Edgar Rice Burroughs: How He Went From Snake Oil Peddler to Late-Blooming Media Mogul
Edgar Rice Burroughs was a rich kid who failed at every venture he started—until he created a wild man named Tarzan.
Novelists
Lee Child: Fired at 40 and World Famous by 50. Is His Legend Real?
According to Lee Child’s official biography, he was downsized at age 40, spent six bucks on a pencil and pad, and wrote an international bestseller in a year. Was it really that easy?
Lilian Jackson Braun: A Late-Blooming Author and Her Fabulous Feline Detective
Lilian Jackson Braun published her first “A Cat Who…” mystery at 53. Publishers rejected her fourth installment because it lacked sex and violence. But she prevailed!
Madeleine L’Engle: Why Her Beloved Novel A Wrinkle In Time Almost Wasn’t Published
Madeleine L’Engle was over 40 when she wrote her beloved children’s book. A Wrinkle in Time. Twenty-six publishers rejected it, so she put it in a drawer. Why did they find it so difficult?
Anne R. Allen: How She Turned a Publishing Fiasco into Hilarious Late-Blooming Fiction
When all seemed lost, author Anne R. Allen landed a publishing contract that included digs in an old mill near Sherwood Forest! But it turned out less than legendary…
Lew Wallace: The Victorian Forrest Gump Who Wrote Ben-Hur
Lew Wallace was the 19th century’s real-life Forrest Gump: Savior of a president, advisor to a sultan, scourge of an outlaw named Billy the Kid. And at age 53, he wrote Ben-Hur.