He won the Edgar for Briarpatch but my personal favorites include The Eighth Dwarf, Missionary Stew, The Fools in Town, Chinaman's Chance and Out on the Rim He also wrote under the name of Oliver Bleek and that stuff is terrific as well. Very character driven stuff. Absolutely no doubt the people are real ( we talked about that part of it - we shared a belief it doens't matter who done it - it matters that all the people are real. ) The last two on the list above feature Quincy Durant and Artie Woo. You won't find characters like them anywhere else in fiction - but they definitely exist.

Which 2 samples did you get?

>I downloaded samples of two of Ross Thomas's books to my Kindle (based on your previos comments about his writing), but haven't had the chance to read the samples yet. I'm sure I'll end up buying them.
>
>That would be cool if you'd publish your book(s) on Kindle. I didn't know that you could self-publish. That's pretty cool. I'd buy it!! ;0)
>
>~~Bonnie
>
>
>
>>Dr. Johnson once said, "Nobody but a blockhead ever writes except for money." <bg>
>>
>>I'm reasonably sure that if I were to go through what has to be done to get an agent ( most houses these days will not even look at un-agented manuscripts ) I would have a fair chance of getting it published ( though if 20 years ago I had been more cooperative and had been published by Warners with jacket blurb Mr. Thomas was kind enough to write for me that would probably have been much better)
>>
>>This is Ross Thomas, by the way. If anyone is not familiar with him, you're in for a treat.
>>
>>http://www.amazon.com/Ross-Thomas/e/B000APH832/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
>>
>>The characters were real people - at least they were all pretty solidly based on people I knew; It was like inviting friends over to put on a play, asking them to play roles that worked for them, but in a story that was fiction. Writing it was probably the most satisfying experience of my life. But once written, and once a person who I really thought knew the difference (and got it) really liked it I pretty much didn't care about the reasonably modest amount of money publishing would have represented or the opinions of people the mass marketplace. Some old collegues and people I knew back in the day (some of whom became characters ) have read it and their response has been most satisfactory and I'm working sporadically on another one with that cast of characters. I have considered just doing a self-publishing direct to Kindle kind of thing so the folks who like it can eventually find it and I don't have to send it through the filter of agents and publishers who are looking for the next Grisham-factory book or the next Tom Clancy.
>>
>>
>>
>>>So you never got it published, eh? I bet it's pretty good though. That was twenty years ago ... maybe you should blow the dust off the manuscript and try again.
>>>
>>>~~Bonnie
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'm sure I mentioned before my abortive career as a novelist. Twenty years ago, I wrote a book that was exactly the book i wanted to write (Headhunter Jazz), my first reader was one of my favorite authors - a guy Ed McBain, Donald Westake, Elmore Leonard and a whole lot of others had on their favorites list - and he loved it and recommended it to both his publisher ( Warner ) and his agent. Got three readings at Warner and then change requests. I lost interest in the whole process ( probably dumb ) but my mentor ( Ross Thomas ) advised me that there really wasn't big bucks in writing the stuff that I wanted to write and his agent said publishing was all about blockbusters now and everyone was swinging for the fences. ( Serial killers and cats ) You could make a living at the kind of writing I admired, if you were lucky enough to develop a following but it wasn't best-seller land. ( Mr. Thomas did probably 30 books over his career and said he made about as much as the President in any given year - he also won two Edgars ) At some point it occurred to me that ( as you mentioned, Tracy ) it is tough to write stuff you wouldn't particularly want to read and if you write for yourself there is a lot of satisfaction in it, but even mildly depending on someone else's opinion of it just takes the fun out of it.
>>
>>>>
>>>>So I still write my favorite books <bg>
>>>>
>>>>But there are still people out there who write reasonably popular stuff that I enjoy and some I even would have been proud to have written.
>>>>
>>>>(I'm currently reading James Ellroy's latest Blood's a Rover He is an an example of a very successful author I admire greatly.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I think I know what set me off. "The Lost Symbol." Dan Brown is financially probably worth you, me, and everyone else here put together. I read the last 200 pages last night just to see how it turned out. So yeah, he has that going for him. Kudos. But as a stylist he is horrible. The man cannot write. That he is so successful says more about where we are as a culture than about his abilities.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Envy? Maybe.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The millions are something to think about, though. Maybe I should turn to trash fiction ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>>So now you are a snob? You can watch a movie purely for entertainment but reading a popular novel (which is written for the same purpose) is beneath you? It's pretty well known that those who write popular novels earn more than those who write critically acclaimed works. If you really want to make some $ and you don't have a Harry Potter or Dan Brown novel in you, write a vampire series or go even further down the pike and write a romance novel. Those things sell like hot cakes. :o) I've read a couple of the books in a few vampire series, but I've never made it through a romance novel yet and probably never will. However, I once spoke with a publisher who told me that romance novels is where the $ is. He told me it would be an easy way to put my daughter through college, but I responded that I'd probably be unlikely to write one very well unless I could actually read one first :o) I did try talking my mom into it though. She declined :o( We've decided to write though and this time, we are writing alternate chapters. It's really an interesting experience trying to pick up the loose ends and carry on a story when you didn't write the previous chapter :o)
>>>>>
>>>>>Since you didn't seem to like one bit my snippets of a previous book:
>>>>>
>>>>>Re: I know this is not a writers' group, but.... Thread #1209048 Message #1209458
>>>>>
>>>>>I'll refrain from posting anymore and forcing such drivel upon you. :o) (Just kidding)