One-Hit Wonder Authors

[Daowajan]

The classics thread got me thinking about writers who have miraculously cranked out one good book and then wrote nothing but garbage.

Somebody else was saying that Tom Clancy is completely out of ideas. And it always seemed to me that Nathaniel Hawthorne had one plot to fill in - person gets cast out of society, feels lots and lots and oh so much shame and then validates themselves somehow.

[Francesca]

A whole lot of people would disagree with me, but my couple are:

Joseph Heller - Catch 22
Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[unicameral caravan]

J.D. Salinger

[Legomancer]

Harper Lee

[Annie-Xmas]

Ken Keesey

[Kaitlyn]

How about authors who wrote only one book, period, but that book was a big hit?

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (which isn't very good, but was a hit).

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Lee is the greatest one hit wonder in history. She wrote a book that was a critical and commercial smash, quickly came to be regarded as a classic, and is still beloved by many today. And then she stopped writing.

A couple of others that wrote more than one, but are known for just one:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker

[yabob]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Ken Keesey

Huh? At least two - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Sometimes a Great Notion". I'll admit he's not notably prolific.

[pesch]

"A Confederacy of Dunces," whose career was cut short by suicide. Of course, you'd have readers argue that the book doesn't deserve to be called a hit in the first place.

Having written an essay on Heller for Oxford's American National Biography, I'd have to agree about "Catch-22."

[Daowajan]

The writer I was thinking about when I started this thread was Umberto Eco (although I don't know how many people have heard of him.) He managed to write one good book, The Name of the Rose, but everything else he ever churned out was complete and utter horseshit. Pretentious horseshit, even.

[jcgmoi]

Daowajan: It's been a while but I enjoyed Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. Intricate, even confusing at times, but by no means horseshit.

[lurkernomore]

Garnted, one big book, but you do have to put a star next to Mitchell- I think it was fairly soon after it, while she was working on a sequel, she was killed in an accident.

[Kaitlyn]

Originally posted by lurkernomore
Garnted, one big book, but you do have to put a star next to Mitchell- I think it was fairly soon after it, while she was working on a sequel, she was killed in an accident.

Why put a star? She had exactly one popular book. The accident explains why she never wrote anything else, but it doesn't alter that fact. We have no way of knowing whether subsequent books would have been successful.

Had it not been for the accident, Mitchell may well have gone on to more success. Had it not been for her murder, Selena may have been a big crossover pop star. Had it not been for the rabid fan attack, Monica Seles may have continued to dominate women's tennis for years to come. Had it not been for Kevin Mclory's lawsuit, Timothy Dalton may have made six or seven Bond movies. Had he not served four years in WW2 and Korea, Ted Williams might be the all-time hit leader. And maybe none of these things would have happened. We'll never know.

These things did happen, and the careers of the people involved were damaged or cut short. This does not make the things they did accomplish any greater for their unfulfilled potential Potential is not achievement.

[Hodge]

Does anyone know whatever happened to Donna Tartt? Judging by the numerous mentions it gets in favourite book threads, The Secret History has quite the cult following. Too bad the author seems to have dropped out of sight.

I have to disagree about Joseph Heller and Umberto Eco, though. I enjoyed Heller's Good as Gold and thought the structure of Something Happened made it a particularly unsettling read with an ending that packed one helluva punch.

Along with Name of the Rose, I also enjoyed Foucault's Pendulum. It was a refreshing antidote to Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! which covers similar territory in a far less elegant manner.

Hodge

[Laughing Lagomorph]

It's been a long time since I read the book or studied this author, but didn't Ralph Ellison never follow up on "Invisible Man"?

[pesch]

Ellison had been working and reworking a novel before he died. It was published a year or so ago as "Juneteenth," but it made little impact beyond initial publication.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Thanks, pesch. I remember reading when he died that Ellison had another book almost ready for publication, but I didn't remember if it had been, or not.

[jcgmoi]

This is for Hodge, other Donna Tartt fans and the merely curious.

From this site Tribulation will be published early next year.

[dropzone]

Originally posted by Hodge
Foucault's Pendulum. It was a refreshing antidote to Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! which covers similar territory in a far less elegant manner.[/b]

Yet, because it came out so many years after the original, seemed more a ripoff than it might have actually been. And it is sad he didn't go deeper, as Italy is the home of so much intrigue that suggests Illuminati involvement to the suggestible. For instance, I was reading "Illuminatus" when the Adolfo Sarti scandal broke.

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph
It's been a long time since I read the book or studied this author, but didn't Ralph Ellison never follow up on "Invisible Man"?

Also, H.P. Saint wrote an incredible book called "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" about 15 years ago, and nothing else.

[Legomancer]

Originally posted by Hodge
I have to disagree about Joseph Heller and Umberto Eco, though. I enjoyed Heller's Good as Gold and thought the structure of Something Happened made it a particularly unsettling read with an ending that packed one helluva punch.

