Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
Page 16
• Mac White: The mountain-sized former Klansman, White left the Klan after six months as he also hated his fellow Klansmen. Eventually, White fought against the Klan when they took a black family hostage. White, the perfect killing machine, wiped out his former colleagues.
• James Jackson: the odd man out in this crew, this father of ten found that commercial fishing didn't pay enough and he turned to drug smuggling. After ditching a load of cocaine to rescue a shipwrecked fishing crew, the drug lords framed Jackson for the murder of three agents and sent him to the electric chair.
• Lucien Schnell: This German-born soldier of fortune took his love of killing to any part of the world that allowed him free reign: South Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America. This crewcut, blonde-haired and blue-eyed mercenary's father and uncle served in the Gestapo, responsible for the slaughter of Jewish and Polish prisoners in Nazi Germany. Schnell's hunt for his family led him to kill several West German Nazi hunters and to a rape and murder spree across ten states in America.
This dirty half-dozen confront the hardest and dirtiest missions that the CIA can throw at them, tackling jihadist terrorists, religious zealots, and other threats to national security.
Behind the Scenes
Frank Garrett is the pseudonym of Dan Schmidt, the author of a number of horror novels and the Eagle Force series as well as several Executioners as Don Pendleton.
The Books
All books were published by Avon Books:
1. Counter Attack, 180 pages, 1986
2. Mission Revenge, 167 pages, 1986
3. Lethal Assault, 165 pages, 1986
4. Judas Soldiers, 169 pages, 1987
5. Blood Beach, 164 pages, 1987
6. Body Count, 154 pages, 1987
7. Polar Assault, 169 pages, 1987
8. Slaughter Zone, 154 pages, 1987
9. Devil's Island, 153 pages, 1987
10. Mob War, 152 pages, 1988
K'ing Kung Fu (Chong Fei K'ing)
Seven books by Marshall Macao
Prior to Pearl Harbor, a number of American volunteers went and joined the war, know officially as the American Volunteer Group and unofficially as the Flying Tigers. These aviators fought the Japanese. It was in 1941 that a hawk-nosed member of the Flying Tigers met Lin Fong, who at the age of sixty was the world's greatest master of kung fu.
The pair became friends and Chong Fei K'ing, the Flying Tiger's son, eventually came to be raised by Lin Fong and trained in kung fu. Later, Lin Fong took another student, Kak Nan Tang. The pair trained in the martial arts with their master but Kak became seduced by the Red Circle, the dark and evil cult of martial artists bent on taking over the world. Kak killed Lin Fong and fought K'ing to a standstill. The pair chased each other around the world with K'ing vowing to slay his master's murderer.
K'ings hunt brought him allies such as the beautiful Sun Lee Fong, who later becomes his wife, and the Moor, another martial arts master who continues K'ing's training inducting him into the Blue Circle.
K'ing battles Red Circle plots such as drug running, slavery, war mongering and fermenting racial violence.
Behind the Scenes
Marshall Macao is a pen name used by Thaddeus Tuleja (born 1941). Tuleja is a freelance author who has penned books on language, song lyrics and self-help, gaining a reputation as a quick and efficient writer able to meet deadlines.
The Books
All books were published by Freeway Press:
1. Son of the Flying Tiger, 188 pages, 1973
2. Return of the Opium Wars, 189 pages, 1973
3. Rape of Sun Lee Fong, 187 pages, 1974
4. Kak-Abdullah Conspiracy, 197 pages, 1974
5. Red Plague in Bolivia, 178 pages, 1975
6. New York Necromancy, 180 pages, 1975
7. Mark of the Vulture, 186 pages, 1975
Kung Fu (Mace)
Eight books by Lee Chang (1-6) and C. K. Fong (7-8)
Victor George Mace Sr., an American who served in Communist China during the Korean War and married a Chinese girl, Su Li Nai, died at the hands of the Communist Chinese government while aiding refugees from a giant concentration camp in China to Hong Kong. Victor Jr. was less that a year old when his father died. Two years later, Su Li Nai married Po Wa Hong, who sent his stepson to the Shao Lin temple to be trained in the martial arts.
