Black Swan (Shauna Bishop)
Four books by J.J. Montague
Shauna Bishop is a freelance operative for Section K of an unnamed agency. She receives a handsome check every month from Section K that pays the rent on her $450 penthouse suite in Newport, California, and has allowed her to save over $100,000 secured in three safety deposit boxes.
Code-named The Black Swan, Shauna's specialty is seduction and she has the body for the job. With long dark hair almost touching her buttocks, tall, in her twenties, her enormous breasts are jutting and firm with large nipples and while off duty Shauna rarely wears clothes.
The Black Swan is a nymphomaniac who has seduced numerous men on her missions and has killed four men with complete detachment and no remorse.
Section K has used her skills to obtain information from enemy agents or to cause them to defect to America. In other cases, Shauna uses her body as an extra inducement to sway independent nations to favor the United States, seducing rulers and politicians. Shauna is also a crack shot and worked with the Marines during a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East.
Shauna, on occasion, teams with male agents such as Mike Dark. The sexual chemistry often leads to pre- and post-mission sex.
When not staying at her Newport penthouse, Shauna travels the globe and has taken missions in France, Vietnam, China and the Middle East.
Behind the Scenes
J.J. Montague is the pen name of James Keenan. Keenan also writes under the names J.J. Savage and Bruce Brooks. Under his own name, he wrote the thriller Run, Major, Run.
The Books
All books were published by Canyon Books:
1. Chinese Kiss, 190 pages, 1974
2. Cong Kiss, 189 pages, 1974
3. French Kiss, 1974
4. Judas Kiss, 192 pages, 1975
Blood (Mark Blood)
Three books by Allan Morgan
Mark Blood was a hero during the Vietnam War, a war that desperately needed heroes. Returning from the hospital after being injured in his latest mission, Blood discovered that his wife Cynthia was killed during a plane hijacking and that his commander had kept this information from him for a week.
After a violent attack on his commander, Blood was discharged and returned to America where he was approached by the CIA to act as their unofficial agent. Rejecting their offer, Blood instead decided to investigate the death of his wife, a file clerk for the CIA.
Blood discovered that the official story that his wife was accidentally shot by the hijackers was false and that her throat had been slit. As the hijackers wanted to be taken to Cuba, Blood headed there and became involved in an anti-Castro group who had access to a new chemical weapon.
Blood discovered that this was the group who killed his wife and who the CIA wanted him to hunt down. After wiping out this group and the woman responsible for his wife's death, Blood reconsiders the CIA offer and undertakes two further missions for the CIA.
Behind the Scenes
Allan Morgan is the pen name of Marilyn Ruth Henderson. Henderson was a research chemist, but a back injury left her unable to stand for a lengthy periods and she began writing. Henderson is a keen traveler and uses her trips as research for her books. Henderson is one of the few female writers in the field and wrote Assignment Intercept for The Killmaster series under the name Nick Carter. Henderson also wrote a number of young adult books published by Scholastic as M.R. Henderson.
Under the name Adam Hamilton, Henderson wrote the Peacekeeper series.
The Books
All books were published by Award Books:
1. Bloody 188 pages, 1974
2. The Spandau Warranty 173 pages, 1974
3. The Cat Cay Warrant, 203 pages, 1974
Bronson: Street Vigilante (Richard Bronson)
Three books by Philip Rawls
Richard Bronson was a knee-jerk liberal with a wife and children in Cincinnati. But that all ended when criminals led by twins Bennie and Bernie raped his wife and murdered his children. The courts set his family's killers free. Bronson raged about this and he decided to arm himself and take out the criminals who killed his family. Bronson became even more savage than the street scum he fought, using their own violent tactics against them, dousing one female victim in kerosene and lighting her up, and feeding another victim to hungry rats. Bronson initially didn't care if innocent bystanders were killed and even contemplated killing a police officer if he got in his road.
As the series progresses, Bronson follows Bennie and Bernie to California and then to New York and the rage and violence begin to ebb as Bronson stops torturing people and is much more concerned about innocent bystanders.