Along with Name of the Rose, I also enjoyed Foucault's Pendulum. It was a refreshing antidote to Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! which covers similar territory in a far less elegant manner.

Hodge

I tried to read Something Happened and just couldn't. I got about halfway through when I finally just said "Okay, I get the point. Enough already." I thought Vonnegut's review of it as "A metal statue being made by taps of a ball-peen hammer" was apt, except I kind of felt the hammer was on my skull.

I too disagree about Foucault's Pendulum. I've read it three times and enjoyed it every time, versus once for Name of the Rose. I've also read The Illuminatus Trilogy several times. I've never felt the Eco book was a ripoff because The Illuminatus Trilogy goes into so many other directions, many of them hopelessly silly and out of date (I wince when I read the part about how the more advanced folks have more hair.) The Eco book is much more streamlined and pays attention to its ideas better, in addition to staying grounded a little better. It also has a much more satisfying ending.

[Skijumper]

I thought Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's(sic) Diary was pretty funny. However, the sequel, The Edge of Reason, felt like a last minute cash-in. (I mean, c'mon - they didn't even bother to print a different cover...)

[John Carter of Mars]

I would nominate Mary Karr for this category. Her brilliant 1995 work,The Liars' Clubwas followed by the sequil,Cherry,which seemed dull to me, and there was no sign of the talent that was so obvious in the earlier work.

[Steve Wright]

Bram Stoker. Dracula is a damn good book. Everything else of his I've read (The Lair of the White Worm and The Jewel of Seven Stars, among others) has been a waste of good trees.

[yabob]

"A Confederacy of Dunces," whose career was cut short by suicide. Of course, you'd have readers argue that the book doesn't deserve to be called a hit in the first place.

John Kennedy Toole. And it DOES seem to generate divided opinions, with the people who don't like it becoming quite indignant about how demeaning, crass, vulgar, etc. the work is. And badly written. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. And reasonably well written. But then, I refer to South Park as "Swiftian".

[Hodge]

Thanks for the link jcgmoi. If the new novel is anywhere near the quality of her first it'll be worth the wait.

Originally posted by dropzone
Yet, because it came out so many years after the original, seemed more a ripoff than it might have actually been.

I suppose I might have agreed with you if I hadn't read both novels within the span of a couple months as an undergrad and been vastly more impressed by Eco's writing.

Hodge

[Why A Duck]

Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Yeah, there was that sequel abomination recently, but that hardly counts.

[tavalla]

Originally posted by pcubed
Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Yeah, there was that sequel abomination recently, but that hardly counts.

Eeeew! "Canticle" should just be left to stand alone. Great book.

Nominate Meredith Ann Pierce. She wrote "Darkangel", one of my all-time favourite books for its lovely dreamlike feel, then wrote some sequels which were terrible. What the hell happened in the meantime?

[China Guy]

Originally posted by yabob

Huh? At least two - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Sometimes a Great Notion". I'll admit he's not notably prolific.

The only one worth reading or mentioning is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The other stuff he put out is just pure crap. I remember a short story set in China about a marathon, and the basic premise was a local boy didn't know how far the distance was because he lived in China. Well, roads in China are marked in 1/10 km increments. kesey also threw in some bs about the cultural revolution. Sheesh, it was a crap story and the basic background was completely off base. Pretty indicative.

I can't remember the name of another novel set in Alaska. It was kinda interesting at first and then went to complete crap.

One Flew is a great novel though. Thus the one hit author.

[aegypt]

God: The Bible.

[Gyrate]

Originally posted by yabob

John Kennedy Toole. And it DOES seem to generate divided opinions, with the people who don't like it becoming quite indignant about how demeaning, crass, vulgar, etc. the work is. And badly written. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. And reasonably well written. But then, I refer to South Park as "Swiftian".

Count me in as a fan of ACoD. In Toole's case the book was first published many years after his death (due to his mother's relentless hawking of it to publishers); thus, you can't really fault him for the lack of a proper follow-up.

South Park as "Swiftian" -- I can't decide whether that's profound or disturbing.

_Timmy!

[jcgmoi]

Give Walker Percy full credit for recognizing the quality of A Confederacy of Dunces and pushing for its publication. Toole's mother did hawk the book but got nowhere until Percy took up the standard.

[Sofa King]

Fitzgerald only finished one novel, right? The rest were short stories.

Did Stephen Crane write any other novels than The Red Badge of Courage? I think he stuck to reporting and short stories after that.

Joseph Heller's Picture This is one of the finest books I have ever read.

[jcgmoi]

Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned,Tender Is the Night, and The Last Tycoon (unfinished) in addition to Gatsby.

Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Active Service. Maggie's pretty good.

[Atreyu]

This one may be a bit more obscure.

In the late 1980s, an author named Ken Grimwood wrote a book called Replay, and I was very impressed with it. It pre-dated the movie Groundhog Day by several years, but it had a similar premise, but instead of replaying a single day, the poor guy was replaying years and years. There is a lot more to the story, but I'd rather not give anything away. Let's just say that that author was very clever about exploring the different possibilities of this premise.

