What Makes an Author Your Favourite?

Each of us avid readers, especially beginners or aspiring writers, has our small list of Favourite Authors. What made them our favoured authors from the piles of striving others, in which our personal choices were best reflected in the years of following, reading, and absorbing their works?

And whether it was style, concept, writing skills, creative approach, word choices, lyrical phrases or private views expressed in their books that made them influential and exceptional in our quiet development as a writer—no matter what genre we preferred—it sprinkled joy and spiced our several hours of reading pleasures.

Here is my short list, but not necessarily in order of creative strength or superb writing power, together with my reasons for my choices:

Annie Proloux:
Exemplary creativity where the ordinary details in life lead to outstanding prose, powerful storytelling, and atmospheric immersions in the narrative, which helped to better understand human frailties, desires, and ambitions, enriching the reader’s pleasurable absorption, as in “The Shipping News”.

Scott Turrow:
The greedy indulgences in life narrated within the complex drama and depth of law, the frightening details of its consequences when ignored alert the reader into conscious contemplations of one’s morality—and mortality. “The Burden of Proof” is a good example.

James Patterson and John Grisham:
The thrills and spills of their narrative rides take the reader in a fast spin, whether crime or justice denied, whirling and consuming every page to get to the pleasurable climax—without doubt, a sensuous fulfilling ending each time. Grisham’s “The Client” and Patterson’s “Along Came a Spider” are excellent appetizers.

China Mieville:
Experimental explorations of the mental and material darkness of creative imagination, holding wonders not of fairy tale fantasy but of something crawling inside a pipe, terrifying yet colourful, abhorring yet benevolent, which forces the reader to accept the possibilities of it all. “Perdido Street Station” is my New Testament.

Dennis Lehane:
Personal, realistic, brutal and sympathetic in the narrative thread of his crime-laden world, the reader shares the persecution and tribulations of the characters in their darkest and trying moments, hoping to find solution while cheering for the antagonist’s demise. “Mystic River” is a perfect introduction.

Stephen King:
Exceptional creativity in the choices of untapped sources for dark frightening tales—what is common place and cheap becomes a terrifying tool for a horrific read—often imbibed with childlike humour and keen observations that makes the narrative alive. “Pet Sematary” is so disturbing in concept yet asked only what we all wondered aloud: Can the dead be brought back to life? It is my Old Testament.

Marquis De Sade:
The creative swells of his sexual tales become frightening and threatening as if a person can really exist as he described, wrote, imagined, and choreographed their behaviours to be in a subject that until now remains taboo—if not relegated to the darkest, innermost corners of our psyche. “100 Days of Sodom” numbs the reader with its untiring attempt to achieve ecstatic reading pleasures.

John Steinbeck:
Where others dwell in the mysterious, unexplained occurrences of human existence, the narratives’ rooted predicaments in human needs and frailties dug deep to uncover the fragile heart still beating alive inside—only to expose the possibilities of one’s truth and sincerity buried in the dire difficult realities. “Grapes of Wrath” and “Of Mice and Men” are explorations worthy of appreciation of the author’s simplicity of approach to mask his creative power within.

Who are your favourites? Feel free to make a list and share it here, dear readers, writers, and aspiring authors in the literary world.

Play, Little Devil, Play

Ever since the idea of playing video games in the console and the PC became the physical exercise and serious occupation of most youths during their pastimes, stolen or otherwise, different age levels from very young children to overgrown consenting adults were targeted also by game designers, together with their developers and publishers. And who wouldn’t? It was a healthy and profitable mix of creative release and financial success, with most of the kids graduating in a hurry from the arcades of gaming to the comforts of their own homes, enjoying quick battles with their friends, family, or relatives. And if they happened to be playing online, why, even the strangest of the strange can be found, get introduced to, and socialized with in friendly competition of skills, stamina, and mind-boggling speed of fingers with both hands caressing the controls. (Just watch the gamers play the oldies Tekken, Counter Strike, or Street Fighter, or the latest Unreal Tournament and God of War, and you’ll understand what I mean).

That was well and good for everyone playing the games, at least, for quite a while. Yet, the stiff commercial competition encouraged by the video game industry for its developers pushed them to game overtime and demanded from everyone engaged in the business to create and produce something really, really irresistible, fantastic, and so arresting that the only rest and relief available to a gamer is a quick, stumbling trip to the john. (I have experienced in one, maddening LAN game to play from two in the afternoon up to seven thirty the following morning–straight, without sleep, with only biscuits and nuts to keep us going, and hurried game pauses to relieve ourselves–Whew!! And yet, I felt it wasn’t enough! I was not yet spent, still wide awake during the day, and never relinquishing my seat in front of the PC monitor). The games indeed, have become addicting to a dangerous level.

