Introduction

Stephen Hunter is a Pulitzer-prize winning newspaperman who writes movie reviews for the Washington Post - by day. By night, he writes some of the greatest and most under-sung novels in American literature.

It was these novels that first drew my attention to Hunter about ten years ago, but when I searched the Internet to learn what I could about him, there wasn't much there. And what was there was scattered hither and yon, through dozens of different web locations.

I was just learning to create websites back then, and Hunter seemed like an interesting topic. So I put this site together (in considerably more primitive form than you see). Eventually, the attention I garnered included an occasional note from Stephen Hunter himself, and we finally met over dinner on one of his west coast stops for the Havana book tour in 2003.

At the three-quarters mark for the decade, Hunter's star continues rising. His remarkable novel, Point of Impact, was made into the movie Shooter in 2007 and as of July 4th 2007 is on target to gross $100-million for its producers. Now, after ten years of keeping his distance from the immensly intriguing and charismatic protagonist of Point of Impact (and Shooter) , Hunter's next novel will once again star his archtype American hero Bob Lee Swagger.

The 47th Samurai: A Bob Lee Swagger novel

Hunter shipped me an "advance reader's edition" of the book a week ago. I am on chapter 16 as I take a break to write this, and this baby rocks. There's a little bit of Earl - it's about the relationship Bob Lee develops with the Japanese son of the Japanese officer who failed to stop Earl on Iwo Jima in WWII - and a whole lotta Bob Lee.

Booklist is a magazine of book reviews published by the American Library Association. It is the holy grail of book reviews. The July 1 edition included a review of The 47th Samurai with a star, denoting "a work judged to be outstanding in its genre":

This is the novel Hunter’s fans have been waiting for, the book that brings together his father-and-son protagonists: Earl Swagger, World War II hero and hard-nosed cop, and Bob Lee Swagger, Vietnam sniper and, like his father, the kind of guy who can’t say no to righteous violence. Until now, Earl and Bob have each starred in their own books, but this time, ingeniously, Hunter brings them together when Bob is contacted by a retired Japanese soldier, Philip Yano, who believes that his father’s samurai sword may have wound up in Earl’s hands after the war. Bob tracks down the sword, travels to Japan, and presents it to Yano—after which the Yano family is slaughtered. Bob could walk away, but, of course, he doesn’t.

Throwing himself into samurai culture, he learns swordsmanship from a master and sets off to avenge the Yanos—and, in a sense, his father. Sure, this sounds clichéd, but much of Hunter’s genius comes from his ability to manipulate archetypes—especially the classic western scenario of the lone avenger—drawing on the almost subconscious pull these themes exert on the reader but always infusing them with multiple layers of complexity. As Bob is drawn into the samurai world, and tension builds to the inevitable confrontation with his adversary—a modern samurai seduced by the dark side—Hunter simultaneously fuels our need for bloody resolution and reveals the horrors wrought by devotion to honor and duty. But this time he does it with parallel narratives—juxtaposing the story of Earl Swagger and Philip Yano’s father against the contemporary drama and playing off the same themes across generations.

This is probably Hunter’s most violent novel—and that’s saying something—but violence may have never been more integral to story than it is here. Hunter celebrates the samurai soldier while showing the appalling underside of the samurai way of life and the ideals that drive it.

— Bill Ott

What you'll find on this website

The News section has instances of Hunter or his books in recent media.

Hunter Highlights offers some of Hunter's writings you may not have seen before.

You can suggest a Frequently Asked Question through the email form at the lower left corner of any page.

Interviews gathers some interviews with Hunter from around the web.

The section titled "Comments on Hunter's Novels" is based on Wordpress, and allows unlimited conversation between us fans. In order to leave a message, you will have to register first. This allows me to easily squash spam before it happens. (Thanks to you frequent visitors who stoically discussed Hunter's books through the erectile disfunction and porn ads on my earlier Postnuke-based bulletin board).

Enjoy, and don't be shy with feedback, especially if you have some ideas for improvement.