I enjoy writers who can spin a good yarn or tell a good story. My most recent blog was about Elmer Kelton my favorite Western storyteller. I have many others in different genres.

Some of my other favorites are:
Michael Crichton for science and medical yarns
Robin Cook for medical thrillers
John Grisham for legal thrillers
Robert E. Howard for fantasy
Edgar Allan Poe for the macabre
Arthur Conan Doyle for detective tales and Sherlock Holmes
Ferrol Sams for homespun tales about small towns and ordinary people
David McCullough no yarns but great biographies and history

Of course, the all time great storyteller and spinner of yarns was Mark Twain. He has no match in American Literature.

Today is the birthday of the master of all story telling, William Shakespeare. He also died on his birthday. Even though I don’t always understand his language he is considered the father of story telling outside of the Bible.

Shakespeare had this to say:
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe
And from hour to hour, we rot and rot
And thereby hangs a tale

The tale or yarn is about people and is between their ripening and rotting.

So from the porch, I wish the bard a Happy Birthday!!