The Executioner, Don Pendleton Creates Mack Bolan, 50 Year Anniversary

By Linda Pendleton

Don Pendleton Creates Mack Bolan

50 Years Ago, Don Pendleton envisioned a fictional character that would soon become a literary bestseller and a phenomenon through which the new action/adventure genre emerged. Mack Bolan, a professional soldier, highly trained and skilled in the use of military tactics and weapons makes a life-altering decision after the tragic death of his family—his war is at home, not in the bloody fields of Vietnam. Mack Bolan takes on a one-man war against the evils and corruption of the Mafia.

This book gives Don Pendleton's insights into the creation of his fictional character, Mack Bolan, and explores why Bolan continues the popularity with readers many decades after he was created.

Linda Pendleton, wife of the late Don Pendleton shares a look-back at two inspiring men, one, a talented author, the other, a skilled fictional hero. Don Pendleton's Original Executioner Series of 37 novels, plus his Executioner short story, Willing to Kill, continues to be published for fans and new readers to enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Pendleton
• Release date: Mar 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463978924

Linda Pendleton

Linda Pendleton has written in a variety of genres: nonfiction, mystery novels, nonfiction ecourses, comic book scripting, and screenplays. She coauthored nonfiction and fiction with her late husband, renowned author, Don Pendleton, including the popular nonfiction books, To Dance With Angels, and Whispers From the Soul. A few of her other nonfiction books are A Walk Through Grief; Three Principles of Angelic Wisdom; A Small Drop of Ink. Her fiction work includes her novels, The Unknown; Sound of Silence; Deadly Flare-Up; Roulette, The Search for the Sunrise Killer by Don and Linda Pendleton; her Catherine Winter Mystery series, Shattered Lens; Fractured Image; Shifting Focus; Corn Silk Days, Iowa, 1862; The Bold Trail, A Samuel Garrison Western. She has won awards for her ebooks. Linda is a former member of The Authors Guild, and EPIC Authors. SAhe is currently a member of Sisters in Crime and Western Fictioneers. Four of her early ebooks won Epic Awards. Although most of her time is devoted to her love of writing, she also enjoys the exploration of her family's genealogical roots. Linda's book covers are designed with Judy Bullard. They have worked together for nearly two decades. Check out Judy's book cover gallery at http://www.customebookcovers.com. Judy is listed as one of Smashwords suggested cover designers.

Book preview

The Executioner

Don Pendleton

Creates Mack Bolan

50 Year Anniversary

1969-2019

Linda Pendleton

Pendleton Artist

California

The Executioner, Don Pendleton Creates Mack Bolan, 50 Year Anniversary © Copyright 2019 by Linda Pendleton, All Rights Reserved.

Published by Pendleton Artists at Smashwords, February 2019

No part of this work herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act without the prior permission of the publisher, Linda Pendleton.

Cover Design by Judy Bullard, with Linda Pendleton.

Photos of Don Pendleton and Don and Linda Pendleton from ©Linda Pendleton Collection.

Pendleton Artists

California

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: How it Came to Be

Chapter Two: The Birth of Mack Bolan

Chapter Three: Not Smooth Sailing

Chapter Four: Creation of the Executioner

Chapter Five: The Metaphysical Theme

Chapter Six: Violence and Profanity

Chapter Seven: Morality

Chapter Eight: The Critics

Chapter Nine: My Creative Writing Style

Chapter Ten: The Hollywood Dream

Chapter Eleven: A Return to Bolan

Chapter Twelve: 50 Years Later

Chapter Thirteen: The Elements of Success

Chapter Fourteen: Quotes and Comments

Chapter Fifteen: Original Executioner Books

Authors

In loving memory of Don Pendleton, my husband, my love, my inspiration—then, now, and forever.

~Linda Pendleton

Dedicated to the millions of Executioner fans worldwide; many who have been with Mack Bolan since the beginning, fifty years ago; and to the readers who have more recently joined Bolan's war against the Mafia. Thank you.

