Died 1969 | Books Cinder Cyclone | |
Howard Maxwell Brier (born 20 March 1903, in River Falls, Wisconsin; d. Oct. 1969, Seattle, Washington) was an American fiction author who wrote primarily adventure and mystery books for teens.
When Brier was six, the family moved to Everett, Washington, which was a healthier climate for his ill father.
Brier was educated at the University of Washington, and did graduate work at the University of California. He worked as a reporter and later in the advertising department of several newspapers in Seattle. Following that, he became a high school English teacher and later vice-principal of Garfield High School in Seattle. Brier later joined the faculty of the University of Washington as a professor of journalism. He was awarded a Gold Key by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 1954, for service to student journalism at the university.
Brier's set many of his plots in the Pacific Northwest, where he lived. He wrote in a direct style, depending more on action than on description to make his characters come alive. Because he always held a full-time non-writing job, Brier often serialized his stories in magazines, such as Boys' Life, and then later collected the installments and published them in book form.
As a journalism professor and consultant, Brier had definite views on what makes good writing:
"Very few of us will ever do anything of literary merit. Good sound craftsmanship, is what we need. How do we become sound craftsmen? (i) write to sell; (ii) write for interest— keep your reader always in mind; (iii) write briefly, clearly and concisely. The beginning writer's most popular fault is redundancy. When writing for the general public, keep it simple."Brier married Grace Kjelstad in 1930. The couple had two children.
He died at the age of 66 in 1969.