ARKIESTEEL
Member
That dude that is doing the zombie story on here is doing a great job with his use of guns and terms. Plus the story is realy good
Best/worst Gun AUTHORS (of fiction)
- Thread starter boomer1911a1
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boomer1911a1
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A few more...
I almost forgot Don Pendleton. He created the Executioner series back in the early '70s. I read them when I was a kid, but he seemed both gun heavy and gun savvy. May have to revisit those. At least the early ones, before the series turned into a franchise.
Trevanian (The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction, Incident at Twenty-Mile) wasn't bad.
Neal Stephenson is also sheer greatness. In addition to his intriguing fictional guns (like Reason, a portable electric Gatling gun that fires 3mm depleted Uranium splinters (Snowcrash,) and the Skull Gun from The Diamond Age) his historical weapons reporting rings true as well. Check out Cryptonomocon; it's a near-religious experience. Not so his latest work, but no one's perfect.
I almost forgot Don Pendleton. He created the Executioner series back in the early '70s. I read them when I was a kid, but he seemed both gun heavy and gun savvy. May have to revisit those. At least the early ones, before the series turned into a franchise.
Trevanian (The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction, Incident at Twenty-Mile) wasn't bad.
Neal Stephenson is also sheer greatness. In addition to his intriguing fictional guns (like Reason, a portable electric Gatling gun that fires 3mm depleted Uranium splinters (Snowcrash,) and the Skull Gun from The Diamond Age) his historical weapons reporting rings true as well. Check out Cryptonomocon; it's a near-religious experience. Not so his latest work, but no one's perfect.
I have read most of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child and have enjoyed them but as has been pointed out his gun IQ isn't as high as you would hope.
Another author that seems to know his way around is Marcus Wynne. His characters seem to have a fondness for Karl Sokol customized HiPowers.
From "No Other Option":
What kind of shooter you packing there, son?
Dale grinned, Browning High-Power.
Who makes your leather?
Greg Kramer. Wear a lot of Sparks, too.
Young, good looking , and he's got good taste in gun leather.
Another author that seems to know his way around is Marcus Wynne. His characters seem to have a fondness for Karl Sokol customized HiPowers.
From "No Other Option":
What kind of shooter you packing there, son?
Dale grinned, Browning High-Power.
Who makes your leather?
Greg Kramer. Wear a lot of Sparks, too.
Young, good looking , and he's got good taste in gun leather.
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"Thumbs up to Dean Koontz. He knows what he's talking about."
Right. He bobbles occasionally but you can tell he does his homework.
A pseudonym named Phillip Atlee wrote the Joe Gault books. Really knew his stuff like Donald Hamilton.
Ian Flemming was born too soon. He could have been king of Internet! Experts!
He was the foremost authority on cigarettes, booze, cars and everything else. Somebody taught him how to shoot a Sten gun once and he became such a firearms expert that he put safety catches on revolvers, dreamed up gun-caliber combinations that never existed and thought the .32 PPK had awesome power. He hated guns, gun nuts and marital fidelity.
Steven King likes to come up with Colt Woodsmans (men?) in .38 caliber and seems confused about autos and revolvers. He's had time to study the situation but he ain't gonna do it.
John D. McDonald serialized some of his later Travis McGee novels for, of all things, Cosmopolitan. They asked him to include some anti-gun dialectic and he did so. " Only a trained soldier, policeman or psychopath can use a gun to defend himself ( or something like that) and, "... I'm gradually turning off of handguns.." His fat-fword running buddy, Meyer was a Keynesian economist which is to say he was a socialist.
One publisher tried to get Heinlein to do the same thing and he laughed his face.
That was probably about the time he came up with Longcourt Phiyllis.
Right. He bobbles occasionally but you can tell he does his homework.
A pseudonym named Phillip Atlee wrote the Joe Gault books. Really knew his stuff like Donald Hamilton.
Ian Flemming was born too soon. He could have been king of Internet! Experts!
He was the foremost authority on cigarettes, booze, cars and everything else. Somebody taught him how to shoot a Sten gun once and he became such a firearms expert that he put safety catches on revolvers, dreamed up gun-caliber combinations that never existed and thought the .32 PPK had awesome power. He hated guns, gun nuts and marital fidelity.
Steven King likes to come up with Colt Woodsmans (men?) in .38 caliber and seems confused about autos and revolvers. He's had time to study the situation but he ain't gonna do it.