At age twenty-five and completely trained in kung fu, aikido, karate, savate, tai chi, ninjitsu and other martial arts, the slender 6' 2" martial artist travelled to visit his uncle in New York City. Discovering the crime and corruption in Chinatown, the young man cleaned up the vicious elements. He was then offered the chance to work with the CIA to help them with their problems. These missions took him all over the world, using his martial arts skill to follow Pi Tuh-t'1-tu, the kung fu principal of justice. In doing so Mace tracks down moles, stops viral attacks, avenges the death of friends and foils the spread of communism.
Behind the Scenes
This series was one of the first kung fu series. Lee Chang was the pseudonym of Joseph Rosenberger, who also wrote The Death Merchant, Murder Master and C.O.B.R.A. series.
Leonard Levinson also used the Lee Chang pen name for this series. Levinson born in 1935 served the US Army from 1954 to 1957. Under a number of pseudonyms and house names, he has contributed to a number of series, including Bronson, Butler, the Sharpshooter and the Sexecutioner.
C. K. Fong was the pseudonym of Bruce Cassidy. Cassidy, who was born in 1920, started writing for the pulp magazines and wrote many stories that appeared in the pulps; he contributed The Spanish Connection to the Killmaster series and, under the pen name of Carson Bingham, wrote several of the Phantom novels that appeared in the 1970s based on the newspaper strip.
The Books
All books were published by Manor Books
1. The Year of the Tiger, 219 pages, 1973 (Rosenberger)
2. The Year of the Snake, 189 pages, 1974 (Rosenberger)
3. The Year of the Rat, 192 pages, 1974 (Rosenberger)
4. The Year of the Dragon, 192 pages, 1974 (Rosenberger)
5. The Year of the Horse, 192 pages, 1974 (Rosenberger)
6. The Year of the Boar, 190 pages, 1975 (Levinson)
7. The Year of the Cock, 222 pages, 1975 (Cassidy)
8. The Year of the Ape, 186 pages, 1975 (Cassidy)
Lincoln Blackthorne
Four books by Geoffrey Marsh
Lincoln Blackthorne is the tailor for the sleepy town of Iverness, New Jersey. The tailor business made enough to keep afloat and keep Blackthorne busy. But what his clients never knew or suspected was that Lincoln Blackthorne was more than a tailor. Blackthorne's secret is known only to three people: Macon and Palmer Crowley and Old Alice. All three are over fifty and live vicariously through their adventurer friend, but they also serve the purpose of an early warning system, keeping Blackthorne informed of any suspicious activity in town. Blackthorne, or "Blackie" to his friends, travels through the secret door in his shop and begins his true vocation of treasure hunter and international soldier of fortune.
Blackthorne is one of the best in the business and is frequently hired to locate rare artifacts such as cursed jeweled playing cards, relics believed to have curative powers and other mystical items. These quests take Blackthorne all over the world and Blackthorne is in competition to retrieve these items.
Behind the Scenes
Geoffrey Marsh was born in England and served in the Black Watch during World War II. After a family tragedy prevented him from completing his religious studies at Trinity College (Cambridge), he emigrated to the United States and taught literature at a New Jersey private school.
Or so the author biography would have us believe. In truth, Geoffrey Marsh is the pen name of Charles L. Grant. Grant was born in New Jersey in 1942. He studied at Trinity College (Hartford) and started a career as a teacher of English, drama and history in the New Jersey public school system in 1964. After serving in Vietnam as an Army military polic
e officer (1968 — 70) and receiving a bronze star, he returned to teaching but left in 1974 to pursue writing. Grant is considered the master of quiet horror and, under his own name, wrote the Greystone Bay series and several original tie-in novels for the X Files. Under several pseudonyms, Grant has written Gothic romances and horror parodies. Under the Marsh pen name, Grant also wrote the novelization for Hudson Hawk.
