The Books
All books were published by Mayflower Publishers:
1. Black Blood, 128 pages, 1977
2. High Slaughter, 128 pages, 1977
3. Triangle of Death, 128 pages, 1977
4. Guerrilla Attack, 128 pages, 1977
5. Death Raid, 128 pages, 1978
(They Call Me) The Mercenary (Hank Frost)
Eighteen books by Axel Kilgore
Henry "Hank" Frost is a mercenary captain who lost his left eye in an attack by a renegade mercenary commander and was left for dead. He recovered and gained revenge, killing the man who took his eye.
Frost was one of the many Americans to serve in Vietnam, where he saw his commanding officer killed by a mercenary hired by the Viet Cong. After the war Frost was unable to settle back into civilian life and became a mercenary.
The one-eyed merc travels the globe with his reporter girlfriend Beth Stallman, fighting in trouble spots. Frost fights Neo-Nazi groups, battles drug kingpins and prevents assassinations. He also been hired as a bodyguard for a genius, and in the course of his travels has fought against numerous terrorist organizations and renegade arms dealers. Due to these battles, Frost is also frequently targeted by enemies and he has been poisoned, suffered amnesia, and drugged and imprisoned in Siberia. On other occasions, Beth stumbles into trouble while reporting for the International News Bureau and Frost becomes involved to help her.
Behind the Scenes
Axel Kilgore is the pen name of Jerry Ahern. Jerry Ahern is the author of the Survivalist and the Defender post-apocalyptic series as well as Track, The Takers and Surgical Strike. He has also written several books for the Killmaster series under the house name of Nick Carter. Ahern has also written more than 600 articles for various magazines and is the former president of Deutronics Firearms.
The Books
All books were published by Zebra Books:
1. The Killer Genesis, 238 pages, 1980
2. The Slaughter Run, 240 pages, 1980
3. Fourth Reich Death Squad, 238 pages, 1980
4. The Opium Hunter, 240 pages, 1981
5. Canadian Killing Ground, 224 pages, 1981
6. Vengeance Army, 224 pages, 1981
7. Slave of the Warmonger, 206 pages, 1981
8. Assassins Express, 214 pages, 1981
9. The Terror Contract, 223 pages, 1982
10. Bush Warfare, 207 pages, 1982
11. Death Lust, 191 pages, 1982
12. Headshot, 223 pages, 1982
13. Naked Blade, Naked Gun, 201 pages, 1983
14. Siberian Alternative, 188 pages, 1983
15. Afghanistan Penetrator, 206 pages, 1983
16. China Bloodbath, 193 pages, 1983
17. Buckingham Blowout, 190 pages, 1984
18. Eye for an Eye, 203 pages, 1984
Mia Hunter (Mark Stone)
Seventeen books by Jack Buchanan
Mark Stone is a former POW, Green Beret and a MIA hunter; that is, he looks for soldiers who were listed as "Missing in Action" in Vietnam, although later in the series he expands his operation to all conflicts. To aid in this, he owns and operates Stone Investigative Consultants as a private eye, which is basically run by his sidekick, Ben Zedicher. Stone's real work, however, is done with Hog Wiley, a giant redheaded Texan, and Terrance Lloughlin, a British demolition expert.
Initially, Stone's work is totally unsanctioned but eventually, after embarrassing the CIA on several occasions, Stone is asked to work for the CIA and help track down their MIA agents. Stone does this although he often acts on his own agenda. In #10 Miami Massacre, Stone acts on his own to rescue an old army buddy now working for the DEA who has gone MIA.
Behind the Scenes
Jack Buchanan hides the identity of Steve Mertz (who outlined and plotted all of the stories) and his collaborators Bill Crider and Joe R. Lansdale. Steve Mertz, along with Mike Newton, got his start working with Don Pendleton on the Executioner for Pinnacle Books, later ghostwriting a number of Executioner and Able Team novels for Gold Eagle books. Bill Crider, born in 1941, is the author of the Tru Smith and Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series and co-wrote The Coyote Connection under the house name Nick Carter for the Killmaster series.
