Books for Company: Blog Post - Lily Herne on Authors who inspire her writing.

Please welcome Lily Herne to Books for Company.

Lily is the author of Deadlands, a story about a town with zombies!

Thank you for taking the time to write this guest post for us all, I love finding out what authors have inspired other authors.

Ten authors who inspired our writing:

Choosing just ten authors was an almost impossible task, as we’re both inspired by pretty much everything we read (we could easily have compiled our top 100!) Several of the authors we’ve chosen are examples of writers who combine believable world-building with character-driven storylines (which is way harder than it looks!); others are writers whose talent and storytelling skills have inspired us to do better in our own work. In no particular order:

Max Brooks: In our opinion, Brooks’ World War Z is the coolest zombie novel ever written. World-spanning, impeccably researched and (most importantly) a blast to read. We’re going to be cheeky and add in another stellar author who writes awesome zombie fiction – Mira Grant (pseudonym of Seanan McGuire). Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy is part political satire, part zombie pop-culture fest and a cracking page-turner. She’s the kind of author we want to be when we grow up.

Phillip K Dick: Okay, okay, it’s a massive cliché, but are there any SFFH authors who haven’t, in some way, been influenced by PKD? Our favourites include The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Martian Time-Slip, and his short stories (we love Faith of our Fathers and the wonderfully pulpy Second Variety).

Stephen King: Another predictable choice! That said, we believe there are only three ways to become a better writer: Read a lot, write constantly, and read King’s On Writing. It goes without saying that he’s the king of the character-driven, ‘ordinary people in extraordinary situations’ novel.

Lauren Beukes: Her Arthur C Clarke award-winning novel Zoo City is an exercise is (seemingly) effortless and original world-building. Her latest, The Shining Girls, blew our socks off and proves that writers don’t have to be pigeon-holed and constrained in what they want to write. She also nurtures new writers – especially from South Africa – at every opportunity.

Richard Matheson: Any horror writer who hasn’t read I am Legend needs to sort that out stat. Forget the uniformly dire film adaptations, this is a stunning exploration of paranoia and isolation. His other novels and short stories (and work on the original Twilight Zone series) are worth revisiting again and again.

SA Partridge: No other writer can get inside the head of the South African mixed-up teen like Sally Partridge, and she’s inspired us to write characters who are flawed and believable. Her writing is raw, powerful and honest.

Patrick Ness: Like David Mitchell, Ness is the kind of writer who makes us long to be better writers. Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy is the perfect example of character-driven storytelling melded with seamless world-building (it also made us cry like babies). We defy anyone to read A Monster Calls and not be haunted by it forever.

China Mieville: Another master world-builder, whose imagination is both intimidating and inspiring. In our opinion, the insane imagery in The Scar and the political scope of Iron Council are pretty much unparalleled. Younger readers should try the whimsically dark Un Lun Dun.
Lavie Tidhar: Tidhar’s Osama is a mind-blowing mash-up of alternative history and noir, told with impeccable literary skill (plus, he can also be very funny). His output is staggering.

Cat Hellisen: Cat Hellisen’s cliché-busting debut, When the Sea is Rising Red, set in the brilliantly realised Hobverse, is marketed as YA, although it’s the perfect example of a crossover novel. Another world-builder extraordinaire, and a massive talent. We can’t wait for her next novel, Beastmaster, to come out.