The Books
All books were published by Tor Books:
1. The King of Satan's Eyes, 281 pages, 1984
2. The Tail of the Arabian Knight, 278 pages, 1986
3. Patch of the Odin Soldier, 182 pages, 1987
4. Fangs of the Hooded Demon, 281 pages, 1988
The Liquidator (Jake Brand )
Five books by R. L. Brent
Jake Brand was a tough Miami cop until his investigations into the Mafia got too close. The Mafia then killed his father and brother and framed Brand for murders he didn't commit. On the run from the police he used to work with and his name disgraced, Brand swore revenge against the Mafia. Unfettered by the rules and outside the system, Brand is taking down the Mafia one mobster at a time.
This war on the Mafia makes Brand the target of hit men and he has to not only elude the police but these vicious killers out to collect the price on his head. Brand also disrupts any Mafia activity he uncovers, from smashing major narcotics rings by invading their headquarters to attacking prostitution and pornography rings. In his final adventure, Brand is approached by the man due to become the next United States Attorney General who is being pressured by the Mafia to drop a pending case as they have kidnapped the future AG's estranged daughter. Brand is offered a deal — find the missing daughter and Brand will be given amnesty and a new identity.
Behind the Scenes
R. L. Brent is a pseudonym used by Larry Powell. Under the Nick Carter house name he wrote two books for the Killmaster series and co-wrote one of the Able Team novels as Dick Stivers. Under the pen name Lee Parker he wrote the Donovan's Devils series. Powell was also the author a number of western short stories that appeared in Zane Grey's Western Magazine.
The Books
All books were published by Award Books:
1. Liquidator, 186 pages, 1974
2. Contract for a Killing, 185 pages, 1974
3. Cocaine Connection, 188 pages, 1974
4. Invitation to a Strangling, 186 pages, 1975
5. The Exchange, 188 pages, 1978
Lone Wolf (Burton Wulff)
Fourteen books by Mike Barry (Barry N. Malzberg)
Burton Wulff was a decorated Vietnam veteran who, after his return to America, became a New York narcotics police officer. The same skills that he employed in the Vietnam War he brought to the war on drugs.
Wulff's no-nonsense and incorruptible policing did not sit well with the politically minded members of the police force and Wulff was demoted back to patrolling the streets in a patrol car with a rookie partner, a young black officer, David Williams.
It was during Wulff's first ride with his new partner that he received an anonymous tip about the location of the body of a drug overdose. Upon arrival Wulff discovers that the overdose isn't an ordinary junkie but the body of his fiancee, Marie Calvante. Convinced that she was killed by corrupt cops and the drug barons, Wulff quit the police then and there and started the personal war on drug.
Beginning with two low-level drug dealers, Wulff works his way through the drug supply chain. His only ally in this new war is his new partner Williams. After cleaning up New York, Wulff travelled America, bringing his drug war to the drug barons following the clues that he discovered in earlier battles; in one case he follows a corrupt New York narcotics officer to Las Vegas. In Wulff's final exploit, Mike Barry brings the series to conclusion with Wulff descending into a full psychosis, travelling from bar to bar, shoot patrons because they might be involved in the drug trade, forcing David Williams to shoot and kill him.
Behind the Scenes
Mike Barry is the pseudonym of science fiction author Barry Malzberg. Malzberg was initially a writer of literary short stories before the discovery that the shrinking market for these stories were not lucrative enough to support him. The expanding science fiction market could, on the other hand, support a productive writer and Malzberg turned his energies to that market. Malzberg has several themes that run through his work such as the state of the science fiction and how it has failed to fulfill the task of telling us how to save ourselves from perdition. For Malzberg, bureaucracy and corruption are virtually synonyms, with his novels Beyond Apollo and Revelations (both 1972) being damning indictments of the American government's handling of the space program.
