Literary Heroes

Over at Crime Fiction Dossier, there is a discussion of literary heroes. I posted my reply, which I am reposting here:

My favs, living and dead, are these (in no particular order):

George Pelecanos (for Hard Revolution and Derek Strange trilogy)*
Dennis Lehane (for Mystic River and Darkness, Take My Hand)*
Richard Aleas (for Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence)
Ernest Hemingway (for For Whom the Bells Toll and short fiction)
Hammett (for The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man)
Chandler (for Philip Marlowe)
Elmore Leonard (for westerns, Out of Sight, and the Carl Webster stories)
J. D. Robb (for Eve Dallas' saga)
Ken Bruen (for The Guards and The Dramatist)
David McCullough (for Truman, John Adams, 1776)
Michael Chabon (for Yiddish Policeman's Union and his love for great stories)
J. K. Rowling (for Harry Potter; bonus to )
Stephen King (for Green Mile, The Stand, Salem's Lot, Bag of Bones)
Orson Scott Card (for Ender's Game)
Max Collins and Charles Ardai (for Hard Case Crime)
Ted Chiang (for literate SF)
C. S. Lewis (for Narnia)
J. R. R. Tolkien (for The Lord of the Rings)
Timothy Zahn (for his Star Wars "Thrawn" trilogy)
Carlos Ruiz Zafon (for The Shadow of the Wind)
Jim Dale (for his audiobook readings of the Harry Potter stories)
Scott Brick and Jonathan Davis (for their audiobook readings that bring books to life)
Ian Fleming (for James Bond...the books)
Doris Kearns Goodwin (for her history books and on-screen insights)
David Brooks (for his social books and his NY Time columns)
Peggy Noonan (for her graceful eloquence with words every Friday at WSJ)
Jonathan Franzen (for The Corrections and How to Be Alone)

*Bonus points for writing on HBO's "The Wire," arguably the best-written show on television. Ever.

What are yours?