Entertainment Books Writer James Sallis turned his hand to many trades. As well as penning his 18 novels, he was a translator, biographer, editor, musician and critic. He was best known as a crime writer and his best-known book,  Drive  (2005) was adapted into a movie which starred Ryan Gosling. Born in Arkansas, Sallis got his start in writing short stories for science fiction magazines. He then moved to England and co-edited the famed magazine  New Worlds . A trained respiratory therapist, Sallis kept up a prolific literary output while working in intensive care departments in several hospitals. His breakthrough as a crime writer came in 1992 with the release of  The Long-Legged Fly , which introduced the private eye Lew Griffin — a character who starred in five more novels, which were praised for their novelty and unconventionality. While never enormously commercially successful, Sallis’ writing was greatly respected by peers and critics alike.…