I just got back from a conference in North Carolina, where I becoame
familiar with several NC authors.  Since then, I've read several of
their novels.  Seeing as how I live in Michigan, though, I'm thinking
I should read some stuff by MI authors.  So, who are your favorite MI
authors and what books have they written?

43 responses total.

Robert Asprin.. he lives in Ann Arbor.  He writes fantasy novels, rife
with puns and bad jokes.  He's a pretty nice guy, too.  His books are
mainly the "myth" books.  I can't remember any of the exact titles
offhand, but they're all puns including the word myth.  He also co-edited
the "Thieve's World" books with his wife.

Also Lillian Jackson Braun.  She writes the "cat who" mysteries.
VERY entertaining.  Murder mysteries solved by a journalist and his cat.
Light reading, but I never can figure it out.

G.A. Custer (lived in Monroe, I believe, though he was born in another
state).  Check out "My Life on the Plains".  Capn Frederick Benteen
liked to refer to it as "My Lie on the Plains"...  Elizabeth "Libby"
Bacon Custer ("Boots & Saddles", "Following the Guidon", and "Tenting
on the Plains") is another interesting MI-connected author if only
because of the myth she helped create and because she knew Autie better
than anyone.

I can't think of one, but I hope to BE one someday.

There's good ol' Jim Harrison, who splits his time between Mesick and the UP.
I keep meaning to read some of his work (poems and fiction), but I never have 
yet, though I'm told he's an excellent writer.  None of his titles comes
to mind at this point, unfortunately.  He did write the original screen-
play for the smash hit of the summer, "Wolf." (Pardon the advertising).
My Harrison anecdote:  as a member of the English Honor Society here at
Alma, I've helped us get speakers to come in and visit.  We tried to get
Harrison to come down and read.  One of my professors called him and asked,
and Harrison responded, "Why would I want to read at your college?" and
hung up.

But he *is* a good writer.

Not that anybody would want to emulate him, but wasn't
Will ("Over the Hill to the Poorhouse") Carleton from
Michigan?  I used to collect his books, which were
incredibly popular during his lifetime, and can still
be found in great quantities in 2nd-hand book shops.
Every time I drive down I-75 to Toledo, I pass an exit
that says "Will Carleton Road," which is why I assume
he was a Michigander.  Any other "Farm Ballads" fans here?

 Elmore Leonard and Loren Estleman come to mind as being 2 great
Michigan authors. 

I was looking oer my bookshelf and found a book by Charles Baxter.
The jacket says that Baxter teaches at the U-M, and many of the 
stories are set in Michigan.  I enjoyed this book.

I have friends who really like Edgar Guest (much more than I do); I think
he was a Michigander, now forgotten by most people.

Is Braun really from Michigan?  I know Pickaxe City & Moose County sound
like the UP - the Ittibittiwassee (or however it's spelled) just being
the tip of the iceberg - but she seems to carefully avoid being definite.
The earlier books, in the city before he went north, sounded more like
Chicago than Detroit to me (maybe just to me, though).

Yes, Edgar Guest was a Michigander.  Radio listeners of sufficient age
may remember his son Bud Guest, who did a morning show on the Detroit
CBS radio affiliate for many years.

Loren Estleman is the only author mentioned so far whom I've actually
read.  He's also an EMU graduate, though I never had him in any of
my classes.

Let's not forget James Oliver Curwood of Owosso, Michigan.  He built
Curwood Castle in Owosso for himself to live in - it's still standing
and is now a tourist attraction.  Curwood was a popular writer of
"western romances" in the early part of this century, but is largely
forgotten today.

if you read the jacket on Braun's books, you'll see that she divides 
her time between N. Carolina and Michigan...

I think my favorite Michigan author would have to be Lloyd Biggle, Jr.
He is (or was?) a very non-run-of-the-mill SF author, who lived for
many years in Ypsi.

Diane Wakoski the poet lives in Michigan.  She teaches at Michigan State.
A couple of her books are _Waiting for the King of Spain_, The Magician's
Feast Letters_, _The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems_ and a new selected works
called _Emerald Ice_.

I went through a Wakoski phase at one point.  She writes "confessional"
poetry (a label she thinks is misleading and unfortunate).
She creates a kind of personal kingdom or theatre where people both real
and imaginary can walk on and off stage ("The King of Spain," "George
Washington," "The Man Who Shook Hands," etc.) and who take on a significance
special to her poetry.  

Another Michigan poet, Clayton Eshleman (EMU) has a similar approach, although
his work is quite a bit different.  Eshleman is an uncompromising surrealist,
and if you aren't the kind of person that rolls up the old sleeves and works
at something with a mole-like persistence until you have at least figured
*something* out, or made some sense of what you are working on, than Eshleman's
poetry will turn you off immediately.  I've often thought that people who are
computer-minded (born problem solvers) would like Eshleman's poetry.
Regardless, if you decide to try your hand at some of his work (I have been
mining for about two years now), start from the ground up, from the past to
the present, and go "armed to the teeth."  I think his work is divided into
two halves, early phase and late phase, and I prefer the early.

Another vote for Lloyd Biggle...

Another local author is Alyson Hagy.  She has written two books of
short stories, _Madonna on Her Back_ and _Hardware River_.  I've
read the latter and found it quite good.  Stories of folks, rural
mostly, trying to find their way from day to day.  