~Linda Pendleton

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.

~Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

"I am not their judge. I am their judgment.

I am their executioner."

~Mack Bolan, Don Pendleton

Live Large!

~Don Pendleton (1927-1995)

Mack Bolan theme, The Executioner Series

Introduction

I loved being a part of Don Pendleton's creative world. I was asked shortly after we married if I felt cut off from Don when he was working on a novel. My answer was no. The life of a writer is often a lonely existence—just you, your keyboard, and the characters who roam around the mind—or it can also be what Don and I enjoyed, a sharing of the process.

We shared the creative world, even at the times he was working on one of his books, and me on my own, and especially when writing together. Each of us understood the creative process and looked forward to sharing the results of each day's creative endeavors. We often recognized the faraway look in the eyes as our fictional characters took over when our mind shifted into the creative mode. We respected that, and it was never an unwanted intrusion into our relationship. During our marriage, Don did not work the long, hard hours that he had worked in the days of writing his Executioner novels.

Don and I had so much fun when we adapted and scripted to comic the first Executioner novel, War Against the Mafia. I really enjoyed being able to work with Mack Bolan and Don was happy to return to Bolan's world. After Don passed away in October of 1995, I adapted and scripted the second Executioner, Death Squad. I know Don was looking over my shoulder and cheering me on.

Don's writing career meant the world to him and since he has been gone, it has been my wish and purpose to keep his legacy alive and his body of work out there for fans and new readers to enjoy. Don always loved meeting his fans and responding to fan mail. Even today, I hear from fans and often they tell me how inspired they have been by Don's writing and the Mack Bolan fictional character.

Most of what is in this book is transcribed comments from audio tapes Don recorded for his own use, his personal notes and writings, thoughts he shared with me, and ideas he shared in interviews.

When you read Don Pendleton you experience his multilayered reach for the reader's mind. It was Don's goal, his expressed hope, that when a reader finishes the last page and closes one of his books, not only will the reader feel entertained, but will be left with something to reflect upon, a new idea to ponder. The books become a meeting of the minds; the mind of the author with each and every mind of his millions of readers around the world.

This book is a celebration of fifty years since the birth of Mack Bolan. I honor Don with this look-back over the decades to the beginnings of a fictional character that has become an unforgettable character, a true hero in every sense of the word. Don's Mack Bolan has influenced and inspired millions of people and has transformed awareness, despite diverse international social and cultural backgrounds, and possibly in more ways than we know. We all need a hero. And for many, Mack Bolan is that man.

~Linda Pendleton

California, February 2019

Chapter One:

How It Came to Be

This is the story of two men, each extraordinary in their own way; one an American writer, the other, an American fictional character.

Don Pendleton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on December 12, 1927, to Louis Thomas and Drucy (Valentine) Pendleton, and is a direct descendant of Philip and Isabella (Hurt) Pendleton, who came from Norwich, England, to settle in Virginia in 1674.

During World War II, five days before his fifteenth birthday, Don enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Radioman First Class until November of 1947. He served in all of the war theatres, receiving various medals including the naval commendation medal, and Iwo Jima, 1945; helped set up the postwar air traffic control networks in the Pacific, (in a joint civil/military project). He received his GED certificate of high school equivalency while in the Navy in 1947. In 1952, in the midst of the Korean conflict, Don returned to active duty in the Navy for two years.

As an avid reader from his early youth, Don once wrote, I have served many long and lonely years aboard ship in war zones, and the only thing that kept me sane during all that enforced loneliness was my access to a good library in which I read, literally, every book on the shelves, even textbooks, and which gave me access to other worlds no way open to me.

His skill as a radioman during World War II led him to the railroad after the war where he was employed as a telegrapher for Southern Pacific Railroad until 1957. For the next four years, he worked for the CAA/FAA as an air traffic control specialist. In 1961, his career turned toward aerospace engineering where he served in management positions during Martin-Marietta's Titan ICBM programs, and later as