# Novels by Famous Non-Writers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839 "2009-01-31T05:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/21 "2009-01-31T17:50:54Z")
I haven’t read them/it, but I remember seeing at least one novel by actor Rupert Everett at the library. A quick search on Amazon shows he wrote a novel called _Hello, Darling, Are You Working?_, an autobiography, and what looks like a book of poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/22 "2009-01-31T19:32:30Z")
> [@Albrecht\_Durer](#): > > I’ve read Hugh Laurie’s novel, and thought it was great. His long-time comedy partner, Stephen Fry, has written quite a few novels, none of which I’ve been fortunate enough to read. Stephen Fry wrote four novels (so far). I think they’re good. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/23 "2009-01-31T19:35:13Z")
Jimmy Carter wrote a Revolutionary War novel called _Hornet’s Nest_. It is, in a word, AWFUL. Mussolini wrote a novel called _The Cardinal’s Mistress_ that was a bestseller before he became Il Duce. No idea if it’s in print/in English. Actor Stephen Collins (best known recently probably for the dad on Seventh Heaven) wrote a novel called [Double Exposure](http://www.amazon.com/Double-Exposure-Novel-Stephen-Collins/dp/0688158935). I haven’t read it personally, but it’s been heavily recommended to me. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/24 "2009-01-31T19:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] Steve Martin’s Shopgirl was surprisingly good, I thought. [/QUOTE] I liked both _Shopgirl_ and _The Pleasure of My Company_, and thought they worked well as audiobooks read by the author. [QUOTE=China Guy] michael Palin of monty python fame wrote ‘hemingways chair.’ it was decent but no humor and was a pretty depessing read. [/QUOTE] Yes, a good novel, but certainly not Pythonesque. Eric Idle has also written a novel, _The Road To Mars_, that’s a bit more fun. If you want to get picky, a lot of the people mentioned in this thread aren’t really non-writers, they’re just non-novelists, who are well-known for writing other things, such as screenplays, comedy routies, sketches, songs, or non-fiction. The other examples I can think of all fall into this category: Michael J. Nelson has written a novel called _Mike Nelson’s Death Rat!_ It’s a good humorous novel but, the title notwithstanding, **not** in the _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ vein. Martin Gardner, best-known for writing about recreational mathematics and about science and pseudo-science, has written a novel called _The Flight of Peter Fromm_ about religion in America. I really enjoyed it, though it’s probably not for everyone. In places it reads like a good novel; in other places it reads like a history of twentieth-century theology. Johnny Cash wrote a novel called _Man In White_, about the apostle Paul. I wasn’t particularly taken by it, but apparently many people like it. Has anybody read Jimmy Carter’s novel? From what I’ve heard, it’s not the reatest read, though not a total failure. (On preview, I see **Sampiro** ’s opinion.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/25 "2009-02-01T01:59:34Z")
There are plenty of examples of folks who haven’t written fiction trying their hand at it, especially in science fiction. **Carl Sagan** wrote **Contact**. You certainly couldn’t say he wasn’t a writer – he’d written lots of popular scienvce before, not to mention many professional papers. But that’s the first fiction by him I know of. There’s an anthology called **Great Science Fiction by Scientists** that includes a fictional story by mathematician **Norbert Weiner** called “Brain”. It’s about gangsters. There are lots of other examples in the collection (it’s all works by non-writers). > **[Great Science Fiction by Scientists: Conklin, Groff: 9780020190301: Amazon.com:...](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Science-Fiction-Scientists-Conklin/dp/0020190301)** > > Great Science Fiction by Scientists \[Conklin, Groff\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Great Science Fiction by Scientists Heck, **Johannes Kepler** , discoverer of Kepler’s Laws of Motion (among a great many other things) wrote **Somnium** , in which a student of Tycho Brahe’s gets transported to the Moon (Kepler was, himself, a student of Brahe’s) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/26 "2009-02-01T02:14:10Z")
William F Buckley wrote a number of spy novels. Does Stephen Colbert count? – _I Am America and So Can You_and of course the Tech Janssen novel. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/27 "2009-02-01T02:29:06Z")
Tony Curtis wrote at least one novel _Kid Andrew Cody & Julie Sparrow_. He has also had a painting displayed at the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. Anthony Bourdain wrote two mysteries in the 90s well before he became famous with _Kitchen Confidential_. _Bone in the Throat_ and _Gone Bamboo_ both received glowing reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/28 "2009-02-01T02:34:28Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > William F Buckley wrote a number of spy novels. > Does Stephen Colbert count? – _I Am America and So Can You_and of course the Tech Janssen novel. 🙂 Buckley was a hugely prolific writer. He wrote numerous letters, articles, columns, and many books apart from the spy novels. In fact, he became famous originally because of a book he wrote shortly after college entitled _God and Man At Yale_. This from Buckley’s eulolgy, delivered by his son Christopher: _“How many words flowed from those keyboards. I went up to Yale recently to inspect his archive of papers. They total 550 linear feet. To put it in perspective, the spire of St. Patrick’s rises 300 feet above us. By some scholarly estimates, he may have written more letters than any other American in history. Add to that prodigal output: 6,000 columns, 1,500 Firing Line episodes, countless articles, over 50 books. He was working on one the day he died.”_ ---
