If Only They Weren't Dead

My brain hasn't been able to let go of a post that Tasha of Truth, Beauty, Freedom & Books did the the other day. She posted about the authors she would automatically buy from when they release new books, and how her list has changed over they years.  And like any good post will do, it got me thinking of who would be on my list, and it was fairly short.

Other than a few of the m/m romance writers I've become addicted to, there was only one author, Daryl Gregory.  I could name a few other authors I enjoy, but I only buy the books that fit into a certain series, not everything they write.  That list was a little longer and included Mercedes Lackey, Simon R. Green, S.M. Stirling, Guy Gavriel Kay, and a few others, but that doesn't really answer the original question.

My brain took this question one step further though.  I started to think of all the dead authors I enjoy, and how badly I wish they still had new books coming out. So that is the list I'm going to share with you guys.  So please, if you have an in with a really good medium, could you please get the word out and let these authors know that they still have a willing audience for their work.

Agatha Christie - I don't think it's possible to know me, and not know that I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan.  I don't think she has ever steered me wrong, and even when I don't particularly love one of her books, I know they are better than half the stuff that's being written today. I would love for her to be able to give them lessons on how to write a good mystery.

Mary Roberts Rinehart - If there is a mystery writer I love as much as Agatha Christie, it's Mary Roberts Rinehart.  She was called the American Agatha Christie at one point in time, and her writing more than lived up to that honor.  I have yet to read one of her book that I didn't like, and I'm running out of them to read.  I just wish she was still around to feed my addiction.

Erle Stanley Gardner - I got hooked on his books because of his most famous creation, Perry Mason.  For that reason alone, I love him.  But even his none Mason books have been good and well worth the read.  I would pay good money to have him still writing Perry Mason books, I'd even be willing to kill for it. 

Robert Jordan - This is a man who saved the fantasy genre for me.  Other than one or two other authors, I had given up on it, then I discovered his Wheel of Time series.   He wrote epic fantasy in a way that made it come to life in my head, and in my heart.  He is what all these other authors should be trying to be.  I just wish he was around to give me more Rand, Perrin, and Mat. 

Frank Herbert - If there is a saving grace for science fiction, it's the writing of Frank Herbert.  I think most of you guys know by now, that I am not a science fiction fan.  When I first discovered Dune, my entire outlook shifted, and I've never looked back.  I could have read about that world until the day I die.  I know his son tried to continue the books, but they just weren't the same. 

Shirley Jackson - There was nobody better at taking the ordinary, everyday occurrences of life, and making them feel disjointed and unnatural. She could twist a story like nobody else, and make your entire foundation shift and crumble.  The Haunting of Hill House and "The Lottery" are probably her two works that almost everyone knows, but I've never read anything by her that wasn't up to that same standard.  

Flannery O'Connor - I'm not even sure what to say about Flannery O'Connor, except to say she was a gifted novelist, and an even better short story author.  She was able to pack so much into a short story, a talent that not many have.  Like Shirley Jackson, I've never read her work, and not fallen in love with it.  She was Queen of the Southern Gothic, and how I wish she was still around.