Mack Bolan
Encyclopedia
Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character
who has been serial
ized in over six hundred novel
s with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton
, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote thirty-seven other novels featuring Bolan, often referred to as the "Mafia Wars". In 1980, Pendleton sold his rights to the character to Gold Eagle who hired a number of ghostwriters to continue publishing Bolan monthly to keep up with reader demand worldwide. Don Pendleton remained credited as the sole author and supervised these new adventures which traveled the Bolan character all over the world fighting terrorism. This new series of books featured Bolan as a principled warrior fighting larger than life adversaries in the spirit of a tougher American version of James Bond. The demand for the books continued and Gold Eagle began releasing as many as fifteen titles annually. In addition, Bolan was "spun off" into several new adventure book series which also carried the Mack Bolan/Don Pendleton names and sold extremely well. As of 2009, there are more than twelve Mack Bolan novels published every year worldwide by Gold Eagle Books, a division of Harlequin Books.
." Bolan was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, of Welsh-Polish heritage, eldest of the three children of steelworker Samuel Bolan and his wife, Elsa. Bolan enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam
as a Green Beret, even though newer novels don't make any reference to this as it makes him seem too old.
Bolan became an expert sniper with over ninety kills to his record, earning him the nickname The Executioner. For all his lethal capability, Bolan was deeply compassionate, becoming known as Sgt. Mercy because of the aid he often gave to Vietnamese civilians and those who needed help.
During his service in the Vietnam war, Bolan became highly adept at penetration and intelligence gathering, guerilla warfare, marksmanship and munitions. He also became a skilled armorer.
During Bolan's second tour, his father suffered a heart attack that forced him to leave his job at the steel mill. Unable to work, with bills piling up, he was forced to borrow money from Triangle Industrial Finance, a savings-and-loan outfit known around town as a loansharking operation controlled by the family of Don Sergio Frenchi, the godfather of the Mafia in western Massachusetts. The people at TIF caused the elder Bolan countless problems with their payment demands ... on one occasion, their enforcers dislocated his arm as punishment for missing one loan payment, warning him that the same arm would be broken if he missed another.
His daughter, Cindy Bolan, was worried about her father's safety and had secretly paid the officers at TIF a visit in order to persuade them to leave her father alone and allow her to repay the loan. In her first attempt, she turned in $35 a week, money she made from an after school job. When it was not enough, they "suggested" she become a prostitute.
Johnny Bolan, Mack's younger brother, learned about it from a schoolmate who taunted him about it, resulting in a fight that Johnny lost. When he found Cindy servicing a client in a motel room, he blew the whistle to his father ... an act that resulted in the elder Bolan striking him. When she was confronted by her father, she admitted to her work, expressing her fear for his health and welfare.
For Sam Bolan, it was too much. He snapped and turned a Smith & Wesson .45 on his family and then himself. Johnny Bolan was the only survivor of the murder-suicide.
A few days later, Bolan was notified of the tragedy by an Army chaplain and took emergency leave to visit his brother. After Johnny told him the whole story, Bolan broke into a gun store and stole a big-game rifle, leaving money to cover the "purchase" of the weapon. He would use this rifle to assassinate the TIF loansharks. This would be the beginning of his war against the Mafia.
As well as being in two nuclear explosions, Mack has been knifed numerous times and shot several times in various parts of his body, most recently in his left shoulder. He has been in numerous grenade explosions and several warehouse roofs have come down on his head.
His philosophy is simple: "If you care enough for something, you have to be willing to kill for it." When asked how he dealt with the horrors of his war against the Mafia, he said, "I stay angry."
. He occasionally takes missions from Stony Man's director and personal friend, Hal Brognola, and the President of the United States. Frequently he returns to Stony Man to lead the agency on missions.
No one has ever claimed Bolan does not like women. In fact, he has sex with a different one in most of the Pendleton novels. He prefers the gutsy type who are not apt to run away when shot at, which explains his deep affection for Querente, federal agent Toby Ranger, and April herself. In one novel, a woman with whom he was working claimed he liked his women "barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen." Bolan replied, "No, I like them alive."
In his spare time, he likes extreme sports such as canoeing several rivers in flood stage. He typically likes to spend his spare time either with Barbara Price or pursuing an extreme sport.
