Mickey Spillane
Oh yeah, I was one of the first guys writing comic books, I wrote Captain America, with guys like Stan Lee, who became famous later on with Marvel Comics.Collection: Famous
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.Collection: Knowledge
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.
Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.
See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.
Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.
I read all the time... I read a lot of history books.
Critics themselves, they used to tear me up.
I know an awful lot of Hollywood people, who are so self-important, I can't understand it.
I played in a movie called Ring of Fear with Clyde Beatty and Pat O'Brien.
I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulps, then downhill further to the comics.
I try to stay in good physical shape, I don't smoke, I don't drink.
I wrote the original Mike Hammer as a comic, Mike Danger.
I'm 82 years old, wherever I go everybody knows me, but here's why... I'm a merchandiser, I'm not just a writer, I stay in every avenue you can think of.
I'm a country boy. I hate New York. But that's where things happen, so I use it as a base for stories, I know enough about it. But I have to keep going back there.
If I need something, I'll invent it.
If the public likes you, you're good.
Imagine this guy hits Mike Hammer over the head with a wooden coathanger and knocks him out. You hit Mike Hammer over the head with a wooden coathanger, he'll beat the crap out of you.
My father was Catholic, my mother was Protestant, and because of that I got Christened in both churches, so I've got all these names... but my Dad always called me Mick.
Now I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am.
Stephen King. Now I'm not crazy about him, but he's a great a writer.
Victor Saville was bad news because he wanted money just to do one big picture.
Where I am they can smell out a hurricane. My house survived Hurricane Hazel, but it didn't get past Hugo.
The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.Collection: Book
Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.Collection: Beer
The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.Collection: Inspirational
Inspiration is an empty bank account.Collection: Inspiration
Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.Collection: Caviar
I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.Collection: Names
I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.Collection: Fans
I don't like people. I don't like any kind of people. When you get them together in a big lump they all get nasty and dirty and full of trouble. So I don't like people including you. That's what a misanthropist is.Collection: Dirty
If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.Collection: Literature
No one likes my books except the public.Collection: Book
Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.Collection: Book
The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book.Collection: Book
I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead.Collection: World
I dont like any of them, because they don't read the books. In Kiss Me Deadly my story is better than his story. Anthony Quinn played in The Lond Wait and he didn't read the book either.Collection: Book
I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.Collection: Hair