Literary Figures: Novelists

Writer Robert Ludlum. His thrillers, all instant bestsellers, include The Osterman Weekend, The Aquitaine Progression and The Matarese Circle. His latest is titled The Icarus Agenda and places American hostages in the Mideast at the center of a superpower standoff. Ludlum is a former actor and theatrical producer who was 40 when he decided to try his hand at writing.

Writer Gloria Naylor. Her novels, Linden Hills and the recent Mama Day create a world in which blacks achieve success at the expense of their own history and identity. Naylor's first work, The Women of Brewster Place, won the 1983 American Book Award for First Fiction.

Rita Mae Brown, author of the classic feminist novels Rubyfruit Jungle and Southern Discomfort. Her other novels include High Hearts and Six of One. Her latest work, Starting From Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual, shares with writers her own tips and techniques.

David Aaron, former deputy director of the National Security Council. His experience as an arms negotiator in the Carter administration provides the background for State Scarlet, his novel about terrorism and nuclear weapons.

Novelist and translator Richard Lourie. His new novel is titled Zero Gravity and follows his successful debut First Loyalty. Lourie has been closely involved with the Russian and Polish underground intelligentsia and the emigre communities in America.

Canadian author Jane Rule, one of the best known and most widely read lesbian writers. Rule is best known for her 1985 novel Desert of the Heart, which was later adapted into the movie "Desert Hearts." Her new book is titled Memory Board.

Novelist Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, Something Happened and No Laughing Matter, his 1985 account of being stricken with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological disease in which the peripheral nervous system is attacked. Within two weeks of the first symptoms, Heller could hardly breathe or swallow. It took him two years to relearn his basic motor functions. Heller's best known work is still his first, Catch 22, a satire of the military bureaucracy and the madness of war.

Fiction and science writer David Quammen. His column "Natural Acts" appears regularly in Outside Magazine. His new collection of short stories is called Blood Line, and his second collection of science essays will be published soon.

Detective writer Charles Willeford. His novels have earned him a cult following in the genre. He's now being discovered by a wider audience as his earlier novels are being re-issued in paperback. A new novel is about to be published, as well as an autobiography about his years on the road as hobo during the Depression.

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. He has written many novels, is currently teaching at Harvard, once served as Mexico's ambassador to France and used to be considered an "undesirable alien" and was denied a visa by the U.S. government.