He is also very literate, frequently reading Miguel de Cervantes
' masterwork Don Quixote.
in .460 Weatherby Magnum
, which he obtained from Nicholas "Nick Trigger" Woods, a top Mafia hitman sent to kill him. For a sidearm, he used the silenced Beretta Brigadier
, which he nicknamed "Belle", which he carried in a vertical shoulder rig. His most trademark weapon was "Big Thunder", a stainless steel .44 AutoMag
he usually wore on his hip. The Brigadier and AutoMag have since been supplanted by the current favorites, the Beretta 93R
and .44 Magnum Desert Eagle
, though Bolan has demonstrated facility with any pistol or rifle he comes across.
, Phoenix Force
, Super Bolan and Stony Man
. More than 670 Mack Bolan/Executioner/Super Bolan/Stony Man/Phoenix Force/Able Team novels have been published over the last 38 years, making it one of the most prolific series of original novels centered around one character published in the English language.
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
who has been serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
ized in over six hundred novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton
Don Pendleton
Don Pendleton was an author of fiction and nonfiction books, best known for his creation of American hero The Executioner: Mack Bolan.-Biography:...
, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote thirty-seven other novels featuring Bolan, often referred to as the "Mafia Wars". In 1980, Pendleton sold his rights to the character to Gold Eagle who hired a number of ghostwriters to continue publishing Bolan monthly to keep up with reader demand worldwide. Don Pendleton remained credited as the sole author and supervised these new adventures which traveled the Bolan character all over the world fighting terrorism. This new series of books featured Bolan as a principled warrior fighting larger than life adversaries in the spirit of a tougher American version of James Bond. The demand for the books continued and Gold Eagle began releasing as many as fifteen titles annually. In addition, Bolan was "spun off" into several new adventure book series which also carried the Mack Bolan/Don Pendleton names and sold extremely well. As of 2009, there are more than twelve Mack Bolan novels published every year worldwide by Gold Eagle Books, a division of Harlequin Books.
Fictional character biography
When asked his name and rank in Colorado Kill Zone, he replied, "Bolan, Mack Samuel, Master SergeantMaster Sergeant
A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF...
." Bolan was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, of Welsh-Polish heritage, eldest of the three children of steelworker Samuel Bolan and his wife, Elsa. Bolan enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
as a Green Beret, even though newer novels don't make any reference to this as it makes him seem too old.
Bolan became an expert sniper with over ninety kills to his record, earning him the nickname The Executioner. For all his lethal capability, Bolan was deeply compassionate, becoming known as Sgt. Mercy because of the aid he often gave to Vietnamese civilians and those who needed help.
During his service in the Vietnam war, Bolan became highly adept at penetration and intelligence gathering, guerilla warfare, marksmanship and munitions. He also became a skilled armorer.
During Bolan's second tour, his father suffered a heart attack that forced him to leave his job at the steel mill. Unable to work, with bills piling up, he was forced to borrow money from Triangle Industrial Finance, a savings-and-loan outfit known around town as a loansharking operation controlled by the family of Don Sergio Frenchi, the godfather of the Mafia in western Massachusetts. The people at TIF caused the elder Bolan countless problems with their payment demands ... on one occasion, their enforcers dislocated his arm as punishment for missing one loan payment, warning him that the same arm would be broken if he missed another.
His daughter, Cindy Bolan, was worried about her father's safety and had secretly paid the officers at TIF a visit in order to persuade them to leave her father alone and allow her to repay the loan. In her first attempt, she turned in $35 a week, money she made from an after school job. When it was not enough, they "suggested" she become a prostitute.
Johnny Bolan, Mack's younger brother, learned about it from a schoolmate who taunted him about it, resulting in a fight that Johnny lost. When he found Cindy servicing a client in a motel room, he blew the whistle to his father ... an act that resulted in the elder Bolan striking him. When she was confronted by her father, she admitted to her work, expressing her fear for his health and welfare.
For Sam Bolan, it was too much. He snapped and turned a Smith & Wesson .45 on his family and then himself. Johnny Bolan was the only survivor of the murder-suicide.
A few days later, Bolan was notified of the tragedy by an Army chaplain and took emergency leave to visit his brother. After Johnny told him the whole story, Bolan broke into a gun store and stole a big-game rifle, leaving money to cover the "purchase" of the weapon. He would use this rifle to assassinate the TIF loansharks. This would be the beginning of his war against the Mafia.
As well as being in two nuclear explosions, Mack has been knifed numerous times and shot several times in various parts of his body, most recently in his left shoulder. He has been in numerous grenade explosions and several warehouse roofs have come down on his head.
