Michael T. Starks

Category: Heroes

  • Stephen R. Donaldson

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    For one of my classes in seventh or eighth grade, I needed to present a book report. I thought, “Why give a talk about one book when I could give a talk about an entire trilogy of books?” At the time, I was more excited about The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever than any…

  • Martha Wells

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    Martha Wells is the most recent addition to my collection of heroes. This is entirely due to a series of books she has written called The Murderbot Diaries. While I know that she’s written other books, these are the only ones I’ve read so far. It’s been a long time since I’ve read science fiction…

  • Isaac Asimov

    —

    by

    admin
    in , ,

    I’ve read more books by Isaac Asimov than by any other author. Of course, I haven’t even come close to reading all of his books! He’s the first author to make me fall in love with science fiction as a genre. As such, he’s one of my earliest heroes. While I haven’t read any of…

  • Carlos Ruiz Zafon

    —

    by

    admin
    in , ,

    Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of my heroes. I’ve read almost everything he’s written that I’ve been able to find. There is a part of me that loves exotic Gothic and cinematic noir storytelling. Zafon’s books read like movies I would desperately like to see, even knowing they would never do justice to his books.…

  • Michael Lewis has a Masterclass!

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    I love to learn! It’s one of the reasons that I keep a Masterclass membership active. Today, I discovered that Michael Lewis, one of my favorite authors, has a new masterclass. I haven’t delved into it yet. I’m too busy with my own projects to take a learning break. However, I’m incredibly excited to take…

  • Paul Dirac

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, is another one of my heroes. He helped formulate quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He even helped establish the foundations of quantum field theory. One of the things that impresses me most about Dirac is that he developed a powerful bra-ket notation for expressing quantum phenomena. The…

  • Billy Joel

    —

    by

    admin
    in

    Recently, maybe in 2019, I got to see Billy Joel perform live, and It was a great show! He’s still one of my heroes. The reason that I’m writing this post today is that I just stumbled upon a YouTube video of Billy Joel listing his five favorite Billy Joel songs for Stephen Colbert. For…

  • William Shakespeare

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    Is William Shakespeare the most extraordinary playwright the world has ever known? I’m tempted to say “yes”. And he has been one of my heroes for a long time. Unfortunately, I’m not able to recount the exact details of my relationship with Shakespeare. What follows is my best guess. In grade school, my class went…

  • Victor Hugo

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    My all-time favorite fiction author is Victor Hugo. So, of course, he’s one of my heroes. While I can’t be certain, here’s how I think I found out about him. I didn’t learn about the musical version of Les Miserables until I was in college (probably in 1989). I initially listened to some of the…

  • Jack McDevitt

    —

    by

    admin
    in ,

    Let me begin by saying that Jack McDevitt is not my favorite author. He’s not even my favorite science fiction author. Still, he’s one of my heroes. Here’s why. He writes fascinating mystery stories that happen to take place in a well-realized future for humanity that I would like to see. Yes, I would like…