Nick Pollotta
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BIOGRAPHY FOR: NICK POLLOTTA - author
Nicholas Angelo Pollotta Jr. was born on the 26th August, 1954, in Saddle Brook, New Jersey to Mildred and Nicholas Pollotta Sr). His father owned a construction company where he worked as a stone mason's assistant, and his older sister, Lucia, did the bookkeeping.
In high school, a Science teacher, Peter D. DeLellis gave him a tattered paperback copy of the SF anthology, “The Worlds of If” by Robert P. Mills. That was the end of Nick’s dream of becoming a mechanical engineer, and he immediately turned to writing.
At a local coffee house, The Grotto, he met stand-up comic, and life-long friend, Rick Overton, for whom he first wrote jokes, and eventually performed with on the nightclub stages of Manhattan. Under the stage name of 'Nick Smith', his own career as a comic ran just slightly less than four years when Nick departed from show biz after leaving the stage to physically throw a particularly annoying heckler out of a Brooklyn club.
Moving to Philadelphia, he discovered SF fandom and (still using Nick Smith) wrote the hugely successful “Radio Adventures of Phil A. Delphia” to help promote the Philly in ’86 bid for a WorldCon (sadly, they lost, anyway), as well as the semi-legendary “You Say…Yamato!” a satire on the anime TV show Starblazers where Nick replaced the original dialogue with his own twisted material.
His first professional sale was a series of gaming cartoons to The Dragon magazine in 1985. Soon after that came his first book, a SF/Humor novel, “Illegal Aliens” , written in collaboration with Hugo Award winning cartoonist, Phil Foglio, and using his own name for the first time. This was closely followed by his solo novel, Bureau 13, which became a trilogy, and then he was off to the races.
Now with over 50 sold novels (under a wide variety of house names and pseudonyms), Pollotta has written articles about writing for “Mystery Scene” magazine, “Science Fiction Chronicle”, and has humorous short stories in several anthologies; “How to Save the World” (DAW Books), “The Game’s Afoot!” (St.Martins), “Time of the Vampire” (TSR Books), and “Under Cover of Darkness” (DAW Books).
Pollotta still enjoys nothing better than performing live on stage. He has been married to Melissa Hutchings since 1995, and they have two cats, named Piewacket and Get-Off-Me-Ya-Bastard!
TRADE MARK:
Uses a lot of military ordinance in his SF and Fantasy novels.
Has a reoccurring character, “Abduhl Benny Hassan", in every one of his novels, often deeply hidden in the text, sometimes only a set of initials, but always there.
TRIVIA:
A fanatical golfer.
Almost became a lawyer.
Once spent a summer working on an Amish farm.
Is a Freemason.
Used to smoke a pipe.
Nearly died of toxic metal poisoning at the age of 13.
Worked as an armed courier for IBM for ten years, but never once got to shoot anybody.
Collects old radio programs.
His wife, Melissa Hutchings, was a wardrobe mistress for Six Flags Amusement Park.
Once got into a bar fight with Hells Angels, and spent the weekend in jail.
Used to perform comedy at SF conventions with The Gunderson Corporation Radio Players.
FAVORITE AUTHORS:
Conrad Richter, Robert Parker, Lois McMaster Bujold, Robert Heinlein, Oscar Wilde, Jean Sheperd, and Sir Walter Scott(of which he is a very distant relative)
FAVORITE COMEDY WRITER:
Richard Curtis (BlackAdder, Vicar of Dibley, etc.)
FAVORITE BOOKS:
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein
"The Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart
"The Stainless Steel Rat" by Harry Harrison
"Small Vices" Robert B. Parker
"In God We Trust (all others pay cash)" by Jean Shepherd
FAVORITE MOVIES:
"Singin' in the Rain", "Kelly's Heroes", "Forbidden Planet", "Kill Bill 1&2", and "The Quiet Man".
PERSONAL QUOTE:
“Without humor, there is no civilization.”
"I'm half Scottish, and half Sicilian. Which means that, occasionally, I'll don a tartan cassock and kill people with a pepperoni haggis. But I don't do it professionally anymore, these days it's just a hobby."
