of Brooks-
Lester del Rey, the editor who acquired Terry Brooks’s first book, made a major investment of time and money in him. They formed a close personal relationship, and Brooks has stayed with Del Rey Books throughout his career. Such longstanding relationships were once the rule in publishing, but by the 1970s, they were practically unheard of.
Brooks’s career indicates that mutual loyalty—that antiquated arrangement—can still be good business. He is by a long way the most commercially successful of the class of spring ’77. He has published 26 books, most of them in one of his five fantasy series. His first novel, Sword of Shannara, hit the New York Times bestseller list, and most of its successors have followed suit. In 2003, he explained How He Does It in an engagingly sensible and modest volume called Sometimes the Magic Works. A fan named Shawn Speakman tends his extensive Web site, terrybrooks.net
Brooks was born in Illinois in 1944. He got a B.A. in English from Hamilton College and a law degree from Washington & Lee. He knew from childhood that he wanted to be a writer, but figured he’d better have a job to pay the bills, so he went to work at a small law firm in Illinois.
His first novel was an unagented “over the transom” submission to Lester del Rey. As Brooks tells the story in his book, his timing was fortuitous. Del Rey, an experienced editor, believed the fantasy genre was about to surge in popularity and was planning to start his own fantasy imprint. All he needed was the right book, and he thought Brooks’s was it. He guided the novice writer through extensive revisions, then gave the book a big publicity push, comparing it to Tolkein. It worked: the book reached the bestseller lists and was reviewed in the Times Book Review by Frank (Dune) Herbert. The foundation of Brooks’s career was soundly laid, although he says that “the next Tolkien” label has become a club critics have beaten him with ever since. (Not that he hasn’t gotten plenty of favorable reviews, too.)
Brooks thinks his second novel was the decisive one. Del Rey rejected it. He told Brooks that he could easily find another publisher if he wanted to, but Brooks was so impressed with del Rey’s notes on his manuscript that he decided to stick with him. Starting from scratch, he wrote another book, to del Rey’s satisfaction. Today, he is still published by the Del Rey imprint.
At 40, he had three books in print and enough saved up to support his family for a year. Those had long been his conditions for quitting his job, but after 17 years as a lawyer, he hesitated. In an amusing passage, he writes that del Rey maneuvered him into writing a novel about a lawyer who chucks it to rule over a fantasy world (Magic Kingdom for Sale). Writing it convinced Brooks to become a fulltime writer. He currently “divides his time” (in that alluring flap-bio phrase) between Seattle and Hawaii, where he participates regularly in the Maui Writers Conference, and travels widely promoting his books.
Stability—staying with one publisher and writing books in series—would seem to be key to Brooks’ success, but he finds it confining sometimes. He understands why publishers push authors to keep writing the same kind of book, but he grows restive after writing a few novels in a series and wants to switch. The Magic Kingdom series did not sell as well as Shannara at first, though later sales picked up. His current series, Word and the Void, caused another downturn in his sales. But with a writer as popular as Brooks, downturn is a relative term.
Naturally, he has been noticed by Hollywood. Brooks’s novels have not gotten past the optioning-and-negotiating stage, but he has written big-selling tie-ins, especially to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
All of his books, in various additions and translations, are available on amazon.com, and all are available from St. Louis County Library. All published by Del Rey Books/Ballantine/Random House.
Novels
Shannara series:
First King of Shannara 1996
The Sword of Shannara 1977
The Elfstones of Shannara 1982
The Wishsong of Shannara 1985
The Scions of Shannara 1990
The Druid of Shannara 1991
The Elf Queen of Shannara 1991
The Talismans of Shannara 1999
Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! 1986
The Black Unicorn 1987 " This sequel to Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold! contains the same welcome touches of humor as its predecessor and confirms Brooks's talent for light fantasy." --Library Journal
Wizard at Large 1988
The Tangle Box 1991
Witches' Brew 1996
Running with the Demon 1998
Knight of the Word 1998
Angel Fire East 1999 "Fighting supernatural evil is taxing work, and Brooks's third novel of humanity's stand against the demons of the Void shows hints of battle fatigue." --Publishers Weekly
Ilse Witch 2000
Antrax 2001
Morgawr 2002
Stars Wars 1: The Phantom Menace 2000
Hook 1991
Jarka Ruus 2003
Tanequil 2004
Straken 2005 "While the author may not equal the wit of his earlier Magic Kingdom of Landover series, his characterization has grown substantially more sophisticated over the years." --Publishers Weekly
Armageddon's Children 2006
Elves of Cintra 2007
Main source: Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks, Del Rey, 2003
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In the late ‘90s, George C. Chesbro discovered that even though he was a much-published author with a following in the suspense genre, major publishers were not interested in his new manuscript. Many authors found themselves in the same boat, but Chesbro actually did something about it. He and his wife started their own publishing company, making use of new technology to print and market his books.