John D. McDonald serialized some of his later Travis McGee novels for, of all things, Cosmopolitan. They asked him to include some anti-gun dialectic and he did so. " Only a trained soldier, policeman or psychopath can use a gun to defend himself ( or something like that) and, "... I'm gradually turning off of handguns.." His fat-fword running buddy, Meyer was a Keynesian economist which is to say he was a socialist.
One publisher tried to get Heinlein to do the same thing and he laughed his face.
That was probably about the time he came up with Longcourt Phiyllis.
I think Zane Grey tried hard to get it right in his Western novels but kind of fell short. I've tried to read two or three of his novels but put them aside, not anything real bad relating to guns but just trite. Zane and his entourage visited Elmer Keith, I think in Idaho, gathering background on firearms to be used in the novels. All of them had lever action rifles and were stupefied at Elmer's long range hits on targets with his .44 Specials that they couldn't hit with their rifles.
Elmer said Zane Grey used some of this long range handgun shooting in his novel "Thunder Mountain." I haven't read it so don't know for sure.
Elmer said Zane Grey used some of this long range handgun shooting in his novel "Thunder Mountain." I haven't read it so don't know for sure.
GOOD
Not exactly fiction but Stephen Ambrose is one of my favorites.
As for true fiction, lately I've been reading a lot of W.E.B. Griffin. His books usually have you scratching your head for the first hundred pages because he's great at taking 3 or 4 seemingly unrelated subplots and weaving them into a great story that comes together beautifully in the last 50 pages. I searched thru this thread and didn't see Griffin mentioned once. Can't believe no one here mentioned him.
Not exactly fiction but Stephen Ambrose is one of my favorites.
As for true fiction, lately I've been reading a lot of W.E.B. Griffin. His books usually have you scratching your head for the first hundred pages because he's great at taking 3 or 4 seemingly unrelated subplots and weaving them into a great story that comes together beautifully in the last 50 pages. I searched thru this thread and didn't see Griffin mentioned once. Can't believe no one here mentioned him.
dmftoy1
Member
I like Vince Flynn on the "good" side of the equation ..
Dale Brown on the bad side ..the chapter I was reading last night had the guy pull out his 12 gauge shotgun and then referred to it as a small caliber rifle for the next 3 paragraphs . . .
Dale Brown on the bad side ..the chapter I was reading last night had the guy pull out his 12 gauge shotgun and then referred to it as a small caliber rifle for the next 3 paragraphs . . .
What about Louis L'Amour? I used to read a lot of his books when I was younger. I wasn't much of a gunner back then, but I don't remember a lot of problems, but to be honest, my memory of the gun play in his books is a bit fuzzy now days. Most of it seemed to be pretty typical "Western" type gun play. Like a Lee Van Cleef/Clint Eastwood movie.
Starter52
Member
Thumbs up to Harry Turtledove. He does an excellent job in getting things correct.
L Neil Smith, author of The Probability Broach, IMHO the best piece of alternative history to appear in the last 20 years. Mr. Smith is a Life member of the NRA and shoots NRA Hunters Pistol, according to the blurb on the dust jacket. The book concerns a libertarian society where everyone is armed, and has some great quotes about it. The hero is a Denver PD Lt. who carries a 41 mag (either a 56 or 57) and has a single shot derringer in 41 as a BUG 
Here's a link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Probability-B..._bbs_sr_1/002-8864152-6021665?ie=UTF8&s=books
and here's one to the graphic novel http://bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=0
Here's a link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Probability-B..._bbs_sr_1/002-8864152-6021665?ie=UTF8&s=books
and here's one to the graphic novel http://bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=0
bass806
Member
Righ under our nose
I can't believe the thread made it this far without mentioning one of our own-Stephen A. Camp. Paid in Full is on of the best "gun enthusiast" books I've read. And it has a plot!!!
I can't believe the thread made it this far without mentioning one of our own-Stephen A. Camp. Paid in Full is on of the best "gun enthusiast" books I've read. And it has a plot!!!
X Who
Member
Don Pendleton - Executioner series
I quit reading the series, which wasn't that gun savvy, when Mack Bolan, the hero, was using a Marlin lever action in 444 Marlin for long range.
Gun descriptions were OK, but usage didn't fit. Prepare to suspend all scepticism when reading the books. I was college age when I read those (I think), and I doubt that I could stand to read them now.
I quit reading the series, which wasn't that gun savvy, when Mack Bolan, the hero, was using a Marlin lever action in 444 Marlin for long range.
