Don Pendleton

Don Pendleton was an acclaimed American author, best known for his action-adventure, thriller, and detective fiction novels. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 12, 1927, and passed away in Arizona on October 23, 1995. Pendleton served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War, and later worked as an air traffic control specialist and engineering administrator at NASA.

Pendleton is widely regarded as the father of the action/adventure genre, having coined the term himself. His groundbreaking work in this field has had a significant impact, with the name being used not just in novels but also in films, games, and comic magazines. Pendleton's own experiences as an action man undoubtedly contributed to the authenticity of his writing. He enlisted in the Navy at the age of 14 during World War II and served in all theaters of the war until 1947. In 1952, he re-enlisted to serve in the Korean conflict until 1954.

Pendleton's most notable creation is the Mack Bolan: The Executioner series, which he wrote under the house name of "Don Pendleton." He also wrote the Ashton Ford, Joe Copp, and Stewart Mann series under his own name. In addition to his fiction work, Pendleton was a prolific writer of non-fiction books and was also a comic scriptwriter, poet, screenwriter, essayist, and metaphysical scholar.

Pendleton's books have been published in more than 25 foreign languages, with close to two hundred million copies in print throughout the world. His successful paperback books inspired a new particularly American literary genre during the early 1970's, and Pendleton became known as "the father of action/adventure." Despite his significant contributions to the genre, Pendleton himself did not perceive himself as belonging to any particular literary niche. He simply saw himself as a storyteller and entertainer who hoped to enthrall his readers with visions of their own greatness.