Behind the Scenes
This series shows its inspiration with the main character Richard Bronson taking his name from the lead actor in the Death Wish films, Charles Bronson. Philip Rawls is a house name.
Leonard Levinson used the Philip Rawls pen name for this series. Levinson was born in 1935 and served the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957. Under a number of pseudonyms and house names, he has contributed to a number of series, including Kung Fu, Butler, The Sharpshooter, and The Sexecutioner.
The Books
All books were published by Manor Books:
1. Blind Rage, 1975
2. Streets of Blood, 200 pages, 1975
3. Switchblade, 191 pages, 1975
Bunduki (James Allenvale Gunn)
Four books by J.T. Edson
During the Mau Mau revolution, the Gunn family's plantation was attacked by the rebels. The only survivor was two-year-old son James Allenvale Gunn, who was found by John Clayton, Lord Greystoke.
The Greystokes lived in the next plantation and were friends with Gunns and they adopted James. James was raised with his adoptive cousin Dawn Drummond-Clayton. As James grew up he was trained at the jungle Ambagasali Game Preserve. James was given the nickname Bunduki, the Swahili word for gun.
Dawn often visited her cousin during her vacations and during one of those visits Bunduki and Dawn were on a routine patrol of the Game Preserve when their Land Rover was attacked by poachers and the Rover went over a cliff.
The pair awoke on the planet Zillikan, where aliens calling themselves the Suppliers had populated the planet with a number of rare and endangered animals and several tribes from Earth and needed someone to be their enforcer to keep law and order.
Bunduki and Dawn are not your typical serial vigilantes but they have not been sanctioned by the tribes of Zillikan but rather appointed by the God-like Suppliers to act as the judge and jury for all of Zillikan. This unofficial arrangement places them as serial vigilantes. Bunduki and Dawn battle warring factions of the Quagga tribe bent on conquering all of Zillikan.
Behind the Scenes
J.T. Edson was a dog trainer for the British army who served in Kenya. After leaving the army, he turned his hand to writing and started writing westerns, creating the Floating Outfit, Civil War, Ole Devil Hardin, and Waco series. With this success Edson was able to branch out into less conventional westerns with female protagonists (Calamity Jane), and different time periods (Company Z in the 1920s and Rockabye County in contemporary times).
Edson explains in his introduction to the Bunduki story in J.T. s Hundredth that he was a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series and created a new Tarzan story. The story was rejected by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., as it had been Burroughs' wish that no one else write his most famous creation. It was not until Edson read Philip Jose Farmer's Tarzan Alive that he saw a way to use his story and created Tarzan's adopted son Bunduki.
The Books
All books were published by Corgi Books:
1. Bunduki, 204 pages, 1975
2. Bunduki and Dawn, 190 pages, 1976
3. Sacrifice for the Quagga God, 194 pages, 1976
4. Fearless Master of the Jungle, 211 pages, 1980
Edson had written a fifth novel, "The Amazons of Zillikan," but due to ongoing issues with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., this novel
was never published.
Edson also wrote several short stories featuring Bunduki and Dawn set prior to their transportation to Zillikan:
• "The Mchawi's Powers," J.T.'s Hundredth, 41 pages, 1979
• "Death to Simba Nyeuse," J.T.'s Ladies, 40 pages, 1980
• "Accident — or Murder?" More J.T.'s Ladies, 59 pages, 1987
• "A Good Time Was Had by All," Mark Counter's Kin, 13 pages, 1990
Butler
Twelve books by Philip Kirk
Butler (no first name is ever given) is a former CIA agent, fired for being too critical of the Agency. He discovered that rather than being part of the solution to the world's problems, the CIA was part of the problem, being part of the military industrial complex and the secret society dedicated to taking over the world known as Hydra. Hydra is responsible for the assassination and removal of world leaders, including the assassination of President Kennedy.
