Michael Crichton

I've always enjoyed the late Michael Crichton's work and was recently thrilled to learn that he wrote a number of books early in his career under pen names. These books will soon be available as eBooks, and I'll likely read many, if not all of them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/michael-crichton-novels-out-of-print-ebooks

I admired Crichton's ability to write a plausible, interesting thriller around any subject he found interesting. You can tell that he wrote what he was interested in, researched it thoroughly, and usually could build a compelling, 'for the masses' story around a given concept, historical subject or technology. Too bad we lost him at such a young age.

He is the author I'd like most to emulate- I wouldn't want to be stuck in one genre. Starting out, it may be smart to use pen names as brands within particular genres, giving one the ability to 'break' into various genres while satisfying the market's need to pigeonhole. It is a rare popular author that can avoid that fate and cross genres with equal success.