Don Pendleton

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Don Pendleton (December 12, 1927–October 23, 1995) was a pulp fiction and mystery writer, best known for the creation of American hero Mack Bolan. The series made the men's action-adventure genre popular in the 1960s and 70s, and got him the nickname "the father of action adventure". The Mack Bolan novels penned by Pendleton revolved around Bolan's one man war against the Mafia, beginning with War Against the Mafia in 1969, and ending with Satan's Sabbath in 1980. After Satan's Sabbath, Pendleton licensed the rights to his work to the Harlequin publishing group. The first of the non-Pendleton written Mack Bolan books was The New War by Saul Wernick, which started Bolan's fight against terrorism. Subsequently, Harlequin has produced new novels written by a varied team of writers whose names are frequently mentioned on the copyright page as a provider of "a contribution" to the work, pushing the number of Mack Bolan novels into the hundreds; all of them bear the byline, "Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan". Other works by Pendleton include the Joe Copp and Ashton Ford Series.

Pendleton served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving in all theaters of the war. His enlistment ended in November of 1947. He returned to active duty in 1952 during the Korean War and served until 1954. He worked as a telegrapher for the Southern Pacific Railroad until 1957, and then as an air traffic control specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration. In the 1960s, he worked for Martin Marietta on the Titan missile program. He later served as an engineering administrator at NASA during the Apollo missions. Pendleton also worked on the C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft program.

Pendleton's Mack Bolan stretched the limits of believability, as Bolan was responsible for killing literally hundreds of mobsters over the course of the series, dispatching of them in ways that ranged from the conventional (shooting, hand-to-hand combat) to the ludicrous (high-powered military weaponry such as rocket launchers, utilized in the inner city). In the earlier novels, Pendleton did not apparently accurately research the weaponry he described Bolan as using (for example, having Bolan use a .444 Marlin, a weapon with a high, curving trajectory and an effective range of 150 yards, to kill several mobsters from nearly a half mile away. On another ocassion, an automatic Luger is described as a revolver). As the novels progressed, Pendleton apparently put more research into his books to make for more accurate descriptions of weapons and their usage. Many see similarities between the Executioner and Marvel Comics The Punisher, and Marvel freely acknowledge that they took some inspiration from the novels in creating their antihero.

Pendleton's other enduring series was the The Joe Copp series, told in the first person by 6'3", 260 lb. Joe Copp, a private investigator. The novels were formulaic, always opening up in the middle of the story, with Joe Copp being pursued by a variety of criminals, with the story then flashing back to the beginning to describe how Copp got into his current predicament. In the end, Copp would always win by killing his adversaries, usually with his standard sidearm, a Smith & Wesson .41 Magnum revolver. The Joe Copp series often had over-the-top action moments similar to those found in the Mack Bolan series, such Joe Copp slapping a car window out, reaching in through the glass and yanking the occupant out, and then bouncing the occupant's head against the sidewalk to get information. They were first published in hardcover by Donald I. Fine, and then released in paperback by Harper.

Don Pendleton also wrote six Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series, the first, Ashes to Ashes published in 1986 by Warner Books. Currently four of the Ashton Ford novels are also on Audio CD through Books in Motion, with the other two coming soon on CD. Pendleton's Ashton Ford character is a former naval officer and spy, skilled in cryptology and with the ability to see into the future.

Both the Joe Copp and Ashton Ford mysteries are back in print.

Pendleton wrote several of his earlier, non-Executioner books under the pseudonyms Dan Britain and Stephan Gregory.

1 Bibliography
2 External links

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Mack Bolan novels

War Against The Mafia (1969)
Death Squad (1969)
Battle Mask (1970)
Miami Massacre (1970)
Continental Contract (1971)
Assault on Soho (1971)
Nightmare in New York (1971)
Chicago Wipe-Out (1971)
Vegas Vendetta (1971)
Caribbean Kill (1972)
California Hit (1972)
Boston Blitz (1972)
Washington I.O.U. (1972)
San Diego Siege (1972)
Panic In Philly (1973)
Jersey Guns (1974)
Texas Storm (1974)
Detroit Deathwatch (1974)
New Orleans Knockout (1974)
Firebase Seattle (1975)
Hawaiian Hellground (1975)
Canadian Crisis (1975)
St. Louis Showdown (1975)
Colorado Kill-Zone (1976)
Acapulco Rampage (1976)
Dixie Convoy (1976)
Savage Fire (1977)
Command Strike (1977)
Cleveland Pipeline (1977)
Arizona Ambush (1977)
The Executioner's War Book (1977)
Tennessee Smash (1978)
Monday's Mob (1978)
Terrible Tuesday (1979)
Wednesday's Wrath (1979)
Thermal Thursday (1979)
Friday's Feast (1979)
Satan's Sabbath (1980)

[edit] Joe Copp novels

Copp for Hire (1987)
Copp on Fire (1988)
Copp in Deep (1989)
Copp in the Dark (1990)
Copp on Ice (1991)
Copp in Shock (1992)

[edit] Ashton Ford series

Ashes to Ashes (1986)
Eye to Eye (1986)
Mind to Mind (1987)
Life to Life (1987)
Heart to Heart (1987)
Time to Time (1988)

[edit] With Linda Pendleton

Roulette (written with Linda Pendleton)
Whispers from the Soul: The Divine Dance of Consciousness (written with Linda Pendleton)
The Metaphysics of a Novel: The Inner Workings of a Novel and Novelist (written with Linda Pendleton)
To Dance With Angels (written with Linda Pendleton)