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Stephen Hunter
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{{short description|American novelist, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{About|the novelist|the New Zealand actor|Stephen Hunter (actor)|the basketball player|Steven Hunter|the musician|Steve Hunter}} {{Infobox writer | name = Stephen Hunter | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|3|25}} | birth_place = [[Kansas City, Missouri]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Novelist|essayist|[[film criticism|film critic]]}} | education = [[Northwestern University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) | period = 1971–present | genre = [[Thriller (genre)|Thrillers]] | subject = Film, handguns | notableworks = ''[[Point of Impact (Stephen Hunter novel)|Point of Impact]]'' (1993) | awards = [[Pulitzer Prize]] for film criticism }} '''Stephen Hunter''' (born March 25, 1946, in [[Kansas City, Missouri]]) is an American novelist, essayist, and [[Film criticism|film critic]]. ==Life and career== Hunter was born in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and grew up in [[Evanston, Illinois]]. His father was Charles Francis Hunter, a [[Northwestern University]] speech professor who was murdered in 1975 by two male prostitutes.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Tim |last=Wendel |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2008/05/01/gunslinger-stephen-hunter/ |title=Gunslinger Stephen Hunter |magazine=[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian]] |date=May 1, 2008 |access-date=February 20, 2011}}</ref> His mother was Virginia Ricker Hunter, a writer of children's books. After graduating from Northwestern in 1968 with a degree in journalism, he was drafted for two years into the [[United States Army]]. He served in the [[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment]] in Washington, D.C., a unit that has both operational and ceremonial missions, the latter most notably being the guard force for the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Arlington)|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]]. He also wrote for a military paper, the ''Pentagon News.''<ref name="Baltimore Magazine">{{cite magazine |first=Jim |last=Burger |url=http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/people/2009/03/drinks-shoots-and-seethes |title=Drinks, Shoots, and Seethes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723022738/http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/people/2009/03/drinks-shoots-and-seethes |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |magazine=[[Baltimore (magazine)|Baltimore]] |date=March 2009 |access-date=February 20, 2011}}</ref> He joined ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' in 1971, working at the [[copy editing|copy desk]] of the newspaper's Sunday edition for a decade. He became its film critic in 1982, a post he held until moving to ''[[The Washington Post]]'' in the same function in 1997. In 1998 Hunter won the [[American Society of Newspaper Editors]] Distinguished Writing Award in the criticism category, and in 2003 he received the [[Pulitzer Prize for Criticism]].<ref name="Baltimore Magazine" /> He accepted a buyout from the ''Post'' in 2008.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jim |last=Romenesko |title=WP names many of the 100+ staffers taking paper's buyout |work=Poynter.org |publisher=[[Poynter Institute]] |access-date=July 3, 2019 |date=May 23, 2008 |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2008/wp-names-many-of-the-100-staffers-taking-papers-buyout/}}</ref> Hunter's thriller novels include ''[[Point of Impact (Stephen Hunter novel)|Point of Impact]]'' (filmed as ''[[Shooter (2007 film)|Shooter]]''), ''[[Black Light (novel)|Black Light]]'' and ''[[Time to Hunt]]'', which form a trilogy featuring [[Vietnam War]] veteran and [[sniper]] [[Bob Lee Swagger|Bob "the Nailer" Swagger]]. The story of Bob Lee Swagger continued with ''[[The 47th Samurai]]'' (2007), ''[[Night of Thunder (book)|Night of Thunder]]'' (2008), ''[[I, Sniper]]'' (2009), ''Dead Zero'' (2010), ''The Third Bullet'' (2013), ''Sniper's Honor'' (2014) and ''G-Man'' (2017). The series has led to two spin-off series: ''[[Hot Springs (novel)|Hot Springs]]'', ''[[Pale Horse Coming]]'', and ''[[Havana (novel)|Havana]]'' form another trilogy centered on Bob Swagger's father, Earl Swagger, while ''Soft Target'' (2011) focuses on Bob's long-unknown son, Ray Cruz. Hunter has written three non-fiction books: ''Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem'' (1995), a collection of essays from his time at ''The Sun''; ''American Gunfight'' (2005), an examination of the November 1, 1950 [[attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman]]; and ''Now Playing at the Valencia'' (2005), a collection of pieces from ''The Washington Post''. Hunter has also written a number of non-film-related articles for ''The Post'', including one on Afghanistan: "Dressed To Kill—From Kabul to Kandahar, It's Not Who You Are That Matters, but What You Shoot" (2001).