Flash Writing Tips - Raymond Benson
Profound tips and exercises to take your writing to the next level
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The author of 30+ published books,
Raymond Benson is the author of the acclaimed "
Black Stiletto" saga that began with THE
BLACK STILETTO in
2011 and continued with THE BLACK STILETTO: BLACK & WHITE (
2012), THE BLACK STILETTO:
STARS & STRIPES (
2013), and THE BLACK STILETTO: SECRETS & LIES (2014). He is mostly known for being commissioned by the
James Bond literary copyright holders between 1996-2002 to take over writing the
007 novels. In total he penned and published worldwide six original 007 novels, three film novelizations, and three short stories. An anthology of his 007 work, THE
UNION TRILOGY, was published in the fall of 2008, and a second anthology,
CHOICE OF
WEAPONS, appeared summer
2010. His book THE JAMES
BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION, an encyclopedic work on the 007 phenomenon, was first published in
1984 and was nominated for an
Edgar Allan Poe Award by
Mystery Writers of America for
Best Biographical/
Critical Work.
Using the pseudonym "
David Michaels,"
Raymond is also the author of the
NY Times best-selling books
TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER
CELL and its sequel TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL—OPERATION BARRACUDA. Raymond's original suspense novels include
EVIL HOURS,
FACE BLIND, SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS (which won the
Readers' Choice Award for Best
Thriller of
2006 at the
Love is Murder Conference for Authors, Readers and Publishers), TORMENT, and ARTIFACT OF EVIL.
A HARD DAY'S
DEATH, a "rock 'n' roll thrillers," was published in 2008, and its sequel, DARK
SIDE OF THE MORGUE, published in
March 2009 and nominated for a
Shamus Award for Best Paperback
Original P.I.
Novel. Also published in 2008 was the novelization of the popular videogame,
METAL GEAR SOLID; its sequel, METAL
GEAR SOLID 2—SONS OF LIBERTY, was published in the fall of 2009. With
John Milius, Raymond penned HOMEFRONT: THE
VOICE OF
FREEDOM (2011). HITMAN: DAMNATION was published in 2012
.
In the late
1980s and first half of the 90s, Raymond worked as a computer game designer for various companies. For his work in this field he is the recipient of the Newsweek
Editors'
Choice Award, the
Parents Choice Award for
Excellence, and two
Digital Hollywood Awards. Raymond also spent over a decade in
New York City, directing numerous stage productions off-off-Broadway and composing music for many other shows. Raymond has taught courses in film genres and history at
New York's New School for Social Research,
Harper College in
Palatine, Illinois,
College of DuPage in
Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and currently presents
Film Studies lectures with
Daily Herald movie critic Dann Gire. Raymond has been honored in
Naoshima,
Japan, with the erection of a permanent museum dedicated to one of his novels (see article), and he is also an
Ambassador for Japan's
Kagawa Prefecture. Raymond is an active member of
International Thriller Writers Inc., Mystery Writers of America, the
International Association of
Media Tie-In
Writers, a full member of
ASCAP, and served on the
Board of Directors of The
Ian Fleming Foundation for sixteen years. He is based in the
Chicago area.