Contents |
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Pre-2000
- Illegal Aliens, SF/Humor, Nick Pollotta and Phil Foglio, TSR BOOKS 1989
- Bureau 13, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Ace Books, 1990
- Doomsday Exam, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Ace Books, 1991
- Full Moonster, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Ace Books 1991
- Satellite Night Live, SF/Humor (as Jack Hopkins), Ace Books 1993
- Satellite Night Special, SF/Humor (as Jack Hopkins), Ace Books 1993
- Satellite Night Fever, SF/Humor (as Jack Hopkins), Ace Books 1993
- Illegal Aliens, SF/Humor, Nick Pollotta & Phil Foglio, Armada Press, Moscow, 1994, (Russian translation)
- The Bureau 13 Omnibus, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Armada Press, Moscow 1995, (Russian translation)
- American Knights, YA/SF, Nick Pollotta, TSR Books 1995
- The 24 Hour War, YA/SF, Nick Pollotta, TSR Books 1995
- Shadowboxer, SF/Military, Nicholas Pollotta, ROC Books 1997
- Shadowboxer, SF/Military, Nicholas Pollotta, Heyne Books 1997 (German translation)
- Gemini Rising, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 1999
[edit] 2000
- Gaia's Demise, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2000
- Dark Reckoning, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2000
- Pandora's Redoubt, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2000
[edit] 2001
- Zero City, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2001
- Savage Armada, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2001
- Judas Strike, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2001
- Shadow Fortress, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2001
- Bureau 13: Judgment Night, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, 2001
[edit] 2002
- Bureau 13: Doomsday Exam, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, 2002
- Bureau 13: Full Moonster, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, 2002
- Sky Killer, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendleton) Gold Eagle Books, 2002
- Deep Rampage, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendleton), Gold Eagle Books, December 2002
- Illegal Aliens, SF/Humor, Nick Pollotta & Phil Foglio, Wildside Press, 2002
- Bureau 13: Judgment Night, Nick Pollotta, Fictionwise.com, (ebook format), 2002
- Bureau 13: Doomsday Exam, Nick Pollotta, Fictionwise.com, (ebook format), 2002
- Bureau 13: Full Moonster, Nick Pollotta, Fictionwise.com, (ebook format), 2002
- Illegal Aliens, Nick Pollotta and Phil Foglio, Fictionwise.com, (ebook format), 2002
[edit] 2003
- Devil Riders, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, Sept. 2003
[edit] 2004
- That Darn Squid God!, Fantasy/Humor novel, Nick Pollotta and James Clay, Wildside Press, Feb. 2004
- Blood Fire, SF/Military (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, March 2004
- Bureau 13: Judgment Night, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, June 2004 (reprint, new cover)
- Bureau 13: Doomsday Exam, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, June 2004 (reprint, new cover)
- Bureau 13: Full Moonster, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, June 2004 (reprint, new cover)
- Warbirds, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, June 2004
- Tequila Mockingbird, SF & Mystery Humor, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, July 2004, short story collection
- Stolen Arrows, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendleton), Gold Eagle Books, August 2004
- The Chameleon Factor, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendleton), Gold Eagle Books, Dec. 2004
- Pandora's Redoubt, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Zero City, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Gemini Rising, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Dark Reckoning, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Gaia's Demise, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
[edit] 2005
- Bureau 13: Damned Nation, Fantasy, Nick Pollotta, Wildside Press, March 2005
- Shatterzone, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2005
- Coldfire, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2005
- Savage Armada, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Judas Strike, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Shadow Fortress, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- The Chameleon Factor, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendelton) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Bloodfire, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Devil Riders, SF/Military, (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
[edit] 2006
- Skyhammer, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendleton), Gold Eagle Books, Feb. 2006
- Stony Man: Neutron Dawn, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendelton), Gold Eagle Books, 2006
- Bureau 13 RPG Manual, Nick Pollotta and Richard Tucholka, Wildside Press, August 2006
- Perdition Valley, SF/Military (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
[edit] 2007
- Stony Man: Uplink, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendelton), Gold Eagle Books, 2007
- Stony Man: Trigger, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendelton), Gold Eagle Books, 2007
- Deathlands: Wildfire, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2007
- Shatterzone, SF/Military (as James Axler) Cutting Audio, audio book
- Sky Hammer, Military/Thriller (as Don Pendelton), Cutting Audio, audio book
[edit] 2008
- Stony Man: Skywalkers, Military/Thriller, (as Don Pendelton), Gold Eagle Books, 2008
- Deathlands: Maelstrom, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2008
- Deathlands: Nightscape, SF/Military, (as James Axler), Gold Eagle Books, 2008
[edit] External link
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