Who is your Favorite AMERICAN Author?

Sometimes it’s hard to remember which authors were born in the US (or in the colonies before independence) and which weren’t. I was about to add William Blake to the blog header image and realized I should check on that one. Nope, way English. Anyway, who is your favorite American author?

If you’ve seen any of my videos, you can probably guess that Edgar Allen Poe is my favorite. I love the colonial/romantic period of American literature in general. The dark, gothic themes, clever twists, brilliant imagery, and captivating melodrama. Poe was one of the best at each of those things. Might as well add Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Washington Irving, and Mark Twain (depending on where you slot him in literary periods) to my list of favorites.

The Colonial/Romantic period of American Literature (when considered one unit) have come to define American writing. The short story became a dominant form of writing during this time, and for good reason. British authors had demonstrated their mastery of the novel as an art form, and Americans had that rebellious attitude that continues all through today. You could say short stories are as American as apple pie, not because Americans were the first to make them, but rather because they made them their own.

I have written a couple of short stories in my time, but not many. It’s not like every American writer is good at short stories. I prefer the novel as a format because it’s difficult to keep a story short. Someday I will publish my short stories and see where that takes me. There’s only two that are actually worth reading; one about a guilt-ridden man who finds himself the captive of a scarred stranger, and the other about a lonely astronaut unraveling an AI mystery before his time runs out.

But, back to the classics. I plan to upload some videos of myself reading a few of my favorite American short stories, and maybe even a few English ones. If you have any requests, reach out to me and let me know. That, or leave a comment on whatever social media platform you found this post on.