While the name Stephen King immediately conjures up images of dark undercurrents in the state of Maine, mention Richard Bachman to a horror fan and they're likely to be left scratching their heads. However, the two are the same person.
Likewise, Agatha Christie remains one of the most famous murder-mystery writers in the world, but her lesser known nom de plume, Mary Westmacott, was just as critically acclaimed.
From JK Rowling’s male literary alter ego to C S Lewis’s poet name, here are eight authors who publish under pseudonyms.
JK Rowling / Robert Galbraith
The Harry Potter author is no stranger to having to tinker with her name to find success.
Although the British writer’s actual name is Joanne Rowling, she was advised by her publisher that young boys wouldn’t read the Potter series if they thought it was written by a woman. The initial K stands for Kathleen, her grandmother’s name.
She later went on to publish adult books under the nom de plume Robert Galbraith, including The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first in the series of the Cormorant Strike detective novels, and its latest instalment The Ink Black Heart.
“I chose Robert because it is one of my favourite men's names, because Robert F Kennedy is my hero and because, mercifully, I hadn't used it for any of the characters in the Potter series or The Casual Vacancy,” Rowling said.
Stephen King / Richard Bachman
When the “King of horror” first started out, his publishers limited the American author to one book a year. However, King was much more prolific, convincing his publisher to let him release more books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, named after one of his favourite bands, Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Under the Bachman brand, King published seven books including 1977’s Rage and 1982’s The Running Man.
The pseudonym was exposed by Steve Brown, a bookstore clerk in Washington, DC who had noticed similarities between Bachman and King’s works. The prolific author would later dedicate his 1989 novel The Dark Half, about a pseudonym turning on the writer who created them, to “The deceased Richard Bachman”.
Isaac Asimov / Paul French
The celebrated Russian-born American science fiction author, Isaac Asimov, also turned to a pen name to try his hand at a different genre.
The talent behind I, Robot and The Caves of Steel was asked to write a sci-fi novel for children which would then be made into a television show. Fearful that the show wouldn’t be good, Asimov wrote Lucky Starr under the name Paul French and went on to pen six novels in the series under the pseudonym.
Agatha Christie / Mary Westmacott
As murder mystery authors go, they don’t come more famous or more prolific than Christie.
The English author wrote 66 detective novels — introducing the world to Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple — and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap.
Christie also produced six novels as her alter ego Mary Westmacott, which included 1934’s Unfinished Portrait and The Burden in 1956.
The most-translated individual author said she used a pseudonym to explore “her most private and precious imaginative garden”.
Dean Koontz / Brian Coffey
To date, US author Dean Koontz has sold over 450 million copies of his 105 novels. Working in the suspense thriller genre, he has also moved into horror, sci-fi and mystery.
One of the busiest writers in the world, through the 1970s, Koontz was writing up to eight books a year, leading his publishers to worry he was saturating the market and his brand.
He began using aliases so he could publish a lot more books, with 10 names known to the public, including Deanna Dwyer, Owen West, Aaron Wolfe and David Axton.
Michael Crichton / Michael Douglas
Many books by the celebrated author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World were turned into blockbuster films.
Having started writing novels when he was still at Harvard Medical School, the Chicago-born author worked under the pseudonym John Lange, publishing his first novel Odds On as Lange in 1966. He later claimed he used an alias because he was going to become a doctor and felt his patients would worry they might turn up in his novels.
As well as Lange, he also wrote under the pen name Jeffrey Hudson, using his own name for the first time for 1969’s The Andromeda Strain.
Crichton published the thriller Dealing, which he co-wrote with his brother, under the name Michael Douglas.
CS Lewis / Clive Hamilton
The British author of The Chronicles of Narnia also wrote under two other pen names, Clive Hamilton and NW Clerk.
The Belfast-born writer published as Hamilton when he first began writing, releasing several books of poetry under the pseudonym, including Spirits in Bondage when he was only 20. However, when his career as a poet failed to find an audience, he switched to his real initials CS — for Clive Staples — to become a novelist.
He would later pen a tribute to his late wife, A Grief Observed, under the nom de plume NW Clerk, which wasn’t revealed until his death in 1963.
Sophie Kinsella / Madeleine Wickham
The popular women’s fiction writer who penned the Confessions of a Shopaholic series has sold over 40 million books. Starting out in her career, she wrote her first book, The Tennis Party, at the age of 24 under her real name Madeleine Wickham.
Going on to write six books as Wickham, she later began writing under the pen name Sophie Kinsella — her middle name and her mother’s maiden name.
The English author revealed she was both Wickham and Kinsella when she released her 2003 novel Can You Keep a Secret?
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
T20 World Cup Qualifier, Muscat
UAE FIXTURES
Friday February 18: v Ireland
Saturday February 19: v Germany
Monday February 21: v Philippines
Tuesday February 22: semi-finals
Thursday February 24: final
Results
2.15pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Arrab, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mahaleel, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel.
3.15pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum handicap (TB) Dh200,000 2,000m; Winner: Dolmen, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Amang Alawda, Sandro Paiva, Bakhit Al Ketbi.
4.15pm: The Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 1,200m; Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
4.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: Al Jazi, Jesus Rosales, Eric Lemartinel.
Scoreline
Liverpool 3
Mane (7'), Salah (69'), Firmino (90')
Bournemouth 0
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Company profile
Name: One Good Thing
Founders: Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke
Based in: Dubai
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 5 employees
Stage: Looking for seed funding
Investors: Self-funded and seeking external investors
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Three trading apps to try
Sharad Nair recommends three investment apps for UAE residents:
- For beginners or people who want to start investing with limited capital, Mr Nair suggests eToro. “The low fees and low minimum balance requirements make the platform more accessible,” he says. “The user interface is straightforward to understand and operate, while its social element may help ease beginners into the idea of investing money by looking to a virtual community.”
- If you’re an experienced investor, and have $10,000 or more to invest, consider Saxo Bank. “Saxo Bank offers a more comprehensive trading platform with advanced features and insight for more experienced users. It offers a more personalised approach to opening and operating an account on their platform,” he says.
- Finally, StashAway could work for those who want a hands-off approach to their investing. “It removes one of the biggest challenges for novice traders: picking the securities in their portfolio,” Mr Nair says. “A goal-based approach or view towards investing can help motivate residents who may usually shy away from investment platforms.”
TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
Race card:
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh195,000 1,400m.
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m.
8.15pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,200m.
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 1,600m.
9.20pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m.
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 2,000m.
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 1 Manchester City 2
Huddersfield: Otamendi (45' 1 og), van La Parra (red card 90' 6)
Man City: Agüero (47' pen), Sterling (84')
Man of the match: Christopher Schindler (Huddersfield Town)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Day 2, stumps
Pakistan 482
Australia 30/0 (13 ov)
Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
The biog
Favourite Quote: “Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction emerge from its ashes,” by The late king Hussain of Jordan.
Favourite Hobby: Writing and cooking
Favourite Book: The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
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