Thus, the unavoidable controversies started to materialize and crept in: embedded sex scenes, brutal fighting combos, gory ways of killing; too much of everything from splattering blood, flying decapitations, overly-sexy character designs, to subliminal suggestions and innuendos to commit crimes, to kill and murder, to have sex, and play again, and again, and again, so the cycle goes. The cries and angry laments of the militant and the active against the “bad” influences of video games were heard all over the world. The narrow-minded cried wolf and passed their self-serving papers; the broad-minded smiled and shook their heads; the gamers community imploded in disgust and disbelief, while the kids and the adults continued to play in the privacy of their beds, shooting each other while trash-talking online until exhaustion claimed the unworthy one by one to sleep and rest, ignoring whatever was brewing, till the concerns fizzled out and died of natural obsolescence.

As a gamer, I am guilty of indulgence, as charged. Yet, as familiarity of the games set in, I tended to drift in favor of more subtle games, those with intellectual exercises and brain manipulation for strategy and control. I played RTS, empire building, business sims, tycoon games, and enjoyed them equally as I have enjoyed the fast, rock and roll phases of FPS, combat sims, and RPGs. But after awhile, the repetitiveness of the gameplay began to surface again, so that I chose and played only what I felt would sustain my ebbing interest while nourishing still my addiction.

Then something else happened: my nephew introduced me to web browser text based games. Though very slow in action and developments, and lacking the glamorous presentation and animation of video games, my curiousity grabbed my attention by the tail to play and explore its fun possibilities. And while experimenting to do other things due to the virtual slowness of the gameplay (I can play several games simultaneously at any given time), I was browsing the net. I tap into the social network sites. I read in the blog sites. And I found, as I dug deeper and harder into the wonders of the net, a gem of a gaming site: ORISINAL.

Excellent subtlety. Two words that best describe the site, where various graphic icons of flash games for young and old stayed subdued, clothed in a soft, washed-out background, each one ready to load and start playing, once clicked with the mouse.

The games are engaging, with simple and easy gameplays made more interesting, arresting, and captivating by the wonderful harmonies of color, graphic design, art, animation, and music. I was immediately transported by the hypnotic sounds and music to my childhood days, to memories of my earliest crushes in school, as I watched the pastel shades blending so artistically well in mild contrasts and unique color schemes, pumped up by graphic designs, fonts, and character animation designs–cute, cuddly, lovable creations that should be copyrighted less someone gets the idea for stuffed toys! (Not unless, ORISINAL already had engaged in the business of diversifying their games a long time ago).

The gameplay, though simple and elementary, are not only addicting, interesting, and wholesome in an LOL way, but most of all, it offers enjoyment, fun, and satisfaction without shedding a drop of blood, causing pain to anybody, or destroying property; no tearing of life or limb, or ego-boosting, ear-splitting cries of “MULTI-KILL!!!” each time you earn a high score. (One game though about a samurai warrior hacking his way through a series of ninjas running fast towards him, thus, splattering red in the small window of the game, seemed the only one out of place in the themes presented by ORISINAL in their site).

These dainty, delicate, and amusing games in their own little ways, can be played by a four year old, and together with a parent or grandma or pa playing alternately to compete for a better score, long hours of wholesome fun is expected. (Not unless, the four year old declines to give the seat in front of your PC monitor!) Yes, I played the “bugs” game for more than six hours, and played it again the next day. Sorry, kid…got to sleep or play outside.

Yet, it doesn’t mean the games are shallow, mellow, or low in the intelligence and skill points. The flash games are exquisite in its neat presentation; funny and addicting in itself that a player may not mind losing at all so he or she can play the games again and again. The site offers quite a variety, and with easy loading and simple controls of mouse clicks or the up and down arrows in the keyboard, the games deserve a quick peek if you’re looking for a wholesome time to play with family and friends.

But for me, as an artist, my wonderment was caught and satisfied by the art, graphic design, color schemes, font choices, and the expert and professional handling of harmonizing and blending all of these with music, movement, and gameplay. My most humble praises to the designers and everyone responsible for a wholesome game site like ORISINAL: May your creativity never falter or wane, and your site’s appeal grow and prosper. Here’s looking for more new games added to your subtle interface. More power!

Now who says all video games should be brutal, gory, and sexy to be fun?