# Authors that you've written to or e-mailed and received a real reply back. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948 "2008-09-17T03:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/81 "2008-09-17T21:45:27Z")
I’ve corresponded with David Drake about tanks, armored warfare, and a Sgt.'s-eye-view of the Gulf War. I’ve talked with John Steakley over many a drink (in one night; the man can seriously imbibe!) about the military, my experience in it, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/82 "2008-09-17T21:52:38Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > my main literary penpal was Isaac Asimov. Isaac and I corresponded for several years, and I treasure his missives as if they were made of…um… as if they were made of thiotimoline. This is seriously cool. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/83 "2008-09-17T22:52:06Z")
> [@RiverRunner](#): > > Yep, that’s a winner for sure! Thanks. Sadly, the size of the audience for good Oliver Sacks/Henny Youngman crossover humor has prevented me from really cashing in on my talent. ---
**Author:** ![cedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cedman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/84 "2008-09-17T23:10:08Z")
I sent a letter to Phil Shilling, editor and author who writes about motorcycling. He wrote a column in the now defunct “Cycle”… or was it “Cycle Guide”? Anyway, the column was titled “Hour of Granite”. He replied and told me that that article got more mail than any thing else he’d ever written. I still have a copy of it and I reread it from time to time to remind me just how fragile life can be. CedricR. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/85 "2008-09-17T23:13:11Z")
Scott Adams; Joe Bob Briggs, aka John Bloom. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/86 "2008-09-17T23:18:51Z")
There was once a thread in GC that questioned the reckless zealotry of early Christians after the fire in ancient Rome: **When Christianity was a nutty cult** > **[When Christianity was a nutty cult](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=364577)** > > I’d be interested in reading how the Romans and other first-century peoples regarded the followers of “Christos”. What are some good sources, and how biased or accurate are they considered to be? I did send Larry Gonick a note to clarify something and he did reply! But because the thread died, I never bother posting what he told me even though I had his permission. I posted this before in an unrelated thread on Sci-fi god machines but it is better to have it here: > [@](#): > > _ **Originally me to Gonick:** _ > > I’m a member of a message board from the Chicago Reader magazine, the > Straight Dope message board, owned by that fellow Cecil Adams. We got > into a discussion on how pleased the Christians were when in 64 AD the > big fire ravaged Rome. > > One very knowledgeable fellow is claiming that the balloon from page > 240 showing Christians happy for the fire or the commentary by the > Roman that “the sect of Christians seemed awfully pleased” has no > basis whatsoever in any ancient text, He dismisses also research by > Professor Gerhard Baudy saying that there is no evidence for what the > professor said in a recent PBS episode that Christians were > circulating vengeful texts predicting that a raging inferno would > reduce the city to ashes. ([http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case\_rome/clues.html](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_rome/clues.html) ) > can you help us a little here pointing out were the source of the Christian joy came > exactly from? > > I thank you for your attention for what it is a mundane issue, but over here one of the missions is to fight ignorance, and boy this one bites. > > Sincerely. > > GB. [QUOTE=Larry Gonick] Boy, can I not remember any more. It doesn’t surprise me that there’s no documentary evidence for the circulation of Christian texts. My source was probably Tacitus, who of course was biased and can’t be double-checked against anybody. I put it in because it makes sense. Early Christian texts (which would have to postdate the fire by at least 150 years or so) are, if I may say so, even worse, since they were eager to prove themselves loyal Romans and discount any subversive intent their predecessors may have had. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > _ **Originally me to Gonick** _: > > No reply yet from the German historian. > Can I have your permission to quote from your reply? > > Once again, thanks a million for your previous reply. [QUOTE=Larry Gonick] Yeah, you can quote me. You might also add this little confession: sometimes I put things in–usually as comments from characters–that are only plausible conjectures. In this case, I had something like this in mind: the history of “un-Christian” attitudes and behavior among Christians is ancient; you might even say it goes back to Jesus himself. It simply defies credulity that _everyone_ in a persecuted minority would feel totally forgiving when a calamity befell the persecutors, even if the official line is to love your brother and turn the other cheek. There simply _must_ have been expressions of satisfaction, especially when you consider that other Jews–plenty of these Christians were Jews, remember–had openly demonstrated against Rome. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been human–and human they were! Even if everyone miraculously succeeded in keeping his mouth shut, we can easily imagine police informants who would have _reported_ their feeling. Note that the speech balloon in question is in the mouth of a Roman officer, not a Christian. How do your contributors feel about the tradition that the persecution of Christians stepped up after the fire? Larry Gonick [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/87 "2008-09-17T23:26:16Z")
I’ve had a little correspondence with Russell Hoban. And I know Sherman Alexie, David Sedaris, and James McManus personally, so the regular correspondence I have with them may not count . . . While I was managing a bookstore, I communicated, by phone, mail and in person, with many, many authors: JGBallard, Alan Ginsberg, Kathy Acker, Laurie Anderson, Larry McMurtry, Kaye Gibbons, Sue Miller, Ethan Canin, Donna Tart (who’s also a friend of a friend, so I’d met her once before she was a published author). . . . I even got a response from Samuel Beckett, a couple years before he died; he shared an editor with my teacher, James McManus, at Grove Press. Unfortunately, in the twenty years and probably ten moves since then, I’ve lost that letter. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/88 "2008-09-17T23:35:38Z")
I wrote Sara Gruen after reading her first novel, Riding Lessons, and got a very sweet, chatty note back telling me all about her next book. I also wrote to romance author Toni Blake last summer, and get a reply every time I do. She is SUPER sweet! ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/89 "2008-09-17T23:58:21Z")