Born in 1940, he grew up in Delmar, New York. He started writing fiction while attending Syracuse University. He graduated with a degree in special education and taught for seventeen years before becoming a full-time writer. He occasionally supplemented his income by working as a security guard or teacher. He lives in the Hudson Valley and has held office in the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
He started publishing stories in mystery and science fiction magazines in 1969 and by now has published over 100. Noting the trend for detective heroes with a disability in the mid-‘70s, he created Robert Fredrickson, a dwarf who performed in the circus as Mongo before becoming a professor of criminology and martial arts expert. Mongo made his debut in a short story, then was the hero of Chesbro’s first novel to be published in the U.S. Mongo made it possible for Chesbro to write full-time, and he continued the Mongo series at a steady book-a-year clip, interrupted only when he had to find a new publisher in the early ‘80s. But Chesbro must have kept busy during those years, because he built up a backlog. In the mid ‘80s, paperback and hardcover publishers brought out his works in two other series.
Chesbro was what would have been considered an established author, in more settled times. But in the late ‘90s, publishers gave him the cold shoulder. “There was really no interest, and I was kind of disgusted anyway,” he told the New York Press in a 2001 interview. His particular problem, he speculated, was that his latest Mongo novel had pushed the suspense genre by incorporating sci-fi elements, but times were tough for authors generally. He explained that mergers had reduced the number of markets, advances paid to all but the bestselling few had shrunk, and publishers’ hoggish stance on electronic rights was just one sign of an increasingly exploitive attitude to writers.
Buying his first computer, Chesbro went online and discovered that there were several fan sites dedicated to him, and that copies of his books which their original publishers had allowed to go out of print commanded high prices. So he and his wife, Robin, started their own business, Apache Beach Publications. They got back the rights to his past books and made a deal with a print-on-demand company to make them available again. He arranged with the Webmaster of the Mongo fan site dangerousdwarf.com to use it to publicize and market his old and new books. He also arranged to sell them through the large book wholesaler Ingram and Amazon.com. His two most recent publications, in 2003 and 2004, are collections of his short stories.
Articles on the Web site set out Chesbro’s views on self-publishing. He thinks that an author like himself, who has a following among readers but is not a bestselling household name, can do a better job than the commercial publishers, thanks to new technology.
The Mongo series:
Shadow of a Broken Man, Simon & Schuster 1977
"Mongo's back! One of mystery fiction's most interesting, unusual, and enduring characters." --Otto Penzler
City of Whispering Stone, Simon & Schuster 1978
An Affair of Sorcerers, Simon & Schuster 1979
The Beasts of Valhalla, Atheneum 1985
Two Songs This Archangel Sings, Atheneum 1987 " In the latest of Chesbro's esteemed series, his gallant hero fights corruption against formidable odds." Library Journal
The Cold Smell of Sacred Stone, Atheneum 1988 "Only Chesbro's smooth writing saves this from total inanity, but the talkabout love, mankind and other heavy subjectsseems endless." Publishers Weekly
Second Horseman Out of Eden, Atheneum, 1989
The Language of Cannibals, Mysterious Press 1990
In the House of Secret Enemies Mysterious Press 1990
The Fear in Yesterday’s Rings Mysterious Press 1991
Dark Chant in a Crimson Key Mysterious Press 1992
An Incident at Bloodtide Mysterious Press 1993
Bleeding in the Eye of a Brainstorm Mysterious Press 1995
Dream of a Falling Eagle Mysterious Press 1996
The Chant series (as David Cross):
Chant Jove 1986
Silent Killer Jove 1987
Code of Blood Jove 1987
The Veil series
Veil Mysterious Press 1986
Jungle of Steel and Stone Mysterious Press 1988
Other novels
The Golden Child Pocket 1985 (movie tie-in)
Turn Loose the Dragons Ballantine 1982
Prism Apache Beach 2001
The Keeper Apache Beach 2001
(List of U.S. publications)
Main sources: interviews from Syracuse Post-Standard, Mystery One, and New York Press, and articles by Chesbro, all on dangerousdwarf.com
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Robert Lee Hall is a painter and art teacher who, by his own account, sort of wandered into another career writing history-mysteries.