Joe R. Lansdale, born 1951, is a Texan writer of horror, fantasy and mystery novels, including the Hap Collins and Leonard Pines series. He has also written for comics, including Batman, Lone Ranger and Jonah Hex. Lansdale also completed Edgar Rice Burrough's uncompleted Tarzan manuscript, Tarzan, the Lost Adventure, and his short story "Bubba Ho Tep" was filmed, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.
The Books
All books were published by Jove:
(One book of the series is not part of the numbering sequence and has been placed in publication sequence unnumbered.)
1. MIA Hunter, 197 pages, 1985
2. Cambodian Hellhole, 181 pages, 1985
3. Hanoi Deathgrip, 197 pages, 1985
4. Mountain Massacre, 196 pages, 1985
5. Exodus from Hell, 197 pages, 1986
6. Blood Storm, 182 pages, 1986
Stone: MIA Hunter, 261 pages, 1987
7. Saigon Slaughter, 199 pages, 1987
8. Escape from Nicaragua, 198 pages, 1987
9. Invasion USSR, 185 pages, 1988
10. Miami Warzone, 184 pages, 1988
11. Crossfire Kill, 170 pages, 1989
12. Desert Deathraid, 168 pages, 1989
13. LA Gang War, 165 pages, 1990
14. Back to 'Nam, 186 pages, 1990
15. Heavy Fire, 200 pages, 1991
16. China Strike, 193 pages, 1991
Mind Master (Britte St. Vincent)
Five books by John F. Rossman and Ian Ross
Britte St. Vincent served in Vietnam and the horrors of that conflict activated his latent psychic abilities. When the military discovered his abilities, he was recruited into a top-secret psychic research project.
It was at this research project that St. Vincent met the love of his life, another test subject in the project. The pair decided to leave the project and get married, but during their escape attempt, she died. St. Vincent was sent away and warned to stay out of psychic matters and not mention anything about his experiences or he would suffer an even worse fate. Britte lived by those conditions, becoming an international race car driver. The adrenalin rush was like a drug that kept his mind from his past.
One night, driving down a lonely highway, St. Vincent is passed by a ghost car driven by his former lover. Following the car, he discovers that it was a projection from the Mero Institute, a civilian agency determined to keep psychic research benign and for non-military applications. The group is formed by a number of former military researchers, many of whom had faked their deaths.
Britte agrees to become their field agent; his reputation as a playboy/race car driver is the ideal cover for this. Britte must track down the agents of the other psychic research and to maintain his cover he has to kill those other agents. Britte travels the world, hunting crazy Nazi researchers, a resurrected Jack the Ripper, all-female psychic Amazon tribes, hermaphrodite Korean agents, resurrected dead soldiers, psychic cyborgs and lesbian scientists.
The series ends with both Britte St. Vincent and the Mero Institute exposed.
Behind the Scenes
John F. Rossman, born 1942, served in the Missouri National Guard from 1965 to 1967 as well as working in a number of public relations /communications roles. While the first three books in the Mind Masters series appear under his own name, the final two books in the series were published under the pseudonym of Ian Ross. This move may have come from the publisher in an attempt to create a house name to continue the series as Rossman left the series to concentrate on children's books and writing about Christian meditation.
Rossman has this to say about why he left the series: "Even though the 'Mind Masters' series is viable for continuation, my market research data show conclusively that, due to working women dropping out of the wor
k force at the moment because of economic slowdown and other factors, there will be a 'baby boom' which will result in approximately three and a half million new births per year through the early 1980's. Children's books for three- to five-year-olds will be in great demand within two years, and I already have underway two series of children's books for this age group." (Contemporary Authors Online).