Well I got a email from an author that I did not write to, Lawrence Ritter. Back in the early days of Amazon I had written a very favorable review of his book _The Glory of Their TImes_. He wrote an email to me thanking me for the nice review and would I like an autographed copy of a first edition of the book. Yup, I did and he sent me one. Pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/90 "2008-09-18T00:01:50Z")
Douglas Preston sent my mother a signed copy of _Tyrannosaur Canyon_ with a little dinosaur doodle above his name. I don’t know how many fan letters he gets from 75 year old grandmothers, but he apparently really liked hers. I had lovely email exchanges with John Grogan, Paula Kamen (who wrote a very entertaining migraine book called _All In My Head_) and Matthew Kneale. One of them even sent me a book. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/91 "2008-09-18T00:28:14Z")
I once posted a message to the moderated B5 usenet group a few years back, commenting on the apparent similarity between B5 and Lord of the Rings (which I didn’t mind at all). It inspired a rant from Joe Michael Straczynski about how annoyed he gets when people say his stuff is a ripoff/tribute/nod towards some other previous work. Hey, he totally responded to my email. That’s practically the same as getting a heartfelt hug, right? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/92 "2008-09-18T01:05:08Z")
I bought a couple of books years ago by an author I didn’t know. They were inscribed to someone (I forget the name). I posted on the mystery group on usenet that I had snagged the books for cheap and the author, Robert Crais, replied to my thread saying he’d inscribe them to me if I sent the books to him. Since I didn’t know Robert Crais posted there, it was a bit of a shock, but charming. Since then I’ve read lots of Robert Crais and have always been glad I picked those books up. And after I read and loved the Daniel Abraham book _A Shadow in Summer_, I went to his blog to compliment him on the book. I said something about how I didn’t like reading series in progress because I didn’t want him to pull a Wheel of Time thing and he laughed and promised that it would be four books and only four books. I heartily recommend the first one. I need to reread it before I read the second one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Booker\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@Happy\_Booker\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Booker_1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/93 "2008-09-18T01:49:05Z")
**Andrew Greeley** , not merely a clerical author of extraordinarily satisfying schlock fiction, but a serious sociologist. I once emailed him asking if the ‘guns on the mantle’ regarding Lucifer in his ‘Angels’ series would ever be fired. (He is getting up in years, after all.) I got a real and personal response being appropriately evasive. ---
**Author:** ![lucky\_henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@lucky\_henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucky_henry)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/94 "2008-09-18T02:17:37Z")
I sat next to James Michener on a flight to Alaska during the time he was researching the book Alaska. We wrote back and forth everyfew months after that. I also corresponded with Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) for several years. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/95 "2008-09-18T02:25:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In an effort to get the ball rolling, Jennifer posed some challenges to her brothers; one was about a recently discovered brain lesion that makes people feel that they have to laugh. Her challenge; what would the Oliver Sacks book about this condition be called? > > An answer popped into my head. I clicked the reply link and sent it off. > > I got a very flattering reply from Daniel, and he cited me at the end of the week for the funniest thing he’d read in years. And? What was the book name! ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/96 "2008-09-18T02:54:36Z")
I found Crawford Killian online and wrote him about his book _Lifter_, asking if he’d ever had a different ending in mind. He sent back a rather detailed response. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/97 "2008-09-18T04:01:02Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > And? What was the book name! See post #61. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/98 "2008-09-18T12:26:39Z")
The late, great Ed McBain. I emailed him explaining my mother was a huge fan of his and I’d been a huge fan of his all my life. He was nice enough to respond, and agreed with me that Leonardo Dicaprio would make a good Deaf Man. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/99 "2008-09-18T14:00:09Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > And I know Sherman Alexie, [snip] personally, so the regular correspondence I have with them may not count . . . I’m going to have to steal your life, you realize that, right? I leave comments on [Robin McKinley’s](http://www.robinmckinley.com/) blog semi-regularly and she always responds. It never fails to make me smile. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948/100 "2008-09-18T14:44:44Z")
The first three emails that I ever received came from [James Gleick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gleick). In the early 90’s I was working for a very progressive boss who told me he wanted me to procure and email address to put on our business cards. I had read (in Wired I think) about a startup group in New York that was creating an FTP site which would have a companion program that would handle tasks like webmail and search functions. Graphical web browsing was unknown at the time and I was looking for something that the boss could light up and select action items vs plugging in commands himself. In the writeup it said that James Gleick, author of Chaos was invoved with this new company. I wish I could remember the name of it. In any case, the first welcoming email was sure enough sent from his account. The post looked to be a form letter message but I responded back and said that I had enjoyed Chaos and hoped that he had something else in the works. I didn’t expect him to reply, but he did with a rather long post. I sent him an email a week later asking about how one submits a book and he gave me a few pointers in response. So, not only did I correspond with an author, my **first** email exchange was with a well known author. Do I get some kind of prize now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-that-youve-written-to-or-e-mailed-and-received-a-real-reply-back/463948.md?page=6)