Hans Christian Anderson ruined his friendship with Charles Dickens by inviting himself to his house and staying five weeks. He complained about the weather and service (no one would shave him), cut paper into weird shapes, and he lay down on the lawn and wept when his book got a bad review. 10
Stephen King didn’t tell his kids…
Stephen King didn’t tell his kids bedtime stories; he made them tell him stories. 00
When Joseph Heller was asked why he hadn’t ever…
When Joseph Heller was asked why he hadn’t ever written anything as good as Catch-22 since, his reply was that neither has anyone else.
Author and comic book writer Joe Hill was so determined…
Author and comic book writer Joe Hill was so determined to keep it a secret that he was Stephen King’s son, his own agent didn’t know for 10 years.
A writer was upset with an online review of his book…
A writer was upset with an online review of his book, so he traveled to Scotland, hunted down the reviewer, went to the store she worked at, and hit her in the back of the head with a wine bottle.
Frankenstein author Mary Shelley kept her dead husband…
Frankenstein author Mary Shelley kept her dead husband’s heart and carried it with her for almost 30 years until she died in 1851. It was found in a desk drawer a year later, wrapped in a copy of one of his final poems.
A Pan-Am flight crashed in the Syrian desert, killing fourteen passengers…
A Pan-Am flight crashed in the Syrian desert, killing fourteen passengers. Two crew survived – one of the two was the co-pilot, named Gene Roddenberry. He was so disturbed by the crash that he quit to become a writer, and shortly after he created Star Trek.
While attending Oxford, J.R.R. Tolkien once stole…
While attending Oxford, J.R.R. Tolkien once stole a city bus and took his friends on a joy ride.
Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was so talkative…
Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was so talkative that on a two hour car ride the rest of his family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation. He did not, talking nonstop through the entire car ride.
South African scientists have discovered that 400-year-old tobacco…
South African scientists have discovered that 400-year-old tobacco pipes excavated from the garden of William Shakespeare contained cannabis, suggesting the playwright might have written some of his famous works while high.