What's this all about

Chronicling my steps to becoming a published novelist, and the randomness of my life.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

5 Surprisingly Good Celebrity Novelists

These days it seems like every celebrity and everybody who thinks they're a celebrity has written a book.

Then, you read the fine print and see that really a ghost writer actually did all the work while the "author" babbled on about a series of unrelated experiences over a mimosa and a cigarette.

Anyway, that got me thinking.

I wonder who out there in the wild wood of Holly has actually written a real book. And not just a legitimate autobiography - if you're the coolest surviving member of the Rolling Stones then of course your memoirs are going to be amazing. But I wondered if any otherwise famous people had ever written a successful piece of fiction??

So, I took my curiosity to the interwebs and searched and searched and searched, and actually found some surprising information. I thought I'd just go ahead and share it with ya. There were quite a few celebrities who wrote books that don't suck, but here are 5 Surprisingly Good Celebrity Novelists.

The results may shock you.

Ok, more realistically they may illicit a "Huh...I didn't know he wrote a book" from you.

Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. The Indie rocker is also the author of a children's book entitled Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book 1, a novel not surprisingly (if you're familiar with his music) inspired by folk tales. The story is about a of seventh-grade girl and her friend who end up on a quest to a mystical land to rescue the girl's baby brother from being sacrificed to an invasive, carnivorous species of ivy.

Ethan Hawke Yeah, really! My good ol' friend Ethan is the penman behind novels The Hottest State and Ash Wednesday.  The Hottest State follows the trials and tribulations of a dark, sensitive young man aspiring to be an actor in New York City. It's one of those coming of age love stories that shakes you up and makes you think about life. If The Hottest State is about the mistakes you make in your twenties, then Ash Wednesday is about the next stage of life: marriage and parenthood. Told through two points of view the novel follows an AWOL soldier and his pregnant girlfriend/wife, it's another raw, emotional novel designed to suck you in and leave you with lots to think about.

Ethan Hawke and Me, chillin' in London

Hugh Laurie Dr. House is notorious for his brilliance and his cruel but hilarious one liners, but he's also a pretty talented writer. Though he initially submitted the novel anonymously, Laurie has gained quite a bit of praise from his first book The Gun Seller. Told with that same biting sense of humor he's become famous for, this novel is a spy spoof about a retired British soldier who accidentally becomes involved in an underworld of illegal arms dealers, government secrets and lots of action.

Nick Cave Frontman of the genre-blending rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds has written two well received novels that have put him in the company of Faulkner in some critics' opinions. And the Ass Saw the Angel is a Southern Gothic tale about the vengeance a mute boy takes out on his entire town of abusive, corrupt, religious nut-jobs. His second novel The Death of Bunny Munro is about an alcoholic, sex-addicted salesman and a looming serial killer.

Steve Martin Comedian, actor, banjo-player, and author. Steve Martin may be a genius. He's actually written several books comprising of non-fiction, essays and fiction. Here I'll mention his children's book Late for School - the adventure of one boy's attempt to make it to school, it comes complete with a CD of Martin singing the story in a collection of bluegrass songs. (I know. It's really cool.) But you can discover more of Steve Martin's genius here, at his site.

Thanks for reading!