THANKS, DAD: THE GENESIS OF AN ACTION AUTHOR

My father is inadvertently responsible—or to blame, depending on your wording of choice—for making me the writer I am today. You see, when I was 16, Dad and I stopped at a hole in the wall bait shop that looked like it belonged in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie to buy some worms. That ramshackle bait shop boasted a counter overflowing with dog-eared paperbacks for a buck apiece. Amidst the chaotically-stacked, multi-genre mess—Stephen King mixed with Grace Livingston Hill mixed with Louis L’Amour mixed with more bodice-ripping romance than you could shake a stick at—I stumbled upon The Executioner #128: Sudan Slaughter. With a picture of a rugged hero wielding a submachine gun on the front and a tagline promising that “hellfire explodes in northeast Africa,” it snagged my teenage interest almost as easily as a picture of a nude woman might have. (I said “almost.”)

I devoured the book and rapidly became enraptured by the hardcore action and graphic violence. Heads exploded! Brains sprayed! Blood spurted! Guts spilled! It was, in a word, wicked awesome. (OK, that’s two words, but that’s how we talked in 1989. Everything was wicked this and wicked that. And the music was way cooler too, but I digress.)

Over the next year, I immersed myself in action-adventure fiction like an alcoholic turned loose in the Jack Daniels distillery. The Executioner, Phoenix Force, and Able Team were my staples, but I devoured pretty much anything that fit into the guns ‘n’ guts genre.

It soon became apparent that all the books pretty much adhered to a formula. At that time, I knew nothing of stable writers or publishing house demands or any of that stuff—heck, it took me years to realize the Executioner series was no longer written by Don Pendleton. I just knew that after reading hundreds of action-adventure books, they were starting to feel pretty same-y. When I lamented this fact to my father, he replied:

“If you think you can do better, go write one yourself.”

And so I did.

It was called “Delta Force” and it was 3 pages long. Basically just one scene of the elite anti-terrorist team storming a hijacked jet. I wish I still had that short “story,” because I guarantee I set a new world’s record for amount of gore spilled in less than a thousand words. Those terrorists—as well as a plethora of hostages and several Delta Force commandos—died damn hard. Yeah, I had a bit o’ the ol’ literary bloodlust in me. Still do.

That one time was all it took. The writing needle had been injected and I was an instant addict. I wrote ceaselessly, often banging out a story a day. I wrote Mack Bolan fan fiction. I created my own series—Death Dealer and Warlokk—and before long my 3 page action vignettes turned into legitimate short stories which in turn evolved into novellas. I wrote a short story about my uncle, Green Beret Sgt. Leonard P. Allen, who died in ‘Nam by heroically sacrificing his own life in order to save his men. I entered it into competitions and won, resulting in a huge surge of confidence. The writing bug had bitten hard and suddenly my dreams of becoming a cop were eclipsed by my desire to write action-adventure novels.


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That dream took longer than expected, backburnered by the demands of college, career, family, life, etc. But thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, that dream finally became reality on December 11, 2013, when I published my debut action-thriller, The Assassin’s Prayer.

I don’t know if I wrote a better action novel like my father told me to, but I did write one, and judging from the sales and feedback so far, people seem to like it. If you happen to read it and enjoy it, you can thank my dad. And if you hate it and think I should have avoided writing action fiction like a vegan avoids beef, well … you can still thank my dad.

Should Authors Brand Themselves?

The saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” But does that mean that indie authors who dabble in more than one genre are crippling themselves and their sales by not zeroing in on just one genre? Is it crucial for an author to brand themselves as an action writer or horror writer or romance writer and then cling exclusively to that category, forsaking all others, ‘til death do you part? Does reader bias exist against authors who refuse to wear a singular label?

The answer to all these questions is yes … and no. Multi-genre experimentation will hurt some authors but prove to be the path to success for others. Branding is a smart choice for some authors; for others it’s a waste of time equal to trying to start an inferno with a burnt match. Some readers will ignore authors who dip their pen in more than one ink well, others will embrace the diversification. Short of having Nostradamus in their lineage, it’s impossible for an author to predict, so they may as well write whatever makes them happy and let the branding fall where it may.

To be honest, this is a position reversal for me. Not long ago, I vowed to brand myself as an action author. Even this blog is geared toward action fiction and I have no intention of altering the focus, as that particular genre is my primary interest. I had published various short stories in the hardboiled, horror, and romance genres, but with the release of my debut novel, The Assassin’s Prayer, I believed the time had arrived to turn my back on those other genres and focus exclusively on action. After all, I currently have at least four more action novels outlined and ready to be written, so why not adopt the one-shot-one-kill technique of a sniper rather than the spray-and-pray approach of a machine-gunner?

But following the release of the novel, I was approached to submit a zombie story for an anthology. I caught whiff of potential opportunities in the western market. Readers clamored for a novel-length continuance of my short hardboiled story. I swiftly realized that branding myself as solely an action author would leave me as unsatisfied as a gun enthusiast trying to buy an AR-15 in New York. I wanted to write a western. I wanted to write a zombie story. I wanted to write a Jack Reece (“The Killing Question” )novel. And so I decided to do what I want, not what a brand demanded.



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The explosion of indie publishing has shredded preconceived notions of how authors should behave. Experimentation is not only accepted, it is encouraged. Branding may be beneficial for some, but for others it could be detrimental. No author can fully anticipate what will strike a chord with readers. For example, author Jack Badelaire started his career writing a contemporary action novel (Killer Instincts) and fully intended to continue down this path. Then, just for a lark, he penned a pulpy WWII tale about British Commandos. Unexpectedly, it snagged the attention of readers and he has now written three books in the “Commando” series that has become his bread and butter. Had he been determined to brand himself as only a contemporary action novelist, the level of success he now enjoys might have eluded him like a scuba diver trying to catch an eel with Vaseline-coated gloves.

For authors only interested in one specific genre, branding is a viable, perhaps even advised, option. But for those whose writing interests branch off in various directions, branding could be the cage that imprisons their success. For me, branding felt like shackles I had willingly put on. Thankfully, they were just as easy to take off. Readers may eventually brand me an action author or horror author or crime author but that branding will be natural, organic, not something I self-applied. Follow your muse, write what you please, and don’t worry about branding. Indie publishing is fertile soil; plant all the literary seeds you want and see which one flourishes best for you.