It's worth looking for in used bookstores, since I doubt it is still in print.

[Danimal]

Well there was a Miguel de Cervantes a while back who wrote Don Quixote and very little else...

I assume I'm the only one here who read Cervantes' "La Fuerza de la Sangre," and even if anyone did, it's really more a short story than a book.

Did the Lady Murasaki ever write anything besides The Tale of Genji?

[Sofa King]

Thanks for setting me straight, jcgmoi.

[Iguana Boy]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas

Also, H.P. Saint wrote an incredible book called "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" about 15 years ago, and nothing else.

Oh yeah, I love that book! I lent it to a friend, and never got it back. I had to get a second hand copy from the internet a few months back, and it was just as good as I remembered.

I've looked for other books from the same author, and found nothing, so H.P. Saint is on this list.

[yabob]

Originally posted by China Guy

The only one worth reading or mentioning is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The other stuff he put out is just pure crap. I remember a short story set in China about a marathon, and the basic premise was a local boy didn't know how far the distance was because he lived in China. Well, roads in China are marked in 1/10 km increments. kesey also threw in some bs about the cultural revolution. Sheesh, it was a crap story and the basic background was completely off base. Pretty indicative.

I can't remember the name of another novel set in Alaska. It was kinda interesting at first and then went to complete crap.

One Flew is a great novel though. Thus the one hit author.

If you haven't read "Sometimes a Great Notion", do so. Then you may concede Kesey two hits. If you have read it, and thought it was crap, we'll just have to disagree. I might might even suggest that SaGN is a better work than "Cuckoo's Nest". It's certainly in the same league.

[elucidator]

Originally posted by aegypt
God: The Bible.

As Told To....

[China Guy]

Originally posted by yabob
[/b]

If you haven't read "Sometimes a Great Notion", do so. Then you may concede Kesey two hits. If you have read it, and thought it was crap, we'll just have to disagree. I might might even suggest that SaGN is a better work than "Cuckoo's Nest". It's certainly in the same league. [/b][/quote]
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. It's also embarrasing to read how many times I used the word "crap" in a short post.

I threw away Sometimes in disgust about halfway through, and I almost always finish novels. Then about two years later backpacking around China and desperate to read anything in English, I somehow ended up with a copy and read it to the bitter end, as one will when you're stuck on a 3 day train ride. I grew up in a small town and Kesey captured small town stuff reasonably well, but the plot twists and turns were just too unbelieveable.

[Steve Wright]

Originally posted by Danimal
Did the Lady Murasaki ever write anything besides The Tale of Genji?

I've seen it argued that the final chapters of The Tale of Genji are actually the start of another story. (I might add that I find those arguments quite convincing.)

[Redboss]

Originally posted by lurkernomore
Garnted, one big book, but you do have to put a star next to Mitchell- I think it was fairly soon after it, while she was working on a sequel, she was killed in an accident.

Not of vital importance, but it's at least something I know about.

Margaret Mitchell lived for another fifteen or so years after publication of her only book, but never wrote anything else. She didn't really like fame and Gone With The Wind essentially ruined her life. She was never again able to live an ordinary private life, as she wanted (she liked to be the centre of attention, but only of a small circle).

She was adamant that there would NEVER be a sequel (and would be spinning in her grave right now).

She was going to the movies with her husband when a drunk driver knocked her down.

If this interests anyone (well, they'd be here if they were anywhere) there's a terrific biography called "The Road to Tara" by (I think) Ann Edwards. Tells you who Rhett was in real life.



Rhettboss


(my first post in this forum - gee it's clean in here. Smells good too!)

[Guy Propski]

The SF writer Tom Reamy only finished one novel, "Blind Voices", before his early death.

John Kennedy Toole wrote a second book, "The Neon Bible." It was actually written before ACOD, but sat in a drawer for 35 years until his estate was settled.

Kesey, Heller, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all wrote multiple novels.

[sturmhauke]

Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Baroness Orzcy (?), The Scarlet Pimpernel

[Juniper200]

Baroness Orczy wrote upwards of a dozen Pimpernel books, IIRC. I'll concede, however, that we can grant her one-hit-wonder status for only having one standout character.

[elfkin477]

Historically? Kate Chopin. However, from what my crit. lit. professor said she was so reviled by critics for The Awaking's boldness, and was unable to publish any other novels. It's a shame too, that novel and her short stories were thought provoking.

[Mercutio]

Originally posted by Francesca
Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

-Ahem- Does 12 Monkeys come to mind?

[Eliahna]

Regarding Gone With The Wind...

I had heard that Margaret Mitchell ordered all her unpublished work destroyed after her death. I don't know where I heard it. Is it true?

[Hazel]

Originally posted by China Guy

The only one worth reading or mentioning is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I disagree. IMO Sometimes a Great Notion is a very good book.