Best/worst Gun AUTHORS (of fiction)

[Dirty Bob]

Let's not forget our own "Travis McGee" (Matthew Bracken). His gun scenes held together very well.

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I've gotta respectfully disagree about The Five Fingers, by "Gayle Rivers." It's presented as slightly-changed fact, but I didn't believe it. It seems that I'm unusual, though: I've had more than one person tell me it's their all-time favorite book. That book, though, has been surrounded by controversy since it came out (prompting more folks to read it, I'm sure), which is probably why the author claimed it was fact.

It's very entertaining and "feels" like it's full of real facts, but I remember one character carrying a reloading set for his shotgun! I pictured him scrambling around on the jungle floor right after a firefight, looking for his 12ga. hulls under the various plants. There were other things, like the characters wearing berets in the jungle, rather than more practical headgear.

Actually, if it had been put forth as pure fiction, I would've enjoyed it a lot more!

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[mrb302]

+1 Matthew Bracken

I can't believe it took this long for his name to come up.

Also, John Ross.

 

[marley]

I agree that Sanford , koontz and Hunter are good. Not mentioned is nelson demille. Patrick

 

[ialevy]

+1 on David Morrell

David is actually a freind of myself and my family.

He does exceptional research for his writing.

i.e. extreme survival courses, tactical driving courses, met with emerson about featuring a CQC-7 in a book. He tends to leave out some crucial steps in certain things, so he does not write directions to make explosives, etc.

He prefers SIGs BTW....

 

[Dirty Bob]

I should also add Dean Ing. He researches before he writes! What a concept!

Not a lot of gun stuff in Ing's books, in general, but they're presented realistically, except for his science fiction "chillers" in Single Combat and Wild Country, which were gov't-issue 7mm caseless pistols with smart gun technology.

I especially enjoyed the end of Blood of Eagles, in which the protagonist -- armed with a scarred, battered, WWII-vintage scoped .303 Enfield -- goes up against a bad guy armed with a Galil in the Sierras.

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[StealthyBlagga]

Ian Fleming's gun knowledge really sucked

The article below was written by the real "Q" - Geoffrey Boothroyd. As you will see, James Bond would have been hopelessly underarmed if it were not for Boothroyd's intervention:

 

[Ed]

Vince Flynn. His Website even has a link to FN

 

[psychophipps]

Vince Flynn isn't bad but his latest book discussed sub-sonic 9mm pistol ammo as being woefully underpowered in great detail. The bullet can't break the sound barrier for effective suppression so it has to have less powder, blah, blah, blah.

Ever hear of 147-gr 9mm ammo, buddy?
Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

 

[Hypnogator]

Thumbs up to Harry Turtledove. He does an excellent job in getting things correct.

Actually, that he's a she! She consulted with me on line years ago about guns in one of her books, IIRC.

Alistair MacLean was somewhat of a nimrod about guns. He starts When Eight Bells Toll with a riveting description of a Peacemaker Colt, then ruins it by talking about "it's semi-automatic action."

Agree that Ian Fleming was also way out there. His considering the 7.65mm Browning (.32 ACP) as being a "real stopper" and a 2" .38 Special as an anti-vehicle weapon have already been commented on. But what about James Bond carrying his famous Walther PPK in a Berns-Martin Triple-Draw shoulder holster. That holster uses spring pressure to grip the cylinder of a revolver -- it cannot be used for an autoloader!

 

[JesseL]

Actually, that he's a she!

She's got a heck of a facial hair issue then.

 

[MAURICE]

Stuart Woods does pretty well in some of the Stone Barrington novels.
James Patterson is another that will put a safety on wheelguns or call a Glock a service revolver.

 

[Ed]

I did notice that part about 9mm subsonic. He said it wouldn't go through the drywall unlike a 45 which was too powerful.

 

[aryfrosty]

Best and worst authors

One of the best I have encountered to date is John Ringo. His knowlege of military weaponry is spot on. He has been doing Sci-Fi but his recent books are more contemporary.
One of the worst is Robert Parker. One reason is that I really like his books and consider it a let-down when he won't do his homework about guns. No matter if he is the baddest dog on the block...when he carries a J frame S&W and further handicaps it by only loading four rounds he just looks silly. When he has Hawk shoot a bad guy with a .25 auto hidden in a mitten...several times without jamming...he just makes his work look dumb. Easy to make a gunfight require just exactly the number of rounds the hero has in a book. In life it doesn't always work out.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Ok I like Dean Koontz, but in one of his books the good guy's wife takes her Colt 45 out of the nightstnd, clearly a 1911. A chapter later it's a Spingfield. Then its a Springfiled Pit-Bull or Champion or whatever, almost like he wasn't satisfied describing it the first time. There's a way too long exchange between her and the professional killer about the single action trigger of this polymorphing handgun.