Butler is not alone in his battle against Hydra as he is quickly recruited by the Bancroft Institute. The institute is known around the world as a leader in scientific research but its true mission is protecting the world against Hydra.
Butler is the Bancroft Institute's top agent, called on to tackle the hardest jobs, such as stopping assassination attempts, stealing military secrets, preventing the release of deadly viruses, stopping rogue satellites and ending other threats to world security and freedom.
One of the more unusual aspects with Butler is his relationships with women. Like many other secret agents and serial vigilantes, he has a number of sexual encounters with women but while the sex is fantastic, the women all seem to turn on him and accuse him of forcing them. In one instance Butler was forced to perform at gunpoint and the woman, a fellow agent of the Bancroft Institute, still accused him of rape.
Behind the Scenes
Leonard Levinson born in 1935 served the US Army from 1954 to 1957. Under a number of pseudonyms and house names, he has contributed to a number of series, including Bronson, Kung Fu (Mace), The Sharpshooter and The Sexecutioner.
The Books
All books were published by Leisure Books:
1. Hydra Conspiracy, 201 pages, 1979 (Levinson)
2. Smart Bombs, 207 pages, 1979 (Levinson)
3. Slayboys, 203 pages, 1979 (Levinson)
4. Chinese Roulette, 204 pages, 1979 (Levinson)
5. Love Me to Death, 224 pages, 1980 (Levinson)
6. Paris Kill, 239 pages, 1980
7. Killer Virus, 1980
8. Dead Fail, 1980
9. Laser Shuttle, 1980
10. Killer Satellites, 235 pages, 1980 (Levinson)
11. Q Factor, 1984
12. Midas Kill, 239 pages, 1984
The Butcher (Bucher)
Thirty-five books by Stuart Jason (house name)
In November 1948, a newborn baby was left on the doorstep of St. Joseph's orphanage in Knoxville, Tennessee. The habitually drunk priest, Isham Green, and the overly tired Dr. Allen Adam from Child Welfare never realized that they had only given the child one name, Bucher.
Bucher ran away from the orphanage ten years later and eventually made his way to Chicago. There he met Luigi Orazio, who was dying of leukemia. Luigi and Bucher were the best of friends and after Luigi died, Luigi's parents, Tino and Maria Orazio, unofficially adopted Bucher.
Tino was high in the underworld circles in the post-Capone Chicago and when he realized his adopted son had lightning-swift reflexes and supersensitive survival instincts that bordered on magic and precognition, he allowed Bucher to become an enforcer for the syndicate.
Eleven years after the adoption, Tino was killed and Bucher, now nicknamed The Butcher, took over from his father. A decade later, The Butcher realized that what he was doing was wrong and he decided to leave. The Syndicate, realizing how much he knew, refused to let him go and put a price on his head.
The Butcher then joined a group known as White Hat and started working to destroy the Syndicate as well as taking other assignments, like tackling terrorists who have taken over the United Nations Building (The UN Affair) or tracking a murderer (The Judas Judge).
Behind the Scenes
Created by Lyle Kenyon Engel for Pinnacle Books, this series featured Michael Avallone, James "Doc" Dockery and Lee Floren behind the Stuart Jason pen name.
James "Doc" Dockery originated the Stuart Jason name for a series of Plantation novels: Black Lord, Black Master, Black Hercules and Black Rebel.
Avallone is most famous as author of the private eye Ed Noon as well as writing tie-in novels for the Man from U.N.C.L.E., I — Spy and the Partridge Family television series. Avallone also wrote several Killmaster novels as Nick Carter.
Lee Floren also wrote several books in the Killmaster series.
