Influential Books

People are constantly asking me what writers have influenced me. I'm happily influenced by any piece of good writing, no matter if it's fiction or non-fiction. Since the 1970s I developed the habit of reading no less than one book a week (often more), and I refuse to limit my reading to a specific genre. I read everything I can get my hands on. And if you haven't read any of these books I suggest you begin tracking them down.

You will find recent titles listed alongside acknowledged classics, but ALL of these books are classics to me. This is what I would call "the really good stuff." Keep scrolling down to read the entire list.

MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot
Go Read the River, Dave Etter
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
Ask the Dust, John Fante
A Coney Island of the Mind, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Errol Flynn
The Poetry of Robert Frost
Howl, Allen Ginsberg
Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey
The Cannibal, John Hawkes
Hunger, Knut Hamsun
In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway
Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Flint, Louis L'Amour
The Sea Wolf, Jack London
The Hill of Dreams, Arthur Machen
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Captain Blood, Rafael Sabatini
Chicago Poems, Carl Sandburg
Shane, Jack Schaefer
I, the Jury, Mickey Spillane
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Great Shark Hunt, Hunter S. Thompson
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Once and Future King, T. H. White
Look Homeward Angel, Thomas Wolfe
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny

ESSENTIAL SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & HORROR

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Psycho, Robert Bloch
The Borders Just Beyond, Joseph Payne Brennan
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
Stardust, Neil Gaiman
Legend, David Gemmell
Deathworld, Harry Harrison
The Rose, Charles L. Harness
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein
The Stories of Robert E. Howard
Fear, L. Ron Hubbard
Battlefield Earth, L. Ron Hubbard
To the Stars, L. Ron Hubbard
The Dark World, Henry Kuttner
The Stories of H. P. Lovecraft
Hell House, Richard Matheson
The Stress of Her Regard, Tim Powers
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Summer of Night, Dan Simmons
The Stories of Clark Ashton Smith
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Lord of the Rings (trilogy), J.R.R. Tolkien
The Island of Dr. Moreau, H. G. Wells.
Jack of Shadows, Roger Zelazny
Isle of the Dead, Roger Zelazny

ESSENTIAL WESTERNS

High Lonesome, Louis L'Amour
Draw Down the Lightning, Ben Bridges
Journey of the Dead, Loren D. Estleman
The Lone Star Ranger, Zane Grey
The Way West, A. B. Guthrie
Gun for Revenge, Steve Hayes
The Phantom Marshal, Lance Howard
The Loner, J. A. Johnstone
Eyes of the Hawk, Elmer Kelton
The Searchers, Alan LeMay
Black Diamond Rendezvous, John D. Nesbitt
The Sundown Chaser, Dusty Richards
Monte Walsh, Jack Schaefer
The Savage Trail, Jory Sherman
The Shootist, Glendon Swarthout
The Name's Buchanan, Jonas Ward
Shootout at Picture Rock, Joseph A. West
The Virginian, Owen Wister

ESSENTIAL MYSTERIES

Journey Into Fear, Eric Ambler
The Neon Rain, James Lee Burke
Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler
The Monkey's Raincoat, Robert Crais
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
Live and Let Die, Ian Fleming
The Living Shadow, Maxwell Grant (Walter B. Gibson)
The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
Pale Horse Coming, Stephen Hunter
The Moving Target, Ross MacDonald
A Tan and Sandy Silence, John D. MacDonald
First Blood, David Morrell
Vengeance is Mine, Mickey Spillane

A SELECTION OF TITLES THAT ARE WORTH YOUR TIME

Now and Forever, Ray Bradbury
We'll Always Have Paris, Ray Bradbury
Nothing to Lose, Lee Child
The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
Hive, Tim Curran
Skull Moon, Tim Curran
The Chase, Clive Cussler
Dead Men's Bones: The Air Adventure Stories of Lester Dent
Fault Line, Barry Eisler
Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Pirate's Passage, William Gilkerson
The Myth Hunters, Christopher Golden
Vicksburg 1863, Winston Groom
Viva Gringo, Steve Hayes
Feral, Steve Hayes and David Whitehead
Ladigan, Lance Howard
Under the Black Ensign, L. Ron Hubbard
Cargo of Coffins, L. Ron Hubbard
Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache War Memoirs, Charles Gatewood and Louis Kraft
The Given Day, Dennis Lehane
Leather Maiden, Joe R. Lansdale
Dark Harvest, Norman Partridge
Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines, D. L. Snell
The Goliath Bone, Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
Hard Roads, Steve Vernon
The Long Night of Winchell Dear, Robert James Waller
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafron

ESSENTIAL SELF-HELP

The Bible, King James version
Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard
The Book on the Taboo of Against Knowing Who You Are, Alan Watts

If you see a book listed here that you haven't read, find a copy and read it!