RIP Elmore Leonard

kobold

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Bradbury last year, Richard Matheson and Barbara Mertz and now Leonard this year. Is this what the end of an era looks like?

If you haven't read it, E.L.'s THE MOONSHINE WAR is an offbeat, fun, slim little potboiler (but something more than that, too). A film version is interesting, but stiff.

Seems to me his great gift was understatement. A lack of pretense.

r.i.p.
 

TapperJohn

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Gone but not forgotten. People will be enjoying his work many years from now.

It's close as a human being can approach immortality. That and doing something worth writing about.

Was never a fan, but my stock of novels to read is depleted. Time to give him a try and support his legacy, eh?
 

Mclesh

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Ah, sad news. Loved Maximum Bob. His books are so easy to read. They have that effortless feel that we know is not easy to achieve.

RIP, Elmore
 

Chase

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Such a storyteller and teacher gone too soon. :ily:, Elmore.
 

guttersquid

I agree with Roxxsmom.
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I owe the man so much. It is true that if not for him, I probably would not be a writer. The first E.L. book I read was Raylan, because I love the TV show Justified so much. That book changed my life.
 

WeaselFire

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I grew up on Elmore Leonard Westerns, and then lost track. Get Shorty was the next book I read and loved and, amazingly, liked the movie version. Most of his other books turned into bad movies. But still good books.

He grew his writing career the old fashioned way - by writing. And, like many of us, didn't even really get noticed until late in his career. He'll be missed.

Jeff
 

HarryHoskins

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Pretty good innings and a great body of work left behind. Leonard's stuff was smart, funny, and so fucking readable - one of the best in his genre in my opinion. He made my life better in little six hour chunks of fictional goodness. Not bad work all round, Elmore. :)
 

gp101

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Learned more from reading EL novels than from reading most how-to books. He fine-tuned his style after novelists like George V. Higgins to create his own unique voice and tone that no one else has been successful to duplicate since. A master who should be taught in every creative writing class in American Universities.