Don Pendleton
Encyclopedia
Don Pendleton was an author of fiction and nonfiction books, best known for his creation of American hero The Executioner: Mack Bolan
.
during World War II
, serving in all theaters of the war. His enlistment ended in November 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.
, 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 Executioner characters to the Harlequin
publishing group. Since 1980, The Executioner, Mack Bolan books and spinoffs, Able Team
, Phoenix Force
, Stony Man
, Mack Bolan
have been written by Harlequin's team of writers. The Harlequin Gold Eagle books moved Bolan into a fight against terrorism
. Since 1980, Harlequin has produced new novels and the writer's name is 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 Don Pendleton after 1980 include the Joe Copp, Private Eye series of six novels, the Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series of six novels, and nonfiction books. He collaborated on several books with his wife, Linda Pendleton, including their popular nonfiction book, To Dance With Angels. His earlier writings in the 1960s include mysteries, Sci-Fi and futuristic books.
In the pulp tradition, Pendleton's Mack Bolan was larger than life, responsible for killing literally hundreds of mobsters over the course of his original thirty-eight novels. Also in the pulp tradition, he left a trademark "calling card"
, a marksman's medal, wherever he struck. Many see similarities between the Executioner and Marvel Comics
' The Punisher
and Marvel freely acknowledge they took some inspiration from the novels in creating their antiheroic character. Bolan also inspired DC Comics
' The Vigilante.
After fifteen Executioner novels, Pendleton became involved in a legal battle with the publisher, Pinnacle Books, over ownership of the series. Pinnacle had the next entry, The Executioner #16: Sicilian Slaughter, written by an unknown writer under the pseudonym "Jim Petersen". Pendleton wrote what was published as #17, Jersey Guns, as his own sequel to # 15, Panic in Philly under a new contract with New American Library
, which was ultimately voided by the terms of his settlement with Pinnacle, and he returned to the Bolan character for twenty-one more novels.
Pendleton's other enduring series was the Joe Copp, Private Eye novels, told in the first person
by 6'3", 260 lb. Joe Copp, a private investigator
. The novels were formulaic
hardboiled
detective fiction
, always opening in the middle of the story, with Copp pursuing a variety of criminals, the story then flashing back to the beginning to describe how Copp got into his current predicament. The Joe Copp series of six hardcover novels often had over-the-top action moments reminiscent to those found of Mickey Spillane
's Mike Hammer
. The books were first published in hardcover by Donald I. Fine, and then released in paperback by Harper. New editions in print, and now in Kindle and other ebook formats.
Don Pendleton's Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series, the first, Ashes to Ashes was published in 1986 by Warner Books. Currently four of the Ashton Ford novels and the Joe Copp novels are on Audio CD
through Books in Motion. Pendleton's Ashton Ford character is a former naval officer and spy, skilled in cryptology and with the ability to see into the future. Now in Kindle.
Both the Joe Copp Thrillers and the Ashton Ford Psychic Detective series, now available in Kindle, at amazon.com,
in Print, at Smashwords, and in other ebooks formats.
Pendleton wrote several of his earlier, non-Executioner books under the pseudonyms Dan Britain and Stephan Gregory.
Mack Bolan
Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character who has been serialized in over six hundred novels with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia...
.
Biography
Pendleton served in the U.S. NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, serving in all theaters of the war. His enlistment ended in November 1947. He returned to active duty in 1952 during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and served until 1954. He worked as a telegrapher for the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
until 1957, and then as an air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
. In the 1960s, he worked for Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
on the Titan missile
Titan (rocket family)
Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched, including all the Project Gemini manned flights of the mid-1960s...
program. He later served as an engineering administrator at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
during the Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
missions. Pendleton also worked on the C-5 Galaxy
C-5 Galaxy
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...
transport aircraft
Transport aircraft
Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes:* Airliners* Cargo aircraft* Mail planes* Military transport aircraft...
program.
Writings
The best-selling The Executioner (book series) made the men's action-adventure genre popular in the late 1960s and 70s, and Pendleton was known as the father of action adventure, a term he coined. The Mack Bolan novels penned by Pendleton revolved around Bolan's one man war against the MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, 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 Executioner characters to the Harlequin
Harlequin Enterprises Ltd
Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a Toronto, Ontario-based company that is a publisher of series romance and women's fiction. Owned by the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, the company publishes approximately 120 new titles each month in 29 different languages in 107...
publishing group. Since 1980, The Executioner, Mack Bolan books and spinoffs, Able Team
Able Team
Able Team is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....
, Phoenix Force
Phoenix Force
Phoenix Force is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....
, Stony Man
Stony Man
Stony Man is a fictional clandestine anti-terrorist organization featured in the Executioner series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers.-History:...
