NEW YORK -- With a career spanning 37 years and 31 books, it's no surprise that best-selling author David Morrell has been named 2009 Thriller Master by International Thriller Writers Inc.
"It's a wonderful organization," said Morrell. "They told me [about the award] and naturally I was really overwhelmed."
It will be a busy week for Morrell, whose debut novel was "First Blood," the book that introduced the world to Rambo. His latest novel, "The Shimmers," debuts July 7, and on Saturday, July 11, he will be presented the Thriller Master award by fellow author and last year's Thriller Master Sandra Brown in Manhattan as part of ThrillerFest.
"David Morrell was one of my idols and is one of my favorite friends," said Jon Land, author and vice president of marketing for ITW. "If there wasn't a David Morrell, there may not have been a Dan Brown, there may not have been a James Patterson. [He] invented the genre I write in. [His] work changed fiction for ever."
Morrell, 66, of New Mexico, knew he wanted to be a writer after watching a television series called "Route 66" when he was a teenager.
"It was two young men in a corvette convertible driving across the United States," he said. "[They] were in search of America and in search of themselves. I was 17 at the time and very much related to their quest."
It was the dialogue and the script of the show that grabbed Morrell's attention. He noticed that several episodes were written by the same person, Stirling Silliphant.
"I went to my local library and I asked the librarian if they could get me an address for Screen Gems," he said. "I wrote Stirling a hand-written letter that basically said 'I want to be you.'"
That was the beginning of what would be a life-long friendship between the two writers. Silliphant even served as executive producer on the 1989 NBC miniseries adaptation of Morrell's "The Brotherhood of the Rose."
"I want to influence people the way he influenced me," Morrell said.
As a young child whose father had died in World War II and whose mother was unable to work and take care of him, Morrell was put into an orphanage. Eventually, his mother remarried and Morrell was subjected to much fighting.
"I had a very troubled childhood. I used to sleep under the bed," he said. "In that atmosphere of fear, I took refuge in thrillers. I just became addicted to thrilling stories that allowed me to be distracted."
Morrell said it makes a lot of sense that he would gravitate toward this genre when writing. He gave up a career as a tenured professor of American literature at the University of Iowa to write full time 14 years after his first book was published.
"As an adult and professor, I can look at thrillers in a different way now," he said, adding that aside from the story itself, he can see the themes and techniques in the genre similar to the literature he taught.
Thrillers aren't the only books bearing Morrell's name.
In 1999, he was asked to write an essay on dialogue.
"I never thought about writing on writing," he said. "I found a tone as if I were talking directly to the author. The editor of that volume said 'I had so much fun with this. Why don't you write a whole book on this?'"
And so Morrell did. "Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft" was published in 2002 and "The Successful Novelist" in 2008.
Another nonfiction work that has special meaning to Morrell is "Fireflies: A Father's Tale of Love and Loss," a reflection of the death of his son at age 15 of bone cancer.
"My life experience sort of dictates what I should write," Morrell said.
Morrell holds the distinction of being the creator of one of five characters -- Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, James Bond, Harry Potter and Rambo -- that transcend the books in which they were introduced.
"To create a character that is the category with the others is amazing," he said. "Rambo has become so much a part of the culture. Even today it's still being used; it's a word in the dictionary. When I hear it mentioned, it takes about two seconds to register that I am associated with that guy.
"I often call myself Rambo's father. He's like my child, so to speak. It's like watching an offspring grow up," he added.
Morrell's novels are known for introducing new concepts or ways of writing to the genre.
"David Morrell is constantly redesigning the genre and stretching the boundaries of fiction," said Land.
He is credited for introducing the first real-time novel, "Creepers," where every second is documented to the point where the audio book takes eight hours to listen to, the exact time frame of the story.
"I decided to write a book in which every breath of every instance was dramatized," he said.
He is also known for breaking out of the then-traditional three-action scenes formula, as well as merging the British and American spy novels into a new format.
Morrell said he likes to challenge himself both as a writer and a person through his work.
"I write a letter to myself at the start of every new project in which I answer the question 'Why is this project worth a year of my life?'" he said.
Morrell takes research for his books seriously. He has been trained in firearms, hostage negotiation, assumed identities, executive producer and anti-terrorist driving. He even spent two years getting a private pilot's license in his effort to research aerial sequences.
He will be sharing some of his knowledge as he leads workshops and will be featured on a panel as part of ThrillerFest.
"I just love going there. It's a lot of fun and I always learn a lot, even with my experience," he said.
Any fans of Morrell's or other thriller writers are encouraged to attend.
"We want readers to be at the event," he said, adding that he and other authors will be available to the fans throughout ThrillerFest.
For more information on David Morrell, visit www.davidmorrell.net. "The Shimmers" (Vanguard Press, $25.95) will be available in bookstores and online July 7. For information on ThrillerFest, visit www.thrillerfest.com.