Gun descriptions were OK, but usage didn't fit. Prepare to suspend all scepticism when reading the books. I was college age when I read those (I think), and I doubt that I could stand to read them now.
Detachment Charlie
Member
Good , then there's real
Coyle and Sanford are top shelf.
Geronimo .45 noted that Frederick Forsythe did an especially fine job and that "Dogs of War" stood out. It should stand out; Forsythe is "the real deal." I was fascinated by Dogs of War, he just knew too much about some things most people know nothing. I did a lot of digging. Dogs of War is the story of an attempted coup of an African country. The story is true; Forsythe, himself, put the coup together and lead the raid. The coup failed.
Coyle and Sanford are top shelf.
Geronimo .45 noted that Frederick Forsythe did an especially fine job and that "Dogs of War" stood out. It should stand out; Forsythe is "the real deal." I was fascinated by Dogs of War, he just knew too much about some things most people know nothing. I did a lot of digging. Dogs of War is the story of an attempted coup of an African country. The story is true; Forsythe, himself, put the coup together and lead the raid. The coup failed.
Always liked Donald Hamilton. He was a thinking man's writer. If Jeff Cooper had written thrillers they would have come out much like Hamilton's.
The Matt Helm movies were just plain awful; but to tell the truth I forget about the eye candy after all this time. Maybe they were enough to salvage something. I just hope Hamilton was paid a bundle for the hack job done with his novels.
The Matt Helm movies were just plain awful; but to tell the truth I forget about the eye candy after all this time. Maybe they were enough to salvage something. I just hope Hamilton was paid a bundle for the hack job done with his novels.
You're kidding, right? Heck, in one of his books he had the Confederates running around with AK-47s during the Civil War!!!
Seriously, The Guns of the South is one of my favorite books.
It's been a looong time since I've read any of them, but I recall that Richard Austin's The Guardians series to be pretty gun savvy.
XD Fan
Member
I used to read his books a lot as a kid. A lot of his gunfights were movie grade western stuff, but his work was the first place I learned of the Spencer repeating rifles that loaded a magazine tube through the butt of the gun. I also remmeber him to be partial to the Smith and Wesson .44 Russian. I remember him saying that it was an exceptionally accurate weapon.
One oddity that I remember from Silver Canyon (I think!) was the main character's Irish side-kick. He was a gun smith and had taken a .75 horse pistol and converted it into a cartridge firing four shot revolver (He had to hand load, of course.). As I recall the cylinder had to be rotated by hand. L'Amour said all it need to be an admirable peice of artillery was wheels. I always wondered if that was possible.
arthurcw
Member
correia wrote:
#1) keep us posted.
#2) please tell me the patches are going to be for sale!
#1) keep us posted.
#2) please tell me the patches are going to be for sale!
crashm1
Member
Barry Eisler is good. Micheal Crow writes some pretty good stuff. For a good blend of sci fi/noir Richard K Morgan is great (Altered Carbon is the first book). Andrew Vaschs has the best anti hero going in Burke. Stephen Hunter is obsessively detailed about the details but I'm not a big fan of his characters so far. I really like Robert B. Parker and Lee Childs but there is a certain amount of goofiness gun wise. Ludlum does indeed suck. Dogs of War was great everytime I've read it as was a book I think was called Five Fingers that I have since lost.
Hutch
Member
3 major problems w/ W. E. B. Griffin.
1) Too many initials.
2) Takes too long to publish new books.
3) Sometimes refers to Smith and Wesson "Detective Specials". I mean, c'mon. Really.
1) Too many initials.
2) Takes too long to publish new books.
3) Sometimes refers to Smith and Wesson "Detective Specials". I mean, c'mon. Really.
JFrame
Member
I dunno about Dean Koontz. From what I recall, he had every other character blazing away with six shots from their .38 Chief's Specials...
There was also that incredible faux pas in LIGHTNING where he had a character toting an Uzi with a 400 round magazine. That bit was later chalked up to a typo -- but again, based on my recollection, the number of rounds was spelled out in the text (not numerical). It kind'a shattered the "suspension of disbelief" of an otherwise excellent read... I'm guessing that later editions were amended.
There was also that incredible faux pas in LIGHTNING where he had a character toting an Uzi with a 400 round magazine. That bit was later chalked up to a typo -- but again, based on my recollection, the number of rounds was spelled out in the text (not numerical). It kind'a shattered the "suspension of disbelief" of an otherwise excellent read... I'm guessing that later editions were amended.
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