vallath@cad.UUCP (Vallath Nandakumar) (03/05/86)
Does anybody know who writes Mack Bolan books? Any opinion aboout them would also be welcome. Apparently it is some genre of thriller or mystery. Please reply by mail even if you are posting the reply on the net. Thanks. vallath@esvax.berkeley.edu ucbvax!esvax!vallath
chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) (03/07/86)
> Does anybody know who writes Mack Bolan books? > Any opinion aboout them would also be welcome. > Apparently it is some genre of thriller or mystery. The Mack Bolan books are written by a large number of people under a house name. At one point my father and I were doing som research into writing one of them, but at the last minute the publisher decided to cut back on freelance submissions so it never got published. The Bolan books have an interesting demographic. The main orientation is male, mid 20's to mid 40's, with a heavy readership base in Vietnam vets. The prime attraction is to people who feel that the government has gotten to the point where it can't protect itself through normal channels any longer, and so Stony Brook is set up to function outside the government as a completely secret agency. The books are completely non-sexual. Bolan doesn't like or dislike women, he doesn't really notice them at all. Hin only real interest is in his assignment -- almost as though he was a killing machine (something he does a LOT of in these books, since the people he is sent up against don't deserve a lot of mercy, and the audience isn't into giving it to them....) There's also a strong emphasis on hardware, lots of guns and esoteric warmaking machines in fully glory. The stories I read were pretty well written, consistent with the style guide, and rather enjoyable if you can get into their premise. Also QUITE powerful, since as of a year or so ago they weere publishing a book a month and had split off two new seriese from the original. We had a good premise going, I'm sorry we never got it out into the real world. chuq -- :From catacombs of Castle Tarot: Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.ARPA FidoNet: 125/84 {decwrl,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo,ucbvax}!sun!chuq Somehow, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...
quint@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (Amqueue) (03/11/86)
Don Pendleton Used to write them, up until #39 or so. Then Pinnacle either dropped them or folded or something, and Harlequin Books picked them up. Since then, the cast of characters has split, and there are 4 or 5 series with the various splinter groups, all written by other people "under the direction of" Don Pendleton. I pretty much gave up at that point, since I didnt like the new directions. don pendleton himself is rather nice, at least by letter. As a young teenage fan (?15 years old?) I wrote him a letter and got a very nice, thoughtful reply. I wrote again thanking him, and the next reply was a form letter. Such is life. But I got on their mailing list, and was given galley proofs of a few of the new books to read and comment on. My dad was/is much more into this; if you want more detailed info, I can get it from him. Harlequin picked it all up sometime around 1980-1982... I cant be more specific at the moment, all my info is home. have fun /amqueue
davidsen@steinmetz.UUCP (Davidsen) (03/11/86)
In article <81@cad.UUCP> vallath@cad.UUCP (Vallath Nandakumar) writes: > > Does anybody know who writes Mack Bolan books? >Any opinion aboout them would also be welcome. >Apparently it is some genre of thriller or mystery. ... >vallath@esvax.berkeley.edu >ucbvax!esvax!vallath The series is the "executioner" books, and there were several names used as author, although all of the early (and in my opinion best) were by the same author. The name was Don Pendleton, although I have been told that it's a house name. The premise is that Mack Bolan comes home from Vietnam, gets pissed off at the mafia for murdering his parents, terrorizing his brother, and selling his sister into white slavery. He single-handedly attacks the mob and wins. oops... I've given away the plot. Of the whole series. Actually I bought the series until he decided to switch to terrorists, although the mafia showed amazing recuperative powers to last through 40 volumes of utter defeat. He was doing a city per book, but toward the end, as a friend put it, he was "riding through New Jersey, bombing pizza parlors and shooting anyone who's name ended in a vowel". I liked the books, if you like well written action, buy them, starting with #1. Don Pendleton seems to know quite a bit about guns, and the lack of major technical errors made the whole thing much better for me, although there was more technical detail than was needed in some places. People who are offended by crime, sex, or senseless violence may find these books a bit much. What can I say, I bought the first 40. -- -bill davidsen seismo!rochester!steinmetz!--\ / \ ihnp4! unirot ------------->---> crdos1!davidsen \ / chinet! ---------------------/ (davidsen@ge-crd.ARPA) "It seemed like a good idea at the time..."
boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (03/14/86)
> From: steinmetz!davidsen (bill davidsen) > The series is the "executioner" books, and there were several names used as > author, although all of the early (and in my opinion best) were by the same > author. The name was Don Pendleton, although I have been told that it's a > house name. All but one of the Executioner books were written by one person, whose real name *was* Don Pendleton (the one exception is #15, I think, by Jim Peter- sen and was the result of contractual misunderstandings between Pendleton and Pinnacle Books). Since they've gone over to Gold Eagle (Harlequin) Books, Pendleton has farmed them out to other writers. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...} !decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM