Hunter, Evan

I'm beginning to seriously wonder about the state of my mental health on this 8th day of the A to Z Challenge. My goal, before I began the challenge, was to write a blog post about the first thing that came to mind about writing--with respect to each of the day's letters. Now my goal is to continue doing that very thing without letting on just how odd I am. Let me know how I'm doing as the month progresses...

On to the H feature of the day: Hunter, Evan. Otherwise known as Ed McBain. Under the name Evan Hunter, he wrote the novel, The Blackboard Jungle, the screenplay for The Birds, and a number of other novels. He may be better known for the crime fiction he wrote as Ed McBain, most notably the 8th Precinct series. He was first published in the fifties and continued writing until his death in 2005 at the age of 78.

I've told a number of people (including other writers) that Ed McBain is my all-time favorite writer. Most people are shocked. Some people don't know who he is. I have a couple of theories about these reactions:

1. Many people assume that a woman's favorite author will be a woman and a man's favorite author will be a man -  guess I busted that theory; and
2. He had a strong, powerful, graphic voice that many people assume a woman wouldn't like.

His voice was my favorite thing about him. Using 3rd person narrative, no less, before the end of his first sentence in any piece of work, he had you by the throat. You knew who was telling the story and how the character felt. His writing style, no matter what genre, always managed to elicit emotion from my and grab me not only by the throat but also by the heart and mind. I never finished one of his books without having something to think about.

Can you think of any authors like that? If so, who are they and what is it about them that grabs you?