, Mack Bolan
Mack Bolan
Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character who has been serialized in over six hundred novels with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia...
have been written by Harlequin's team of writers. The Harlequin Gold Eagle books moved Bolan into a fight against terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. Since 1980, Harlequin has produced new novels and the writer's name is 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 Don Pendleton after 1980 include the Joe Copp, Private Eye series of six novels, the Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series of six novels, and nonfiction books. He collaborated on several books with his wife, Linda Pendleton, including their popular nonfiction book, To Dance With Angels. His earlier writings in the 1960s include mysteries, Sci-Fi and futuristic books.
In the pulp tradition, Pendleton's Mack Bolan was larger than life, responsible for killing literally hundreds of mobsters over the course of his original thirty-eight novels. Also in the pulp tradition, he left a trademark "calling card"
Calling card (crime)
A calling card is a particular object sometimes left behind by a criminal at a scene of a crime, often as a way of taunting police or obliquely claiming responsibility. The name is derived from the cards that people used to show they had been to visit someone's house when the resident was absent...
, a marksman's medal, wherever he struck. Many see similarities between the Executioner and Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' The Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
and Marvel freely acknowledge they took some inspiration from the novels in creating their antiheroic character. Bolan also inspired DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' The Vigilante.
After fifteen Executioner novels, Pendleton became involved in a legal battle with the publisher, Pinnacle Books, over ownership of the series. Pinnacle had the next entry, The Executioner #16: Sicilian Slaughter, written by an unknown writer under the pseudonym "Jim Petersen". Pendleton wrote what was published as #17, Jersey Guns, as his own sequel to # 15, Panic in Philly under a new contract with New American Library
New American Library
New American Library is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948; it produced affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works, as well as popular, pulp, and "hard-boiled" fiction. Non-fiction, original, and hardcopy issues were also produced.Victor Weybright and Kurt...
, which was ultimately voided by the terms of his settlement with Pinnacle, and he returned to the Bolan character for twenty-one more novels.
Pendleton's other enduring series was the Joe Copp, Private Eye novels, told in the first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
by 6'3", 260 lb. Joe Copp, a private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
. The novels were formulaic
Formula fiction
In popular culture, formula fiction is literature in which the storylines and plots have been reused to the extent that the narratives are predictable. It is similar to genre fiction, which identifies a number of specific settings that are frequently reused...
hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
, always opening in the middle of the story, with Copp pursuing a variety of criminals, the story then flashing back to the beginning to describe how Copp got into his current predicament. The Joe Copp series of six hardcover novels often had over-the-top action moments reminiscent to those found of Mickey Spillane
Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane , better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally...
's Mike Hammer
Mike Hammer
Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury .-Description:...
. The books were first published in hardcover by Donald I. Fine, and then released in paperback by Harper. New editions in print, and now in Kindle and other ebook formats.
Don Pendleton's Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series, the first, Ashes to Ashes was published in 1986 by Warner Books. Currently four of the Ashton Ford novels and the Joe Copp novels are on Audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
through Books in Motion. Pendleton's Ashton Ford character is a former naval officer and spy, skilled in cryptology and with the ability to see into the future. Now in Kindle.
Both the Joe Copp Thrillers and the Ashton Ford Psychic Detective series, now available in Kindle, at amazon.com,
in Print, at Smashwords, and in other ebooks formats.
Pendleton wrote several of his earlier, non-Executioner books under the pseudonyms Dan Britain and Stephan Gregory.
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)
- Sicilian Slaughter (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)
- 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)
- The Executioner's War Book (1977) "technical manual" and history of the War against the Mafia
Joe Copp, Private Eye 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)
Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective 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)
Fiction With Linda Pendleton
- Roulette
- War Against the Mafia Graphic Comic Novel Adaptation Part 1-3. Part 4 not published.
Nonfiction With Linda Pendleton
- Whispers from the Soul: The Divine Dance of Consciousness
- The Metaphysics of a Novel: The Inner Workings of a Novel and Novelist
- To Dance With Angels
- The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton
Stewart Mann Novels by Stephan Gregory
- Frame Up. Fresno, 1960.
- The Insatiables, 1967.
- The Sex Goddess, 1967.
- Madame Murder, 1967.
- The Sexy Saints, 1967.
- The Hot One, 1967.
Other Novels by Don Pendleton
- All the Trimmings (as Stephan Gregory), 1966.
- The Huntress (as Stephan Gregory), 1966.
- Color Her Adultress (as Stephan Gregory), 1967.
- All Lovers Accepted (as Stephan Gregory), 1968.
- Revolt, 1968.
- The Olympians, 1969.
- Cataclysm, 1969.
- The Guns of Terra 10, 1970.
- Population Doomsday, 1970.
- The Godmakers (as Dan Britain, reissued as Don Pendleton), 1970.
- Civil War II, (as Dan Britain, reissued as Don Pendleton), 1971.