Isn't Christopher Stasheff (sp?) from Michigan?  

I think so.

I was at Metro Airport the other day to pick up my sister.  Her flight
was delayed, and I had about an hour to kill.  To stave off boredom I
picked out a mystery novel more or less at random at the newsstand.  A
couple of pages into it I realized I had a Michigan author on my
hands.  Not just Michigan, but southeastern Michigan.  There are scenes
that take place in Detroit, Metro Airport, Belleville, Ann Arbor.  In
fact, the book starts out with the hero -- a private eye who also
manages an apartment complex on Ford Lake -- taking a drive to Metro
Airport to pick someone up, which gave me an uncanny feeling as I was
sitting there in Metro Airport waiting to meet my sister.  A bit later,
the guy acquires a client who lives just off Geddes Avenue in Ann
Arbor, northeast of the U of M campus -- that is, right near where the
Grex walkers go every Saturday morning.  Farther on in the book we
learn that the client's late husband, who may have been murdered, was
deeply into using porn-oriented BBS's, and there is talk of
Pentium-based PC's, 14.4K modems, file undelete programs, smiley faces,
and such acronyms as ROFL and RTFM.  My my.  And I'm only a third of
the way through this thing.

The book is _Concrete Hero_ by Rob Kantner, a Detroiter.  It's a paper-
back original published by Harper Paperbacks in July, 1994.  Hey, that's
this month, isn't it!

Sounds like something that would be interesting to read.  But besides
having the local flavor, does the book read well, John? 

It's okay, nothing special.  The private eye protagonist is something
of a sensitive nineties-type guy, albeit with some anachronistic habits
such as smoking cigars.

I live in Gaylord,
enough to have a pair of writers in our town. John and Ann Mahan are a
husband and wife team of "photojournalists", as they call themselves.
They are mainly photographers who specialize in the Great Lakes region,
but they have also written a book to complement their pictures. It's called
_Wild Lake Michigan_. It's available in most bookstores )I've seen it all
over the Detroit area). Their photography has appeared in numerous
publications including National Geographic and Audobon. Another book, this
one dealing with Lake Superior, should be out by late '95. Not only are 
great  photographers and writers, they're great people, too. Check them
out sometime.

I'm my favorite Michigan writer.
Isn't Kienzle from Michigan too?  I like his stuff.

 Indeed he is. I believe he is also a priest

re:# 20  humble, too.

I'm humble, Kami.  I didn't say that I was michigan's best author.  I'm
just my own favorite author.  (There is no "best" in such matters, after all.)
((I could tirade about humility in our culture too often being equated with
self-deprecation or self-negligence, but considering you were joking (I hope)
and I really don't feel like it right now, I won't.))

        I like Janet Kauffmans works.  She teaches at EMU, most of her stories
are about women in rural settings dealing with life. The writing is very
good IMHO, often with a slight surreal twist, and totaly lacking in
sentimentality

Are her stories about modern rural life, or in some historic era?

re:# 23- Of COURSE I was joking!  You have a point about this culture. But
don't be crabby, dear. 

Sorry.  Life time of putting up with:
Why don't you share your story with us?
I don't want to be immodest.
No, really, do it.
O.k., ... here.
Hey, this is pretty good.
Yes, thanks.  I thought it was good too.
Why are you such an egotist.

it's a stupid dance.  People expect it.  Dammit, it's hard to waltz when the
rest of the floor is doing the polka.  or the bump.  I can see how it might
be a bit of a sore point.  People are so weird about achievement/talent, 
anyway.

re 16: Rob Kantner used to work at Newman Computer with my mom.

Zibby O'neal, of Ann Arbor, wrote a great kids' book called _War Works_.
I read it in elementary school.

Interesting re Kantner.  It was clear from the book that he had some
computer background.  I used to know a few folks at Newman Computer
myself, so it's possible I've met him or at least heard of him.

   Local authors I can think of:

   ? Blos, author of _A Gathering of Days_

   Dean McGlaughlin, author of several SF books (can't give you a list)

   Ted Renoylds, author of _The Tides of God_

   Alan Wilde author of an incredibly complicated math book published
   by Kuwait University Press

   Layman Allen, titles I forget

   .

Re #27:  Whether their response is justified depends in part on HOW you said
that you thought it was pretty good.  I must admit, tho', I spent a couple
of minutes trying to come up with a graceful way to say that, but couldn't.

Now there's a thought that has been gestating for a very long time....

Well, I just got around to joining this cf...

i think that Bob Asprin moved to Louisiana or something...
Julie Dean Smith writes fantasy and lives in A2.
I seem to recall a mystery set in the garage sale circut of A2 too...
isn't there a chldren's author named something like Arthur Slote in Ann Arbor
I think he cam to my elementary school many years ago to talk to us about
writing... oops, sorry about the wrap lapse...

Bon Asprin is now tending bar in New Orleans.  He is no longer married 
to the person he co-edited "Theives World" with.  (She lives in New 
York, I think.)

Mike Kube-McDowell is a Michigan author.

know by some as the worst poet ever:

http://www.wmich.edu:80/english/txt/Moore/index.html

Julia Moore, eh?  Wasn't familiar with her, but after reading a
couple of things on the website, I believe that the claim could
be valid.  Terrible stuff.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss