The author of The Cuckoo's Calling, published by Mulholland Books on April 30, turns out to be J.K. Rowling, who used the pseudonym Robert Galbraith for the book, revealed yesterday by the Sunday Times in London.
Little, Brown confirmed that Rowling is Galbraith--which was supposedly a pseudonym for a retired British military investigator. A reprint of the book that is underway will add this phrase in the author biography: "Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling."I am also happy to report that here at the BPL we had ordered the book back in late April when it came out based on its positive reviews. It has already circulated 4 times before this news too!
So since this is all anyone can talk about, it got me thinking how I could turn this discussion into a Monday Discussion, and it hit me right away. Let's talk about other famous pseudonyms.
Rowling is not the only famous author who wanted to try something new without people judging it by what he or she wrote previously. Another famous example is Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman.
But from recent times I have two favorites, not because I loved the books (I did like them though as you will see when I link the titles to my reviews), but because they did it for just Rowling's reasons. They were well known in one genre and wanted to write in another. I applaud them for wanting to do something different.
- Psychological Suspense author Peter Abrahams wanted to write a lighter mystery from a dog's point of view. He did, but with the pen name Spencer Quinn. No one knew it was Abrahams and he got fabulous reviews with Dog Gone It. Here's my review.
- Literary Fiction writer John Banville also wanted to try his hand at mysteries, but his were of the historic noir Irish mold under the name Benjamin Black. Here is my review
For past Monday Discussions, click here.
2 comments:
One of my favorites is Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler because he changes his writing style along with his name. I suspect that in some cases (particularly in that of Stephen King) the use of a pen name is a decision made on the part of publishers to avoid market saturation.
I always like the fact that Jayne Ann Krentz uses her name for contemporary romances or romantic suspense but when she uses the name Amanda Quick, she tells a reader the book will have a historical setting and Jayne Castle (her maiden name) writes futuristic/paranomal romance novels. This is an immediate clue for readers wanting to know what type of novel to expect.
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