Born in San Francisco in 1941, he got interested in the visual arts early in life, and earned BFA and MFA degrees from California College of the Arts and Crafts. Starting in 1964, he taught art and English at a high school in San Ramon, California.
He told CA, “For many years while I was a public school teacher, I stole evenings, weekends, and vacations to paint and exhibit in the San Francisco Bay area. I wanted to be a good painter….Yet I had always loved words and books. On a sabbatical to study etching I began to write short stories. My first novel is a short story that got out of hand.”
That novel brought back Sherlock Holmes (Holmes books were especially popular in the ‘70s, owing to the success of Nicholas Meyer’s The Seven Percent Solution). It set the pattern for Hall’s writing career; his other eight mysteries also had historical backgrounds and celebrity sleuths. Hall moved from publisher to publisher at first. After an eight-year hiatus, he found a home at St. Martin’s, and then a series detective hero in Benjamin Franklin. They brought out six Franklin novels 1988-1997.
Novels
Exit Sherlock Holmes Scribner 1977* # Berkley 1979, 1983*
The King Edward Plot McGraw-Hill 1980# pb 1987*
Murder at San Simeon St. Martin’s 1988*
Benjamin Franklin Takes the Case St. Martin’s 1988 #University of Pennsylvania 2001* “This delightful first novel in the series has something of a Dickensian charm about it and the character of Benjamin Franklin fairly leaps off the page.” –myshelf.com
Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Christmas Murder St. Martin’s 1991# St Martin’s pb1993* University of Pennsylvania 2001*
Murder at Drury Lane St. Martin’s 1992* # St. Martin’s pb1993*
Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Artful Murder St. Martin’s 1994 *# pb1995 *
Murder by the Waters St. Martin’s 1995 * # St. Martin’s Minotaur pb 1996
London Blood St. Martin’s 1997 * # ‘In Hall’s rich tale, the difference between Franklin’s enlightened love of pleasure and the darker predilections of the villains couldn’t be clearer.” –Publishers Weekly
Main source: Contemporary Authors
Jon A. Jackson is an Iowa workshop grad who tried a crime novel as a learning experience. The genre became a career..
Born in Michigan in 1938, he served in the Army. Then he moved to northern Michigan and supported himself as a carpenter. A friendship with author Jim Harrison kept his interest in writing fiction alive. He went back to school and got his BA from the University of Montana, intending to become a naturalist, but ended up at the famed University of Iowa workshop, receiving his MFA in 1973. He has been editor of the Iowa Review. He said the workshop was good for learning to write stories, but not novels. Jackson told LJ that he didn’t feel ready to write a “real” novel so, inspired by Simenon’s example, he decided to develop his skills by writing a crime novel. David Morell, a professor at Iowa and author of the Rambo novels and many bestselling thrillers, gave him editorial advice and helped him find an agent for The Diehard. He has been writing full-time since.
That first novel provided the basis and set the pattern for Jackson’s long career. Not only has he stayed with the crime genre, he has also developed the hero and anti-hero introduced in The Diehard, Detroit police detective Fang Mulheisen and career criminal Joe Service, into series characters. One, the other, or both have appeared in all his books since, excepting only his historical novel Go by Go.
Before settling down to a steady pace, Jackson’s publishing career had an early bloom, nipped by a long frost. He quickly followed up his first novel with another Mulheisen, which got enthusiastic reviews and was optioned for the screen by none other than Jack Webb. But the movie never got made and “no one seemed to want Grootka,” his third book, he recalled in an interview on his Web site. An entire decade passed before a small press specializing in mysteries, Foul Play, brought the book out. For his next book, Jackson signed up with the prestigious imprint Atlantic Monthly Press, which has brought out one of his books every two years since. They apparently didn’t want to do a non-crime series book, though. He told Mystery Scene that his greatest challenge is “getting a more serious literary novel published”--presumably referring to Go by Go, which was brought out by a small press.