The Books
All books were published by Signet Books:
1. Mind Masters, 232 pages, 1974 (John Rossman)
2. Shamballah, 220 pages, 1975 (John Rossman)
3. Door, 168 pages, 1975 (John Rossman)
4. Amazons, 172 pages, 1976 (Ian Ross)
5. Recycled Souls, 170 pages, 1976 (Ian Ross)
Missions of Alex Kane
Six books by John Preston
Alex Kane is unique in the world of serial vigilantes. This tall, green-eyed, muscular freelance operative only takes the missions that interest him. Just as the Executioner declared war on the Mafia and later terrorism, Alex Kane has become the defender of the gay community, declaring war on bigotry and intolerance.
Primarily operating in the United States, Kane travels from city to city to protect the gay community from threats such as trashy tabloids inciting violence against gay men or foreign intelligence agencies blackmailing prominent government officials with their secret gay liaisons. Kane is not limited to operating in America; in Secret Danger, he travels to Bosnia to rescue a gay travel group when hijackers take over their flight to Europe. Throughout the series Kane develops a romantic relationship with his sidekick Danny but has encounters with other men.
Behind the Scenes
John Preston was an openly gay author. Many of his works were about the gay experience and gay erotica. Under the name Preston Mac Adam, he wrote the Shield series and, under the Jack Hild house name, Preston contributed several books to the Soldiers of Barrabas series. With the creation of Alex Kane, Preston was able to combine his two genres and created a gay action hero. During the early days of AIDS awareness, Preston became an advocate of safe sex and in 1994 he passed away due to complications from AIDS.
The Books
All books were published by Alyson Publications
1. Sweet Dreams, 122 pages, 1984
2. Golden Years, 126 pages, 1984
3. Deadly Liars, 126 pages, 1985
4. Stolen Moments, 125 pages, 1986
5. Secret Dangers, 124 pages, 1986
6. Lethal Silence, 118 pages, 1987
Mondo: Man of Violence
Three books by Anthony DeStefano
The man known as Mondo was a master thief working for the Mob until they killed his wife and son but failed to kill him. Mondo, knowing that his life was in danger, fell off the radar. When the Mob discovered that they had failed to kill Mondo, they realized that his inside knowledge was a danger. Mondo had to be killed. Eventually Mondo was tracked down to a hobo camp and a hobo thought to be Mondo was killed. But the mob was dead wrong. The man they killed was Mondo's best friend and now Mondo was coming after them.
Mondo is violent in his quest for revenge, often killing his victims with swords. His methods lead his enemies to declare that if Mondo kills you quick he's doing you a favor. After killing the men who killed his family, Mondo continues his fight against drug dealers and other criminals.
Behind the Scenes
Anthony De Stefano also writes under the name Anthony John. Under the John name, De Stefano wrote the thrillers Predator and Judas Voice.
The Books
All books were published by Manor Books:
1. Mondo, 192 pages, 1975
2. Cocaine Kill, 234 pages, 1977
3. Minute to Pray, Second to Die, 188 pages, 1977
Murder Master (Louis Luther King )
Three books by Joseph Rosenberger
Louis Luther King is a hard man and — unlike his near namesake, Martin Luther King — is a violent man, so much so that he is called the Murder Master. A government agent and master of disguise, this African American travels the world tackling the problems that are too difficult to be handled by conventional law enforcement. King's mastery of disguise allows him to impersonate an elderly man and a white man, making him an expert infiltrator, able to destroy an organization from the inside. King is highly educated and to establish his superiority frequently uses words like "pygmalionist."
King fights the Italian Mafia, outwitting their death traps to wipe out one of the many Mafia families. Then he travels to the Caribbean to destroy a Neo-Nazi heroin smuggling ring. In his final adventure, King poses as a Mack Man in Harlem to bring down the Boss Pimp, who is behind a plot blackmailing United Nations diplomats.