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Stephen |title=Dressed To Kill—From Kabul to Kandahar, It's Not Who You Are That Matters, but What You Shoot |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/11/26/dressed-to-kill/d1b19e5d-f0ae-4ba6-9c5c-4e6e5428136e/ |access-date=June 28, 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 26, 2001}}</ref> Hunter is a [[firearms]] enthusiast, well known in the gun community for firearm detail in many of his works of fiction. He himself shoots as a hobby, saying "many people don't understand, shooting a firearm is a sensual pleasure that's rewarding in and of itself."<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |first=Neal |last=Conan |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/02/16/133811548/Tucson-Shooting-Renews-Gun-Control-Debate |title=Tucson Shooting Renews Gun Control Debate |work=[[NPR]] |date=February 16, 2011 |access-date=February 20, 2011}}</ref> In an interview with [[NPR]] on February 16, 2011, Hunter defended the public availability of high-capacity [[magazine (firearms)|magazines]] after the [[2011 Tucson shooting|shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others]]. He also said that it was not clear whether the 33-round magazine used by shooter [[Jared Lee Loughner]] played a part in the shooting.<ref name="NPR" /> He had previously written in ''The Washington Post'' that extended magazines are particularly valuable to women and the elderly, who he said could use them effectively as an alternative to semi-automatic rifles or shotguns. He points out that "women generally don't care to put in the training needed to master [rifles and shotguns]. Nor can the elderly handle [long guns] adeptly."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Stephen |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020406709.html |title=Why 33 rounds makes sense in a defensive weapon |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 6, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011}}</ref> ==Works== ===Novels=== ''Bob Lee Swagger'' series: # ''[[Point of Impact (Stephen Hunter novel)|Point of Impact]]'' (1993) # ''[[Black Light (novel)|Black Light]]'' (1996) # ''[[Time to Hunt]]'' (1998) # ''[[The 47th Samurai]]'' (2007) # ''[[Night of Thunder (book)|Night of Thunder]]'' (2008) # ''[[I, Sniper]]'' (2009) # ''Dead Zero'' (2010) # ''The Third Bullet'' (2013) # ''Sniper's Honor'' (2014) # ''G-Man'' (2017) # ''Game of Snipers'' (2019) # ''Targeted'' (2022) * ''[[Dirty White Boys]]'' (1994), prequel to events in ''Black Light'' ''Earl Swagger'' series: # ''[[Hot Springs (novel)|Hot Springs]]'' (2000) # ''[[Pale Horse Coming]]'' (2001) # ''[[Havana (novel)|Havana]]'' (2003) # ''The Bullet Garden'' (January 24, 2023<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Bullet-Garden/Stephen-Hunter/9781982169763 |title=The Bullet Garden |date=2023-01-24 |isbn=978-1-9821-6976-3 |language=en}}</ref>) ''Ray Cruz'' series: # ''Dead Zero'' (2010) # ''Soft Target'' (2011) Stand-alones: * ''The Master Sniper'' (1980) * ''The Second Saladin'' (1982) * ''Target'' (1985), novelization of film ''[[Target (1985 film)|Target]]'' * ''The Spanish Gambit'' (reissued as ''Tapestry of Spies'') (1985) * ''The Day Before Midnight'' (1989) * ''[[I, Ripper]]'' (2015) * ''Basil's War'' (2021) ===Short stories=== *"Casey at the Bat" (2010) (in ''Agents of Treachery'', edited by [[Otto Penzler]]) ===Non-fiction=== * ''Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem'' (1996) * ''Now Playing at the Valencia: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Essays on Movies'' (2005) * ''American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman and the Shoot-out that Stopped It'' (2005) with John Bainbridge, Jr., {{ISBN|0743281950}} ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Stephen Hunter}} {{PulitzerPrize Criticism}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Stephen}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Writers from Kansas City, Missouri]] [[Category:American film critics]] [[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners]] [[Category:American crime fiction writers]] [[Category:American thriller writers]] [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:The Baltimore Sun people]] [[Category:The Washington Post people]] [[Category:United States Army soldiers]] [[Category:Medill School of Journalism alumni]] [[Category:Writers from Baltimore]] [[Category:21st-century American novelists]] [[Category:American male novelists]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:Novelists from Maryland]] [[Category:Novelists from Missouri]] [[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
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