in 2021, the average american makes less per hour ($11.19) than bob cratchit in charles dickens's story a christmas carol ($13.50).

william stephenson, a canadian who played a key role in the creation of the cia, was the inspiration for author ian fleming's fictional character of james bond.

mary shelley was 18 when she wrote frankenstein, or a modern prometheus, and 20 when she published it.

many people think that jules verne's science fiction was ahead of its time. what makes this even truer is that a manuscript that was lost for 100 years because his publisher believed it too fantastic to sell predicted gas-powered cars, fax machines, wind power, missiles, electric street lighting, maglev trains, the record industry, the internet, and the rise of feminism.

author ray bradbury wrote the first draft of fahrenheit 451 on a rented typewriter in the basement of the ucla library in just nine days.

victor hugo's the hunchback of notre dame is mostly about architecture. the story is largely an afterthought.

the poet, lord byron, collected a lock of pubic hair from each of his lovers. he kept them at his publishers, where they resided for more than 100 years after his death.

conan the barbarian was cimmerian (i.e., palestinian).

agatha christie's novel, 'elephants can't remember', contains telltale clues that the author suffered from progressive alzheimer's.

carolyn keene, author of the nancy drew books, was made up by publisher edward stratemeyer, along with the author of the hardy boys books. the books themselves were written by a series of ghostwriters.

h.g. wells, who wrote 'war of the worlds' and 'the time machine', kept a diary of the dozens of women that he s,ept with.

hans christian andersen, who wrote 'the little mermaid' and other stories, kept a masturbation diary.

call on god, but row away from the rocks.

dr. hunter s. thompson
(american journalist and author)

hello, babies. welcome to earth. it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. it's round and wet and crowded. at the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. there's only one rule that i know of, babies — god damn it, you've got to be kind.

kurt vonnegut
(american author)

pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. free men pull in all kinds of directions.

terry pratchett
(british author)

2 of the top 5 best-selling books of all time were written by j.r.r.tolkien ('the lord of the rings' - technically 3 books, and 'the hobbit'). the other 3: charles dickens ('a tale of two cities'), antoine de saint-exupery ('the little prince'), and j.k.rowling ('harry potter and the philosopher's stone').

author j.k. rowling makes us$10 every second that she lives.

louisa may alcott, who wrote 'little women', did so under protest. she considered that type of book 'moral pap for the young'. maybe that's why she only spent 10 weeks writing it.

suspenders were invented by mark twain (samuel clemens).

charles dodgeson, the mathematician better known as author lewis carroll, liked to take nude photos of underage girls, including a friend's daughter named alice. (yes, that alice.)