Howelings

Tinsel Town Takes on Stony Man

BY MARK HOWELL

Most people simply don’t believe it when they hear that Harlequin Books, the publishers and purveyors of paperback mail-order romances to millions of women worldwide, are actually the publishers of action-adventure novels for men as well.

Way back in the 1980s, it was the fate of yours truly to help Harlequin launch its rather startling acquisition of Don Pendleton’s bestselling “War Against the Mafia” series, which featured a character called Mack Bolan the Executioner. Two spin-off series, “Able Team” and “Phoenix Force,” were included in a new imprint to be called Gold Eagle.

The initial job description included selling this new product to the movies and TV, which involved relocating from Harlequin’s head office in Toronto to a newly remodeled Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, just a short walk away from Warner Bros. Studios.

We succeeded in attracting the interest of Sylvester Stallone but he ultimately failed to bite and it was “Able Team” that somehow managed to morph into TV’s “A Team,” bringing stardom to Mr. T.

Mack Bolan’s paperback war against organized crime then shifted quite presciently (and most profitably) toward an assault on international terrorism. Meanwhile, other movie stars stars sniffed at the franchise, including Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Vin Diesel, and several Oscar-winning film directors did, too, but no movie ever did get made.

Death was in the air from the very outset at Gold Eagle. Saul Wernick, the first of our writers hired to pump out shoot ’em-ups, died of a heart attack only weeks before the launch of the imprint. Then Pendleton himself, a dear man and quite a softie to boot, died of a heart attack, too (he was 67). Eventually, we even managed to kill off Mack Bolan’s girlfriend, the lovely April Rose, a terrible mistake that it took the series years to overcome.

I was eventually drafted on a mission to Harlequin’s head office in Ontario to join forces with a writer-for-hire by the pen name of G. H. Frost and create a “Super Bolan” that would kick-start all the series in one volume. Through sweaty days and nights, the two of us occupied an empty office with a $16,000 IBM Displaywriter and kept the curious at bay by dumping coffee grounds on the carpet outside. “Someone died there,” Frost muttered whenever asked about this.

Ultimately, we wrestled the thing into the bag: “Stony Man Doctrine” starred Mack Bolan, Able Team and Phoenix Force all together in one steaming heap of glory.

This week we hear from another of Gold Eagle’s writers-for-hire from way back then, one Bill Craig, who today is an Absolutely Amazing e-Books bestselling author and just happens to have been right here in town as an attendee at last month’s Mystery Writers Key West Conference. It is he who has alerted us of the stunning, just-released news that Mack Bolan, Harlequin’s hero of 700 titles and 200 million books in print in 40 countries, has at last, finally, made it to the movies.

Here is this month’s press release:

“In a pre-emptive deal worth multiple seven-figures for the package, Warner Bros. has acquired the Don Pendleton anti-terrorist-operative Mack Bolan series and will develop it as a star vehicle for Bradley Cooper to potentially play Bolan and Todd Phillips to potentially direct him. “Avatar 4” co-writer Shane Salerno — who acquired the rights to the franchise from Pendleton’s estate — will write the script and produce along with Cooper (star of “American sniper”) and Phillips, who earlier this year joined forces and formed a Warner Bros.-based producing label. They promise a relevant, grounded, real-world PG-13 action film series.”

Commented Linda Pendleton, Don’s widow: “Our family is pleased to have Shane bring Mack Bolan to film. We know how mindful he is of the essence of Mack that has captured the minds of readers for decades.”

But, wait.

Here is the most remarkable news of all.

It comes directly from the research department at Gold Eagle:

“Thirty percent of Mack’s readers are women.”

 

*****

Quote for the Week:

“I don’t envision a single thing that, when developed and cultivated, brings about such happiness as the mind. The mind, when developed and cultivated, brings about happiness.”

— The Buddha, “The Single Thing”

 

 

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