David Morrell: biography, books and reviews

There is hardly a person who does not see the sensational film "Rambo". This action movie just broke into the world screens. If you look at it objectively, then at that time it was a significant, it is possible to say, revolutionary step in the cinema. The film raised issues of rehabilitation of war veterans, their war-torn worldview and psychology. As you know, people who have gone through such trials are very hard to adapt to normal life.

The film is based on David Morrell's book The First Blood. To declare openly about the problems and irreparable destruction that the war can bring at a time when riots around the country are related to the Vietnam War - on the part of the author, it was a bold move.

David Morrell: Biography

David was born in Kitchener (Ontario) on April 24, 1943. His father, a military pilot, died right after the birth of his son. The mother remarried, and the son became a burden to the new family. David was sent to a shelter. The childhood of David, like any child who grew up in a shelter, was difficult. But he found an outlet in the books. Then he decided for himself that he would become a writer.

In the mid-60s, David Morrell came to the United States to study philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. If in childhood David lacked a father or a person who could replace him, now he had two such people at once. The first is Philip Young, an expert in American literature, and the second is writer William Tenn. It was they who taught Morrell the basics of writing skills.

David defended his thesis, and a little later he became a doctor of philosophy. Then he taught American literature at the University of Iowa. Combining writing with teaching became increasingly difficult. Practically the seven-day regime was exhausting, it was hard to work at such a pace. And he leaves the university - since 1986, David Morrell is fully committed to literary work.

Unexplained pain

It was a very difficult time for the whole family. Matthew, David's son, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer - Ewing's sarcoma. Huge tumors, permanent hospitals, chemotherapy, and a year later in the family of David is a tragedy - a fifteen-year-old Matthew dies. At the same time, David Morrell has already agreed to the third part of Rambo.

All that is happening - experiences, pain of close people, impotence before the disease, of course, could not pass without a trace. Tragic events of personal life are reflected in the book "Fireflies" and the novel "Extreme measures."

Wanting to change the situation, David and his family moved to New Mexico, the city of Santa Fe, where they still live.

Birth of the idea

At that time, there was a war in Vietnam. But our hero had no idea about this until he met the students who had been there. In 1968, the main television news in Canada were stories about the war in Vietnam. And hundreds of riots erupted in American cities.

As David says, he began to think that the image of war and unrest is not much different. Then the idea arose to write about the return of the veteran of Vietnam, who brings the war to the United States.

"Father Rambo"

Roman introduced the readers to Rambo, who soon became one of the most iconic characters, along with Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Tarzan. Rambo is mentioned daily in conversations and in the media. The word was entered into the Oxford Dictionary. Astrophysics refers to this group of groups of dead stars. The word Rambo has become an integral part of world culture.

As David Morrell says, when he signs the copies of the book, he often signs the autograph "Father Rambo". And it's true, as if the son he grew up, and he went in an unexpected direction for the author. It was a resounding success. But it is impossible to predict the fate of a character or a book. David often catches himself thinking that he is trying to remember how he created Rambo.

The book's debut

David's novel The First Blood was released in 1972. In it the author tells about all those things that happened in the late 60's, in particular about mass riots and student demonstrations. The hero of the book returned from fighting in Vietnam with a strong post-traumatic stress and brought the war to America. Subsequently, the psychology, dynamics and rigidity characteristic of this novel will become the hallmarks of many of the writer's novels.

The debut of novels often passes unnoticed. But David says that he was lucky, as many magazines and newspapers gave enthusiastic reviews of the book. Soon the film studio acquired the rights to film adaptation. The novel was translated into 26 languages, text from it was used by teachers of schools and colleges. So, Stephen King taught a creative writing at the University of Maine, and this was one of two texts that Stephen used in lectures. Even after four decades, the novel continues to be published.

Endless success

Success was gained by all the books of Morella - militants and thrillers, "gothic" novels and detectives. In his first works, David did not even touch on the topic of espionage. The heroes of his works are a journalist who saves the family ("The Trial"), a soldier of the war of 1916 between the USA and Mexico ("The Last Wake"), a policeman who defends his city from something terrible ("Totem"). But in 1984, the light saw a spy thriller from David Morrell - "Brotherhood of the Rose", which brought the author a great success. And then there are "League Night and Fog" and "Brotherhood of the Stone." In addition, David Morrell, author of the novel "The First Blood", at the request of the producers returns to writing scenarios about Rambo.

Literary Activity

In recent decades, increasingly in his work refers to science fiction David Morrell. Books that have gained immense popularity among readers - novels "The Fifth Profession", "Double Image", "Gothic Rio Grande" and several short stories. By the way, two of them were awarded the Brack Stoker prize. Another such award was given to David for the novel "Scouts".

Among the works of David is the original Christmas story The Hundred-Year Christmas, and graphic novels. Also David is the author of articles, reviews, tests and reviews in numerous publications. The books were translated into 30 languages and the world sold 18 million copies.

Latest News

One of the latest novels, written by David Morrell, is the Inspector of the Dead. The book is no less exciting than the well-known novel about Rambo. True, the scene here is somewhat different - Victorian England. David Morrell creates his work, exploring the time when the detective's work was just beginning to be a special profession. But the most important thing in the novel is, of course, the detective's personality. He is the author of sensational articles, a master to investigate crimes, unravel the complex puzzles of Thomas de Quincy.

In the series of books about the detective Thomas de Quincey, the author describes this elderly, slightly distracted person beautifully . Not every writer can so gracefully reveal the character of a person, the character traits necessary for detective investigations, as did David Morrell (Inspector of the Dead) in his novel.

Reviews about this book are still few, but it is already clear that the novel captures just like the first book of the cycle. Readers in their reviews write that it's not just a thrilling story of a detective. But the historical side of the work is well illustrated - the description of Victorian England, interesting little-known facts and references, various aspects of life and social phenomena of England of that era.

Awards and Prizes

And finally, we list the awards and prizes received by the popular author:

• 1984 - Fantasy Award for The Hundred-Year Christmas (1983).
• 1986 - Fantasy Award - The Tale of the "Dead Copy" (1985).
• 1988 - Stoker prize for the story "Orange for pain, blue for insanity" (1988).
• 1991 - Stoker prize for the story "Beautiful unshaved hair of graves" (1991).
• 1992 - Stoker prize for the story "Columbarium" (1992).
• 1992 - Stoker's award for the story Nothing Will Hurt You (1992).
• 2005 - Stoker prize - The novel "Scouts" (2006).
• 2010 - "Black Pen" - a publicistic work Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads (2010).

As you can see, the works of a talented writer do not remain invaluable. And we hope that this will spur those who have not read them yet, pick up the book and plunge into the amazing world of David Morrell.