Who Actually wrote this YA book?

Jessicagardener · Apr 23, 2009

My boyfriend read it that is an unusual event in itself to have Simon read something. He loved it and asked me to read it. At first I thought typical teen boys book, Alex Rider, Young James Bond, but this was different.
Fledgling Jason Steed is almost real. Never before would you read where the teen hero is actually put over his father’s knee. Jason Steed actually cries when he is hurt. So the original story is different to say the least, I was fascinated by it and wanted more.
That's when things became murky. Who wrote it? Well it says on the cover Mark A Cooper. This unknown guy has his own website, BUT if you search Anthony Horowitz and also put in the word Jason Steed you will come up with at least 50 sites all saying he wrote it under a pen name.
Even many of the reviews on Amazon claim it, by Horowitz fans.
www.goodreads.com even has a group called 'Jason Steed by Anthony Horowitz' they have been running for with the story for months.

How can I find out? MySpace has an Anthony Horowitz fan site with a picture of the cover of Jason Steed and if you become a friend shows the Jason Steed book video.

Why do authors have pen names? I noticed Stephen King did and he even produced a fake picture of the faux author.
Does anyone know why is it done?

Claudia Gray · Apr 23, 2009

What is murky about this? It seems clear from the evidence given that Mark Cooper is a pseudonym for Anthony Horowitz. People choose pseudonyms for a variety of reasons; it's a fairly ordinary practice.

Lisa Schroeder · Apr 23, 2009

Here are some of the reasons:

They write in different genres and don't want, for example, kids who read their books to the go and see they also write sexy romance novels.

They are trying to establish a "brand" with certain kinds of books and when they branch out from that brand, they decide it's best to go with a different name.

They have weird family members who might park on their lawn demanding money if they knew they were a published author.

They simply want to protect their privacy.

I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of??

wandergirl · Apr 23, 2009

If you want to be even more confused, read The Princess Bride.

Kathleen42 · Apr 23, 2009

wandergirl said:
If you want to be even more confused, read The Princess Bride.

I'm pretty sure there's an entire corner of hell in which eternity is spent trying to explain to people that S. Morgenstern does not really exist.

I once overheard someone say that they really wanted to read the original text because they felt WG's "adaptation" was not respectful to the source.

Momento Mori · Apr 23, 2009

Jessicagardener:
Does anyone know why is it done?

For the reasons that other people have said above but also because sometimes an author will find that they are able to produce more than one book for publication each year, but publishers will not necessarily want to publish 2+ books under the same author name in case the market 'tires' of that author. In that situation it makes sense for an author to produce an additional book under a pseudonym in order to continue generating income. I believe that Nora Roberts is one such author who does this.

MM

wandergirl · Apr 23, 2009

Kathleen42 said:
I once overheard someone say that they really wanted to read the original text because they felt WG's "adaptation" was not respectful to the source.

That is absolutely incredible. I love it.

Shinryu · Apr 23, 2009

Kathleen42 said:
I once overheard someone say that they really wanted to read the original text because they felt WG's "adaptation" was not respectful to the source.

Oh, dear. People really need to look things up more often.

Kathleen42 · Apr 24, 2009

Shinryu said:
Oh, dear. People really need to look things up more often.

Or just, you know, think things through. I can understand not realizing it if you've only seen the movie but how could you not realize it after reading the book?

ElsaM · Apr 24, 2009

I read the book as a teenager and didn't realise that S Morgenstern was made up. And I only found out the truth a year or two ago, so I guess that makes me pretty naive

bonitakale · Apr 25, 2009

ElsaM said:
I read the book as a teenager and didn't realise that S Morgenstern was made up. And I only found out the truth a year or two ago, so I guess that makes me pretty naive

My daughter also read it as a teenager, and had the same reaction. Sometimes, you just believe the author. It may be a little naive, but in a charming way.

Julie Worth · Apr 25, 2009

Why would Anthony Horowitz use a pen name? Perhaps because Fledgling was vanity published as a POD. Perhaps because the writing is terrible (judging by the one excerpt I was able to find), and he didn't want to damage the rep of his other books while still making money from die hard fans.

dawinsor · Apr 25, 2009

Kathleen42 said:
I once overheard someone say that they really wanted to read the original text because they felt WG's "adaptation" was not respectful to the source.

Yeah, I once heard someone comment on how amazing it was that I, Claudius had survived for 2000 years. I had to break the news about Robert Graves.

Who Actually wrote this YA book?

Jessicagardener

Claudia Gray

Lisa Schroeder

wandergirl

~kirsten hubbard

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned

wandergirl

~kirsten hubbard

Shinryu

Bad With Names

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

ElsaM

lurker extraordinaire

bonitakale

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor