Authors need to read. Learning by example is one of the most fundamental and seemingly obvious pieces of advice anyone can give an aspiring author like myself, for a huge number of reasons.

In a previous post I explored a few of my writing heroes, but a list of favourite writers, like a list of favourite books or films is never truly exhaustive, and so I figured I’d pick up that thread and continue running with it, like a deranged kitten of some sort.

Joseph D’Lacey – An author from a different, yet fundamentally interconnected genre to the fantasy / sf authors I’ve addressed in my previous posts, I first encountered his work when we were at Whitby for Whitby Goth Weekend, and in an attempt to steer Anna away from a chocolate fountain we wandered into the local bookshop.  Joseph D’Lacey was conducting a book signing and read from Meat, and we just had to pick up.. well, everything of his there was.  As one of few authors who I have actually had the pleasure to speak to, D’Lacey has helped teach me the value of being a good person as well as a good author.
His work, being from the psychological horror genre, is lighter on the florid prose than much of my own work, and indeed many books from the fantasy genre, yet that’s a good thing – it makes it punchier, more immediate, and the style fits the mood perfectly.  D’Lacey’s works hit the emotions hard with an exquisite unsettling feeling, holding off on the “prestige” until the precisely right moment.

Douglas Adams  - The creator of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams’ work is of a very distinct and almost unique style, being significantly heavier on exposition and descriptive of events and ideas.
His works often contain what are essentially long narrative speeches, usually sarcastically hilarious in content; outside these there is often very little in the way of physical description, other than that which adds to the humour.
Plot coherance in many ways is only a secondary concern for the primary purpose of the book is the portrayal of amusing and ridiculous concepts, often allegorical.