Author J.G. Ballard, who wrote the autobiographical Empire Of The Sun and died Sunday in London, was known for a dark style so distinctive that it was labeled "Ballardian."

You won't find it in every dictionary. But the Collins English Dictionary defines it as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard's novels & stories, esp. dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes & the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments," the AP reports.

There's much to be said for adjectival authors, those who have a hallmark style. Some that come to mind: Shakespearean (flowery, insightful phrases describing great tragedy); Dickensian (a world of striving amid squalor); Faulknerian (Southern culture writ in twisting, twirling prose), Chandlerian (hard-edged tales of twisted justice).

But other equally well-known, equally distinctive authors never get their own adjective. Why no Hemingway-ian or Fitzgeraldian (OK, so those are a mouthful). But how about Austenian? Or Poe-ian? Or, do I dare risk it: Stephenie Meyerian?