The Books
All books were published by Pinnacle books:
1. Kill Quick or Die, 188 pages, 1971 (Dockery)
2. Come Watch Him Die, 188 pages, 1971 (Dockery)
3. Keepers of Death, 188 pages, 1972 (Dockery)
4. Blood Debt, 187 pages, 1972 (Dockery)
5. Deadly Deal, 188 pages, 1973 (Dockery)
6. Kill Time, 192 pages, 1973 (Dockery)
7. Death Race, 184 pages, 1973 (Dockery)
8. Fire Bomb, 181 pages, 1973 (Dockery)
9. Sealed with Blood, 183 pages, 1973 (Dockery)
10. The Deadly Doctor, 186 pages, 1974 (Floren)
11. Valley of Death, 178 pages, 1974 (Floren)
12. Killer's Cargo, 179 pages, 1974
13. Blood Vengeance, 180 pages, 1975
14. African Contract, 180 pages, 1975
15. Kill Gently but Sure, 1975
16. Suicide in San Juan, 186 pages, 1975
17. The Cubano Caper, 186 pages, 1976
18. UN Affair, 182 pages, 1976
19. Mayday over Manhattan, 184 pages, 1976
20. The Hollywood Assassin, 182 pages, 1976
21. Instant Dead, 179 pages, 1976
22. Grecian Bloodbath, 183 pages, 1976
23. Appointment in Iran, 150 pages, 1977
24. Venetian Vendetta, 183 pages, 1977
25. Corporate Caper, 166 pages, 1977
26. The Terror Truckers, 180 pages, 1977
27. Judas Judge, 184 pages, 1979 (Avallone)
28. Kill Them Silently, 181 pages, 1980 (Avallone)
29. Slaughter in September, 178 pages, 1980 (Avallone)
30. Coffin Corner USA, 1981 (Avallone)
31. Death in Yellow, 179 pages, 1981 (Avallone)
32. Hoodoo Horror, 177 pages, 1981 (Avallone)
33. Go Die in Afghanistan, 196 pages, 1982 (Avallone)
34. The Man from White Hat, 198 pages, 1982 (Avallone)
35. Gotham Gore, 194 pages, 1982 (Avallone)
Parodies
The Butcher was parodied as Al Baker, the Baker in The Destroyer #38: Bay City Blast, where he is portrayed as a low-level numbers runner who makes up information about the Mafia to get money from his backer.
Cabot Cain
Six books by Alan Caillou
Independently wealthy, Cain tackles tough jobs for Interpol in an unofficial and unpaid role, if he thinks that the situation warrants his intervention. Cain's liaison with Interpol is Inspector Fenrek.
Highly educated, Cain has taught numerous courses at the Sorbonne and Stanford but more than that, this 6ft, 7in giant is a physical marvel, running between five and ten miles at a time and exercising at every opportunity. This regime is not a result of vanity; rather it is the practical realism of the dangerous nature of his freelance work and the fact that his size makes him stand out as a target. His physical prowess means that he is as prepared as he can be for any danger.
Cain travels all over the world for his missions, tracking down Communist assassins hiding in Brazilian Nazi strongholds, acting as a bodyguard for a tong leader's daughter in Macao, fighting mercenaries in Portugal, rescuing kidnap victims from white slavers in the Middle East, battling mad scientists seeking
to unleash a plague of insects and rescuing Inspector Fenrek when he is captured by a criminal he had been hunting for twenty years.
Behind the Scenes
Allan Caillou was a screen writer and actor. As a script writer for the Man from U.N.C.L.E., he is credited for developing the character of Ilya Kuryakin. His novel writing included the series, the Private Army of Colonel Tobin, also known as Tobin's Commando and Tobin's Army.
The Books
1. Assault on Kolchak, 221 pages, 1969
2. Assault on Loveless, 224 pages, 1969
3. Assault on Ming, 192 pages, 1970
4. Assault on Fellawi, 192 pages, 1972
5. Assault on Agathon, 191 pages, 1972
6. Assault on Aimata, 190 pages, 1975
The Movie
In 1975, Allan Caillou adapted his own novel as the screenplay for the Greek/British Channel 9* production of Assault on Agathon. Directed by Laszlo Benedek and starring Nico Minardos as Cabot Cain, the film took advantage of the Greek scenery to make Caillou's vision a reality. Released theatrically in 1976 throughout Europe, the movie has never been released theatrically in Greece.
Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm Page 5