During the Bluesky #bookchallenge, I started thinking about the books my friends and I read back in the 1970s—all those writers of thriller/spy and historical fiction who have since been replaced by another generation of writers. They came to mind after I found old copies of Alistair MacLean’s “South By Java Head,” and Mary Stewart’s “The Hollow Hills.” (Both of which I re-read this year.) Here’s my list of gone-but-not-forgotten writers and some of their titles from 50 years ago. Did I forget anyone? And who has replaced them?

Leon Uris                                (Exodus, QB VII, Trinity)

Alistair Maclean                     (The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra)

Irving Wallace                        (The Prize, The Man, The Word)

Lawrence Sanders                   (The First Deadly Sin)

Robert Ludlum                       (the Bourne series)

James Mitchener                     (The Drifters, Centennial)

Arthur Hailey                          (Airport, Hotel, Wheels)

Mary Stewart                          (The Merlin trilogy)

Helen MacInnes                      (The Venetian Affair, The Salzburg Connection)

Frederick Forsyth                   (Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File) 

Jack Higgins                           (The Eagle Has Landed)

James Clavell                          (Shogun)

Ken Follett                              (Eye of the Needle, The Key to Rebecca)