His philosophy is simple: "If you care enough for something, you have to be willing to kill for it." When asked how he dealt with the horrors of his war against the Mafia, he said, "I stay angry."
Stony Man
After 38 bloody campaigns against the Mafia, Bolan became the leader of the Stony Man organization, working with Able Team, Phoenix Force, Hal Brognola, April Rose, Aaron (The Bear) Kurtzman, and Jack Grimaldi.War Against The Mafia and KGB
After the KGB attempt to destroy Stony Man and the death of April Rose, Bolan left the organization to resume his solo war against evil ... this time adding the KGB to his hit list. It was during this war that he was framed by the Mob for the murder of a prostitute in McLary County, Texas, resulting in him being tried for his extra-legal activities.Current activities
Bolan currently works on his own at arm's length from the clandestine agency Stony ManStony Man
Stony Man is a fictional clandestine anti-terrorist organization featured in the Executioner series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers.-History:...
. He occasionally takes missions from Stony Man's director and personal friend, Hal Brognola, and the President of the United States. Frequently he returns to Stony Man to lead the agency on missions.
Personal life
Bolan has been in love only twice. His first lover was Valentina "Val" Querente, who he met when he first went up against the Mob. He would break off this relationship after she and Johnny Bolan had been kidnapped. His second love was federal agent April Rose, who he met during the first of his final campaigns against the Mafia. He holds current lover, Barbara Price, at arm's length out of fear she, like Val and April, will be threatened, harmed, or killed.No one has ever claimed Bolan does not like women. In fact, he has sex with a different one in most of the Pendleton novels. He prefers the gutsy type who are not apt to run away when shot at, which explains his deep affection for Querente, federal agent Toby Ranger, and April herself. In one novel, a woman with whom he was working claimed he liked his women "barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen." Bolan replied, "No, I like them alive."
In his spare time, he likes extreme sports such as canoeing several rivers in flood stage. He typically likes to spend his spare time either with Barbara Price or pursuing an extreme sport.
He is also very literate, frequently reading Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
' masterwork Don Quixote.
Skills
In addition to the skills mentioned above, Mack Bolan speaks Spanish, Russian, Arabic and passable German, and can understand many other languages.Weapons
Throughout his war against the Mafia, Bolan used a variety of weapons. His first was the Weatherby Mark VWeatherby
Weatherby, Inc. is an American gun manufacturer founded in 1945 by Roy Weatherby. The company is best known for its high-powered magnum cartridges, such as the .257 Weatherby Magnum and the .460 Weatherby Magnum...
in .460 Weatherby Magnum
.460 Weatherby Magnum
The .460 Weatherby Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge, developed by Roy Weatherby in 1957. The cartridge is based on the .378 Weatherby Magnum necked up to accept the bullet. The original .378 Weatherby Magnum parent case was inspired by the .416 Rigby...
, which he obtained from Nicholas "Nick Trigger" Woods, a top Mafia hitman sent to kill him. For a sidearm, he used the silenced Beretta Brigadier
Beretta M 1951
The M 1951 is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Pietro Beretta S.p.A. of Italy. The pistol was produced strictly for military use and was introduced into service with the Italian Army and security forces as the Modello 1951 , replacing the 9 mm...
, which he nicknamed "Belle", which he carried in a vertical shoulder rig. His most trademark weapon was "Big Thunder", a stainless steel .44 AutoMag
AutoMag (pistol)
The .44 Auto Mag pistol is a large caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was designed between 1966 and 1971 by the Auto Mag Corporation to bring .44 magnum power to a semi-automatic pistol....
he usually wore on his hip. The Brigadier and AutoMag have since been supplanted by the current favorites, the Beretta 93R
Beretta 93R
The Beretta Model 93R is a selective-fire machine pistol, designed and manufactured by the Italian Beretta company in the 1970s for police and military use, that is derived from their semi-automatic Model 92...
and .44 Magnum Desert Eagle
Desert Eagle
The Desert Eagle is a large-framed gas-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Magnum Research in the U.S. and by IMI in Israel; the pistol is manufactured primarily in Israel by IMI...
, though Bolan has demonstrated facility with any pistol or rifle he comes across.
Spin-offs
In addition to the main Executioner series, several spin-off book series have been published expanding Pendleton's universe, including Mack Bolan, Able TeamAble Team
Able Team is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....
, Phoenix Force
Phoenix Force
Phoenix Force is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....