Novels
The Diehard Random House 1977 Dell 1995 Grove Pr 2000*
The Blind Pig Random House 1979* Ultramarine 1988 Grove Pr 2000*
Grootka Foul Play 1990*# Dell 1992*
Hit on the House Atlantic Monthly Pr 1993# Dell 1995* “Jackson expertly taps the vein that Elmore Leonard, another Motown scribe, is noted for.” –Publishers Weekly
Deadman Atlantic Monthly Pr 1994# Grove/Atlantic 2000pb* “Superb genre fiction.” --Booklist
Dead Folks Atlantic Monthly Pr 1996*# Grove/Atlantic pb 1999*
Man with an Axe Atlantic Monthly Pr 1998*# Grove Atlantic 1999* “The constant switching between the present, narrated by Mulheisen, and the past, told in the third person, gives the narrative a two-step jerkiness. But Mulheisen is, as always, a smart and mordant observer of his hometown’s eccentricities, and Jackson remains a master of irreverent, hard-boiled comedy.” –Publishers Weekly
Go by Go Dennis McMillan Publications 1998
La Donna Detroit Atlantic Monthly Pr 2000# Grove-Atlantic 2001* “Jackson continues to crank out one of the wildest and wittiest crime series going.” --Publishers Weekly
Badger Games Atlantic Monthly Pr 2002# Grove/Atlantic (pb) 2004* “This battle of loose cannons isn’t the most comical or suspenseful episode in the continuing saga of Joe and his pals, but it’s certainly the most audacious.” –Kirkus Reviews
No Man’s Dog Atlantic Monthly Pr 2006* #“[T]his installment offers a thoroughly entertaining, if rather light interlude in a usually quite dark series.” –Booklist
Main source: articles on author’s Web site, jonajackson.com
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Rob Swigart has brought out fictional works at a steady pace over the last three decades. This is quite a feat for an author who is not a bestselling “household name.” He has done so by being flexible, switching genres and taking full advantage of technological opportnities.
Born in Chicago in 1941, he got his BA from Princeton, worked as a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, served a hitch in the U.S. Army, and got a close-up view of the publishing industry by working in sales for Harper & Row. Then he earned a doctorate in comparative literature from State University of New York at Buffalo, and joined the faculty of San Jose State University in 1972, where he is now an associate professor of English. He teaches creative writing. In addition to his fiction, he has written magazine articles, edited a poetry collection, and made documentary films. In the ‘90s, a fallow period for fiction publication for him, he co-authored two business books.
His first published book was poetry. He then wrote four novels, published in quick succession by major hardcover publishers. Reviewers compared them to the works of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins. Dealing with the future and space travel, they were nonetheless classified as general fiction rather than science fiction.
In the mid ‘80s, when the “regional” mystery novel was in vogue, he wrote a series about a Hawaii police detective and his chemist sidekick.
When he published his first novel in 1977, Swigart wrote, “Fiction is taking a beating, but also being reborn.” The words proved to be prophetic of his own career. In the late ‘80s, the computer revolution offered new forms and outlets to authors, and Swigart, who lives in Silicon Valley and writes technical articles about computers, has taken advantage of many of them. He devised a computer game called Portal and wrote a novel based on it. He published mixed media works in disk form. His fiction appears on an electronic magazine site. The Authors Guild website backinprint.com has made a couple of his earlier works available. His most recent works are in traditional book form, from small presses, but the subject matter is keyed to the computer age.
Fictional works
Little America Houghton, 1977* backinprint.com 2000*
AKA: a cosmic fable Houghton, 1978*
The Time Trip Houghton 1979* backinprint.com 2001“Swigart has a high old time guiding us around the preposterous world of his imagination” –Library Journal
The Book of Revelations Dutton, 1981*
Vector, a Chazz Koenig-Cobb Takamura thriller St. Martin’s 1986*
Portal interactive novel published by Activision on disk, St. Martin’s on paper in 1988,*
backinprint.com 2001 “The author’s novelization of the computer game of the same name succeeds on its own”—Library Journal
Toxin, a Chazz Koenig-Cobb Takamura thriller St. Martin’s 1989*
Venom, a Chazz Koenig-Cobb Takamura thriller St. Martin’s, 1991*
Directions, Eastgate Systems. Author calls it “pseudo-scientific hyperpoem”
“Swigart is a serious, accessible, intelligent writer…who deserves to be more widely known.” Newsday blurb on Eastgate Web site
Dispersion on electronic book review.com
Xibalba Gate, a novel of the ancient Maya Altamira Press pb 2005described in an Amazon user review as a book about an online simulation of ancient Mayan city
Stone Mirror, a novel of the Neolithic Left Coast Press, hc + pb 2007*
Main source: Contemporary Authors
*available from amazon.com #stocked by St. Louis County Library