The Lone Wolf novels can be seen as an example of this theme. In the collection of essays Breakfast in the Ruins (2007), Malzberg discusses the Lone Wolf series in the essay "Some Notes on The Lone Wolf" (pp. 295-298). Malzberg reveals the original name of the Lone Wolf was to be Wulff Conlan but it was too close to the name of a publisher and had to be changed. Since the 1990s, Malzberg has stopped writing novels and has turned to the short story. He has over 300 to his credit.
The Books
All books were published by Berkley:
1. Night Raider, 192 pages, 1973
2. Bay Prowler, 192 pages, 1973
3. Boston Avenger, 192 pages, 1973
4. Desert Stalker, 192 pages, 1974
5. Havana Hit, 192 pages, 1974
6. Chicago Slaughter, 192 pages, 1974
7. Peruvian Nightmare, 189 pages, 1974
8. Los Angeles Holocaust, 192 pages, 1974
9. Miami Marauder, 186 pages, 1974
10. Harlem Showdown, 186 pages, 1975
11. Detroit Massacre, 186 pages, 1975
12. Phoenix Inferno, 186 pages, 1975
13. Killing Run, 186 pages, 1975
14. Philadelphia Blowup, 185 pages, 1975
Malko /SAS (Prince Malko Linge)
171 books by Gerard De Villiers
Son altesse serenissime (His Serene Highness) Malko Linge is an Austrian prince who is a freelance operative for the CIA. Initially reluctant to work for any intelligence agency, his need for money to restore his castle in Austria eventually overcame this and the fees from the high-risk freelance operations allow Malko to pay for the restoration. Initially residing in America, Malko moved permanently into his castle after the repairs had reached a certain stage.
The prince is an Olympic athlete, having represented Austria in several games competing in combat shooting events, preferring his personal Luger or the latest model Beretta 9mm. At 6'1", with blonde hair and golden brown eyes, Malko has no trouble attracting female attention, a trait that he frequently exploits in his missions.
As an Austrian prince, Malko is a member of the jet set and has friends in the diplomatic and journalistic circles. This playboy image allows Malko to travel around the world unsuspected and his European heritage allows him access to places and people that an American agent might not be able to access. These factors allow Malko to be a highly successful operative.
Malko's code name with the CIA is SAS, play on both his title and the British Special Air Service. Malko has been involved in nearly two hundred missions and traveled all over the world, troubleshooting for the CIA. His missions have including hunting down rogue agents and assassins, fighting terrorists, investigating sabotage on military assets and preventing the use of biological weapons.
Behind the Scenes
Gerard De Villiers was born in 1929 and studied journalism. He established himself as a journalist covering the Vietnam War. After the death of Ian Fleming in 1964, De Villiers decided to attempt the fill the void with his own series. De Villiers brings his journalist training to his writing and travels the world visiting the settings of his books. In several cases, the Malko novels have predicted major espionage news events.
Due to his right-wing views, De Villiers books are not carried in many bookstores but rather sold in airports and train stations. The Fren
ch translations and editions of the Executioner and the Destroyer are published under the banner "Gerard De Villiers presents."
The Books
All books were published by Plon:
1. SAS à Istanbul, 188 pages, 1965
2. SAS contre CIA, 176 pages, 1965
3. Opération Apocalypse, 127 pages, 1965
4. Samba pour SAS, 175 pages, 1966
5. Rendez-vous à San Francisco, 252 pages, 1966
6. Le Dossier Kennedy, 253 pages, 1967
7. Broie du noir, 334 pages, 1967
8. SAS aux Caraïbes, 253 pages, 1967
9. SAS à I'ouest de Jeruzalem, 160 pages, 1968
10. Lor de la riviere Kwaï, 179 pages, 1968
11. Magie noire à New York, 191 pages, 1968
12. Les trois veuves de Hong Kong, 254 pages, 1968
13. LAbominable sirene, 255 pages, 1969
14. Les pendus de Bagdad, 254 pages, 1969
15. La panthere d' Hollywood, 206 pages, 1969
16. Escale à Pago-Pago, 254 pages, 1969
17. Amok a Bali, 253 pages, 1970
18. Que viva Guevara, 180 pages, 1970