, Super Bolan and Stony Man
Stony Man
Stony Man is a fictional clandestine anti-terrorist organization featured in the Executioner series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers.-History:...
. More than 670 Mack Bolan/Executioner/Super Bolan/Stony Man/Phoenix Force/Able Team novels have been published over the last 38 years, making it one of the most prolific series of original novels centered around one character published in the English language.
Authors
Here is a comprehensive list of authors who have at one point in time written a Mack Bolan/Executioner novel, or a spin-off novel for the series (i.e. Able Team, Phoenix Force, or Stony Man)..
| Don Pendleton Don Pendleton Don Pendleton was an author of fiction and nonfiction books, best known for his creation of American hero The Executioner: Mack Bolan.-Biography:... |
Dan Marlowe | Patrick F. Rogers | |
| Tom Arnett | Charlie McDade | Ken Rose | |
| Andy Boot | Mike McQuay | Mark Sadler | |
| Nicholas Cain Nicholas Cain -Military career:Cain was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In 1972, despite a relatitvely high draft number of 363, he volunteered for the Vietnam War, where he served as a US Army military policeman until 1973... |
Stephen Mertz Stephen Mertz Stephen Mertz, born May 3, 1947, is an American fiction author who is best known for his mainstream thrillers and novels of suspense. His work covers a wide variety of styles from paranormal dark suspense to historical speculative thrillers and hardboiled noir .His novels have been well-received... |
Kirk Sanson | |
| E. Richard Churchill | Gerald Addison Montgomery | Dan Schmidt | |
| Chet Cunningham | Will Murray Will Murray (writer) Will Murray is the author of more than fifty novels, a scholar of pulp fiction and a writer of numorous comic books. Much of his fiction has been published under pseudonyms.-Novels and magazines:... |
C.J. Shiao | |
| Les Danforth | Patrick Neary | Wiley Slade | |
| Kent Delaney | Judy Newton | Tim Somheil | |
| Mark Ellis Mark Ellis (writer) Mark Ellis is an American novelist and comic-book writer who under the pen name James Axler has written scores of books for the Outlanders paperback novel series and other books, as well as numerous independent comics series.... |
Michael Newton | Gayle Stone | |
| William Fieldhouse | Paul Glen Neuman | Dan Streib | |
| G. H. Frost | David North | Rex Swenson | |
| Carl Furst | Raymond Obstfeld Raymond Obstfeld Raymond Obstfeld is an American novelist, screenwriter and non-fiction writer. He teaches creative writing at Orange Coast College.-Biography:... |
Timothy Tresslar | |
| Jack Garside | Mel Odom | Nik Uhernik | |
| Roland Green | L. R. Payne | Jerry VanCook | |
| Jon Guenther Jon Guenther Jon Guenther is an American author of novels in various genres. He resides in the American Southwest.-Soul Runner:* -Chaser Series:* Chaser * Chaser's Return *... |
Rod Pennington | David Wade | |
| Aaron Hill | Alan Philipson | Saul Wernick | |
| Paul Hofrichter | Nick Pollotta Nick Pollotta Nick Pollotta is an American author. The majority of his work has been published by Gold Eagle Books under house names "James Axler" and "Don Pendelton".He lives in Chicago with his wife, Melissa.- 1991 :* DOOMSDAY EXAM, Fantasy/Humor... |
Douglas Wojtowicz Douglas Wojtowicz Douglas P. Wojtowicz is a Chicago, Illinois, United States, pulp fiction writer and one of the authors of the current Mack Bolan writing team. As such, his work is credited under the name of Don Pendleton. His first pulp novel, Blood Trade was published in February 2003... |
|
| Robert Hoskins | Larry Powell | Nathan Meyer | |
| Tom Jagninski | Rick Price | ||
| Michael W. Kasner | Rich Rainey | ||
| Steven Krauzer Steven Krauzer Steven Krauzer was a ghostwriter for The Executioner series featuring Mack Bolan. He wrote a total of 4 books between 1982 and 1983. Krauzer was preceded by Saul Wernick and was followed by Michael Newton.- The Executioner :* #40: Double Crossfire... |
Thomas Ramirez | ||
| Peter Leslie | Kevin Randall | ||
| Michael Linaker | Ron Renauld | ||
| Larry Lind | David L. Robbins | ||
| James Lord | Chuck Rogers (1985–1987) | ||
| Chuck Rogers (1996–present) |