Otherwise, he's pretty good.

Don Pendleton liked guns a lot, I'm not sure I could tolerate his writing now, sure at 13 it was spicy stuff, chuck full of 44 Marlins an 44 Automags and Stoner LMG's, but as an adult his plots are paper thin sheets between action sequences.

I love my hardboiled fiction, Andrew Vaachs is top-notch in the modern version, though his Burke series is borderline pornographic in places. But all his writing is pretty gruff. "Two Trains Running" is an outright homage to Hammet's Red Harvest.

James Elroy. Love him or hate him, LA Confindential is chock full of period firearms, brass knucks, switchblades and saps.

Raymond Chandler. His delivery of the everyman dialouge makes up for any technical mistakes.

Forsythe... as someone else pointed out actually DID take part in a mercenary raid in Africa. 'Dogs of War' is a lost classic.

Clancy and many other techno thriller authors make numerous mistakes in their early works, he gets more savvy as he goes along.

Jim Thompson wrote 'The Getaway' and 'The Killer Inside me' noir classics.

Barry Eisler's "Rain" series is pretty entertaining and chock ful of gun fu kung fu and every fu ever made.

PS I LIKED "Five Fingers" and "Incident at Twenty Mile"

Larry Correia's MHI is popcorn fueled romp of gunsmoke and goo that will put a smile on the face of any gunny worth their reloads. seriously, it's a FUN read.

 

[geim druth]

Anything by H. Beam Piper is worth reading.

One of Barry Sadler's Casca stories was set in the Eastern Front during WWII another was about Dien Bien Phu. As you'd imagine, both were good for gun stuff.

I read Robert Ruark's 'Uhuru' years ago, and remember it being good.

Not fiction, but lots of good reading here, http://manybooks.net/authors/bakersam.html

 

[Correia]

Larry Correia's MHI is popcorn fueled romp of gunsmoke and goo that will put a smile on the face of any gunny worth their reloads. seriously, it's a FUN read.

Thank you.

 

[aryfrosty]

H Beam Piper

To the member who wrote about Piper. I agree with that completely. I just bought the last book written by him, "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen". His tech details are really well thought out.

 

[loxety]

Boston T. Party aka Kennith Royce

 

[Oleg Volk]

Who did the photography?

I did.

 

[crashm1]

Is there anyway to get MHI out earlier because having to read about other people reading it AND liking it immensely is starting to get annoying to a guy who goes through books way too fast to wait for the paperback. I forgot about Ringo actually Michael Z. Williamson (Mad Mike to us) is pretty good too but I am having a hard time finding his books around here at the evil franchises.

 

[Correia]

Sorry Crash, doing what I can man. Book is done, but it takes time to get it out there.

 

[tinygnat219]

Best:

Eric Flint: With his 1632 series, there is a small West VA mining town circa 2000 that gets sucked into the 30 years' war in 1630s Germany. The 2nd Amendment is highly touted, and Eric Flint has an entire section of a chat room devoted to reconstructing the firearms industry. Check it out: www.1632.org, www.baen.com. The book is also available for free download.

Joel Rosenberg: With his Guardians of the Flame series, brings 6 or so college kids into the world they were playing their games in (think Dungeons and Dragons and they are their characters). One of the students is an Engineering major and makes Black Powder for the first time, and literally starts the firearms industry from scratch. Less technical details here in this series, but Joel Rosenberg is also the author of Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun In Minnesota and is an A.A.C.F.I and N.R.A certified firearms instructor.

Just two that I like to talk about.

Worst: anything from Oprah's list, and Rosie O'Donnell

 

[Lupinus]

Correia please tell me those patches are going on sale too, every range bag will need one.

 

[Correia]

Yep. I'm a self promoting son of a gun.

 

[Lupinus]

so uh, where do we pre order our books and patches