Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we continue with the two authors I’ve read 9 times.

Michael Jan Friedman

Known primarily for licensed works, Friedman first entered my world in 1990, thanks to a trio of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels.  There were another two in 1992 and then he reappeared in 1996 with another trio of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman tie-ins.  That was it until he reappeared on my radar earlier this year, with yet another Next Gen entry.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years, but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, five entries of the series have been released.  Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, a number of those books have been republished as well, four of which I’ve read over the past 2 years.