Behind the Scenes
Joseph Rosenberger became a professional writer at the age of twenty-one after selling an article. After working a series of jobs including Korean karate instructor, circus pitchman and private eye, he became a full-time writer in 1961. Rosenberger was the author of the Death Merchant and C.O.B.R.A. series and, under the pseudonym Lee Chang, created and wrote the first martial arts series Kung Fu (Mace). Rosenberger had an interest in the occult and paranormal and wrote a number of articles for Fate magazine. It is believed that Rosenberg passed away in the early 1990s and his final series, Geneva Force, has only one book.
The Books
All books were published by Manor Books:
1. Death Trap, 191 pages, 1973
2. Caribbean Caper, 191 pages, 1973
3- Operation Hooker, 192 pages, 1974
Night Hunter (Dan Brady)
Six books by Robert Faulcon (Robert Holdstock)
Dan Brady was a British military researcher of paranormal phenomenon with a very limited understanding of what he was researching. That all changed just before Christmas when his family was abducted. As the abductors left, Brady was left alive, as he was considered be unimportant and no threat to them. That was their first mistake.
The second mistake was revealing that the name of the organization that stole his family, Arachne. Contacting a fellow researcher, Ellen Bancroft of the Ennean Institute of Paranormal Research, Brady began to hunt for his family. Ellen taught Brady about the psychic world and how to protect himself against psychic and magical attacks.
Ellen was an early victim of the psychic and spiritual attacks against Brady and her ghost acts as an advisor, often warning him of impending threats. Brady tracks down various plots orchestrated by Arachne, such as the collection of various demons and spirits of shamans and wizards by powerful psychics called accumulators and the abductions of other people like his family. Brady gains allies in his fight against Arachne, such as Police Superintendent Andrew Sutherland, who investigated the Bradys' kidnapping and feeds Brady information, and Professor Sheila Roache and her team of psychic researchers.
Arachne's goal is the resurrection of total magic in the world and Brady's daughter Marianna has special powers and abilities that will allow Arachne to breach the mystical barriers that constrain magic. Brady tracks his family to Arachne's stronghold, a labyrinth constructed underground along the Ley lines in the North of England. Brady rescues his family and foils Arachne's plot.
Behind the Scenes
Robert Faulcon is the pen name of Robert Holdstock. Later books in the series reveal the secret to capitalize on the World Fantasy Award Holdstock won for his novel Mythago Wood. Holdstock in the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels published under his own name. Under a variety of pen names he also wrote a number of "hasty commercial efforts," as one critic referred to them (Dictionary of Literary Biography Online) these included the Raven sword and sorcery series written as Robert Kirk (with Revenger author Angus Wells) and a number of novelizations for the Professionals television series under the name Ken Blake.
The Books
All books were published by Arrow Books:
1. The Stalking aka Night Hunter, 199 pages, 1983
2. The Talisman, 200 pages, 1983
3. The Ghost Dance, 192 p
ages, 1983
4. The Shrine, 219 pages, 1984
5. The Hexing, 207 pages, 1984
6. The Labyrinth, 283 pages, 1987
Ninja Master (Brett Wallace)
Sixteen books by Wade Barker
The path of the ninja master to get that rank was long and arduous. His real name wasn't Brett Wallace but Brian "Tiger" Williams and he was the child of parents made wealthy from a lawsuit against the summer camp where his younger brother Bart drowned. Brian spent a decade studying martial arts and moved to Japan. While there he met and married his wife, Kyoko. The couple returned to America and started a family, but Kyoko and the baby were murdered by a gang of drug-addled murders. Brian Williams returned to Japan and began training as a ninja. After a decade he returned to America under his new identity of Brett Wallace.
Brett was determined to prevent anyone else from suffering the same fate as him and the ninja master began to kill the victimizers, those who preyed on society.
Brett worked with his ninja clan:
• Shiban Kan Hama; the next highest ninja sent by Wallace's ninja trainers to watch Brett
Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm Page 18
