Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 – October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction books, best known for his creation of the fictional character

Mack Bolan Mack Bolan, alias '' The Executioner'', is a fictional character who has been serialized in 631 novels with sales of more than 200 million books. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in ''The Execution ...

, which have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide since the character's 1969 debut. Since 1980 the Bolan adventure-espionage books were written by other authors under the Pendleton name, and initially under Pendleton's editorial guidance. Other works 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. Pendleton wrote several early books under the pseudonyms Dan Britain and Stephan Gregory.

Biography

Don Pendleton served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, in all theaters of the war. He enlisted fraudulently at the age of 14 in 1941 and his enlistment ended in November 1947. He returned to active duty in 1952, during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

, and served until 1954. He worked as a telegrapher for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...

until 1957, and then as an

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

specialist for the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

. In the 1960s, he worked for

Martin Marietta The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. History Martin Ma ...

on the Titan missile program. He later served as an engineering administrator at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

during the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

missions. Pendleton also worked on the

C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-ran ...

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

program. At the age of 40 he started a creative writing correspondence course, but never completed it, instead turning in his first manuscript and selling it to a publisher. He is credited with creating the genre of action-adventure novels. He died in 1995, at age 67.

Writings

Executioner series (1969–1980)

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

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of ...

, beginning with ''War Against the Mafia'' (1969) and ending with ''Satan's Sabbath'' (1980), after which Pendleton licensed the rights to his Executioner characters to the

Harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the '' zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionall ...

publishing group. In the

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

tradition, Pendleton's Mack Bolan, a former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

sergeant and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veteran called both "The Executioner" and "Sergeant Mercy," was larger than life, responsible for killing literally hundreds of mobsters over the course of his original 38 novels. Also in the pulp tradition, he left a trademark "

calling card ''Calling Card'' is the sixth studio album and eighth album overall by Irish singer/guitarist Rory Gallagher. A 1976 release, it was his second of four albums released on Chrysalis Records in the 1970s. Deep Purple/Rainbow bass guitarist Roger ...

," in his case a marksman's medal, wherever he struck. After 15 Executioner novels, Pendleton became involved in a legal battle with the publisher,

Pinnacle Books Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender Gr ...

, over ownership of the series. Pinnacle had the next entry, ''The Executioner #16: Sicilian Slaughter,'' written by William Crawford under the pseudonym "Jim Peterson." Pendleton ignored "Sicilian Slaughter" and wrote The Executioner #17: ''Jersey Guns,'' as a sequel to #15, ''Panic in Philly,'' under a contract with

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

. The contract was ultimately voided by the terms of his settlement with Pinnacle and he returned to Pinnacle for 21 more novels.

Spin-offs (1980–present)

Since 1980, ''The Executioner, Mack Bolan'' books and spinoffs -

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. There were 51 novels in the ''Able Team'' series, plus 2 ''Sup ...

, Phoenix Force,

Stony Man Stony Man is a fictional clandestine anti-terrorist organization featured in the Executioner series of action-adventure novels first published in 1983 by American Gold Eagle publishers. The first book in the series, ''Stony Man Doctrine'' was pub ...

, and

- have been written by

's team of writers. The Harlequin Gold Eagle books moved Bolan into a fight against

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, in whose course he was given the cover identity of "Colonel John Macklin Phoenix." 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.''

Joe Copp, Private Eye series (1987–1992)

Pendleton's other enduring series was the Joe Copp, Private Eye novels, told in the

first person First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

by 6'3", 260 lb. Joe Copp, a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

. The novels were formulaic

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as spec ...

, always opening in the middle of the story, with Copp pursuing a variety of criminals, with 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 Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have s ...

's Mike Hammer. The books were first published in hardcover by

Donald I. Fine Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...

and then released in paperback by

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...

Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series (1986–1988)

The first book of Don Pendleton's Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series, ''Ashes to Ashes'', was published in 1986 by

Warner Books Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hache ...

. The Ashton Ford character is a former naval officer and spy, skilled in

cryptology Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

and able to see into the future.

Bibliography

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) *''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)

Stewart Mann novels (as 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

*''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)

Nonfiction

*''A Search for Meaning From the Surface of a Small Planet''

With Linda Pendleton

Fiction

*''Roulette: The Search for the Sunrise Killer'' *''War Against the Mafia Graphic Comic Novel Adaptation'' Part 1–3. Part 4 not published.

Nonfiction

*''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''

Adaptations

Numerous rumors of upcoming film treatments of the Executioner series have circulated over the years. It was announced August 2014 that

Shane Salerno Shane Salerno (born November 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory. His writing credits include the films '' Avatar: The Way of Water'', ''Armageddon'', ''Savages,'' '' Shaft'', and the ...

, Hollywood producer and screenwriter, had optioned the Executioner novels for a film franchise. Spider-Man writer Gerry Conway (who went on to become a show runner on

Dick Wolf Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four international spinoffs. He is al ...

's ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering o ...

'' series) has acknowledged that his creation of Marvel's Punisher character was directly inspired by Pendleton's Executioner, in perhaps the most blatantly direct adaptation (or less politely, "lift") of Pendleton's character. Originally conceived as a villain for the Spider-Man comic book series, the character proved incredibly popular and the costumed version of the Executioner that became a comic book hero has taken Pendleton's original idea to comic-book-ridiculous extremes in comics, cinema and television, all carefully sidestepping any issues of creative ownership.

References

External links

*
Original Executioner Series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, Don 1927 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American adventure novelists American male novelists Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Federal Aviation Administration personnel NASA people