**Author:** ![November](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6f9a4e/32.png) [@November](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/November)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/29 "2009-02-01T02:38:10Z")
Nick Cave wrote _And the Ass Saw the Angel_, a rather good Southern Gothic novel. He also wrote the screenplay for _The Proposition_. Leonard Cohen wrote _The Favorite Game_ and _Beautiful Losers_, although both before he came famous as a singer-songwriter. William Morris wrote a series of novels towards the end of his life, but he’s much more famous for other things. Disraeli, of course, wrote many novels. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/30 "2009-02-01T03:46:08Z")
G. Gordon Liddy has already been mentioned. Howard Hunt also wrote several books (significantly in Hunt’s case, he managed to have them published under a penname without being identified as the author). The works of both authors are good within the limits of the action thriller genre. David Niven wrote a novel or two. I read one of them (_Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly_) which I recall enjoying. Gene Hackman and Richard Dreyfuss have both written historical novels but I think they may have had co-authors. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/31 "2009-02-01T03:58:56Z")
I fdlipped through the Hackman one. He did have a co-author. If I recall correctly, it was a Civil War adventure story about an escape from the Andersonville POW camp. I think it was called _Escape from Andersonville_. I got the distinct impression from skimming through it that it had probably started life as a pitch for a movie idea, then been adapted into a ghost written novel when it couldn’t be sold. It’s not a bad concept, though. Andersonville is an interesting subject. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/32 "2009-02-01T04:50:27Z")
Scott Turow spent 8 years as an assistant US attorney after graduating from Harvard Law School. Then as a law firm partner, started on his career as a novelist. No cite, but IIRC he writes most of his books on the train commute to and from work. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/33 "2009-02-01T05:20:36Z")
This probably does not count, but Margaret Mitchell was a newspaper writer when she wrote _Gone with the Wind_. Wasn’t that her only novel? If that’s true, then it was her only foray into fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/34 "2009-02-01T05:29:18Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Anthony Bourdain wrote two mysteries in the 90s well before he became famous with _Kitchen Confidential_. _Bone in the Throat_ and _Gone Bamboo_ both received glowing reviews. I read a few dozen pages of one of his retardo-chic novels – he writes like a monkey. What kind of nard-seeking cunt editor would have published something like his turd “Sweet Valley High”-wannabe novels? I really want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/35 "2009-02-01T05:37:25Z")
I was at the bookstore today and noticed novels by Glenn Beck and Joan Rivers, but on closer inspection, they both appear to have been ghostwritten. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/36 "2009-02-01T08:32:56Z")
Les Claypool wrote [South of the Pumphouse](http://www.amazon.com/South-Pumphouse-Claypool/dp/1933354062). Claypool is one of the best bass players in the world. As a novelist, Claypool is one of the best bass players in the world. 🙂 Actually I quite liked his book. Literature for the ages? Well, probly not, but I thought it was very funny (in a twisted and dark way). Some of his music can be a little “challenging” but his writing style is very straight-forward and accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/37 "2009-02-01T09:59:17Z")
China Guy writes: \> Scott Turow spent 8 years as an assistant US attorney after graduating from \> Harvard Law School. Then as a law firm partner, started on his career as a \> novelist. No cite, but IIRC he writes most of his books on the train commute to \> and from work. Siam Sam writes: \> This probably does not count, but Margaret Mitchell was a newspaper writer \> when she wrote Gone with the Wind. Wasn’t that her only novel? If that’s true, \> then it was her only foray into fiction. People, read the title of the thread. The OP doesn’t ask for writers who had other jobs. Most writers had other jobs. It’s nearly impossible to get started in writing without having another job. This thread is about people who were famous for something other than writing who then wrote a novel. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/38 "2009-02-01T10:15:00Z")
> [@November](#): > > Nick Cave wrote _And the Ass Saw the Angel_, a rather good Southern Gothic novel. He also wrote the screenplay for _The Proposition_. There’s also a new novel, due to come out probably September this year. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/39 "2009-02-01T10:18:21Z")
I’ve got a signed copy of _Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe_, co-written by George Takei. I haven’t had the heart to read it, but it might actually be worth something. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839/40 "2009-02-01T11:24:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The same for Leonard Nimoy, Newt Gingrich, and [Richard Dreyfuss](http://www.amazon.ca/Two-Georges-Dreyfuss-Turtledove/dp/0812544595), but both had other writers to do the heavy lifting. I was going to mention Newt Gingrich. Do you have any knowledge of their writing process or are you just assuming? I highly recommend the books to any one who likes alternate history. I read the books because I am a fan of William Forstchen and they do read like his novels. I also read the Dreyfuss book and enjoyed it. I would put it on the bottom half of Turtle dove’s work but still worth the read. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-by-famous-non-writers/483839.md?page=3)