James Patterson Send Books for the Troops

James Patterson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James Patterson is the world's leading author and his books top the best seller lists continuously. Here's one American who wanted to recognize fully the tremendous sacrifices that thousands of U.S. troops make while they are stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places throughout the world.

Newsmax reports, in an exclusive interview, that the man who has made millions from titles such as “Kiss The Girls,” “Tick Tock,” “Private,” and “Along Came a Spider” has just donated a massive cache of 200,000 books to service men and women stationed overseas.

Patterson, along with the nonprofits Operation Gratitude and Books for Heroes, had to get 20,000 boxes of books from his printers in Indiana to Fort Benning, Ga., and the Van Nuys National Guard Armory in California, from where they are shipped.

“It’s a lot of books,” he said. “It’s a miracle. If we had saved 20,000 puppies, it would be on the front page of every newspaper. This is actually cooler, getting 200,000 books out to troops.”

Forbes Highest Paid Entertainers-Men

Recently Forbes announced its list of Entertainment's Highest Paid Men. Mentally, pick five men that you are sure would be on this list.  Here's a few hints: only one actor..well maybe two, depending how you look at it.  There's only one sports' figure, one writer, and one radio personality. Look out for surprises! Here we go.

Tyler Perry Tapped As Alex Cross

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Tyler Perry is full of surprises. In the latest news, Madea has been tapped to succed Morgan Freeman as the new Alex Cross, the central character from the successful James Patterson book series that's resulted in two films Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Not even Vegas would have placed odds on that. But come this June, it will be "lights, camera, action" in I, Alex Cross, the biggest mainstream film yet for Perry.

World's Richest Best Selling Authors

Despite the financial woes of some print sources, Forbes announced that a select few bestselling authors from making big bucks. Coming in at the No. 1 spot on Forbes magazine’s list of highest-paid authors—with $70 million—is the thriller writer James Patterson, up from the second-place spot two years ago. The 63-year-old Patterson has written more than 50 bestsellers and sold more than 170 million books worldwide, creating a franchise that expanded into Hollywood, television, comic book and gaming deals.

Following him is vampire romance writer Stephenie Meyer, whose Twilight series earned her $40 million, despite her not releasing a new book in 2009. Stephen King ranks third with $34 million; his 51st novel, Under the Dome, sold 600,000 copies, according to Bookscan. Others on the list include romance novelist Danielle Steel ($32 Million), British writer Ken Follett ($20 million), Dean Koontz ($18 million) and Janet Evanovich of Stephanie Plum fame ($16 million).

Legal thriller writer John Grisham, romance writer Nicholas Sparks and prolific British author J.K. Rowling, who made $10 million -- a smaller sum for the billionaire after she did not release a new book in the past year -- rounded out the top 10.

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