Some authors are amazingly prolific. Born in 1953, Heather Graham married immediately after high school. She worked in local theater before turning to writing full time. Her first novel was published in 1982. Since then she has written 150 books, including novellas, several under the pseudonym Shannon Drake, an amazing output -- and she has five kids! I've always been curious about this. How many hours a day does such a writer work? How many drafts does he/she do? I've done as many as 20. Are some writers so gifted they are able to nail a novel immediately, or do they turn the original manuscript over to editors and immediately move on to their next? There are 75 million of Graham's books in print. She has been published in 25 languages. I just finished
The Forgotten, issued in 2015, the 18th of 19 in the
Krewe of Hunters series. They are a special unit of the FBI that work on cases involving the unexplained, ala Scully and Mulder of
The X-Files. Ghosts figure prominently in the narrative, as do the undead, and dolphins. Unfortunately, it does not rise above standard fare. It is predictable. The prose would have benefited from polishing. I was not bored but neither was I enthralled or surprised even once. She handled the large cast of characters well, and the setting, Miami, her home town, is vividly described. I wasn't crazy about the romantic aspects. On a scale of five, I rate it 2.5. Her fans, of course, disagree. 171 users at Amazon have rated
The Forgotten, forging to a consensus of 4.6 of five. I realize it may not be her best work, but I won't sample another. I will read only one book per commercially successful author. Here's a picture from Graham's website. Not only did she earn a boatload of money, she looked like a million dollars when she was younger. No wonder her husband couldn't keep his hands off her. (Facts from Wiki)
I had no luck catching up to Heather Graham's book sales today. I was finally able to get a full complement of wares to my nook, but the wind kicked up an hour-and-a-half into the session, and I surrendered. It wasn't a total waste of time, as I caught a bit of interesting information about an acquaintance, Mark, a retired postal worker. We were having a conversation when Occupy Jack came along. He noted the Vietnam Veteran logo on Mark's hat and, not bold as ever, asked what kind of action he'd seen, something I'd wondered but wouldn't dare broach. Mark was in the thick of it. A corporal, he was offered a promotion to Sergeant if he agreed to be the radio man. Not wanting to be the outfit's biggest target, he said: "Thanks but no thanks." Kudos for your service, sir.
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
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