Authors often publish their books under pseudonyms. This is done for a variety of reasons, both personal and professional. (It's a topic that I've written about before.) Sometimes the writer's real identity is a secret (John Twelve Hawks), sometimes it's not (Richard Hawke).
I don't know if this was supposed to be secret, or if he just didn't make a big deal out of it. But it turns out that one of my favorite writers, and someone I've known for a few years now, is actually someone else!
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal revealed that Lee Child, author of the brilliant new bestselling thriller The Hard Way, is not really Lee Child. He's James Grant. He assumed the name Lee Child when he began his publishing career -- a fresh name for a fresh start.
This brings up an interesting question: Do I keep calling him "Lee"? I would imagine so -- it would be even odder to start referring to him as James.
Publishing, as always, is a very strange business.
