Ashton Ford
Created by Don Pendleton (1927-1995)

ASHTON FORD is a private investigator specializing in psychic phenomena, or as the blurb goes "a mystical world of vision, intuition, and psychic truth."

Uh-huh...

Ford's a former naval intelligence officer, and also a "phenomenal psychic, unparalleled lover, and a true Renaissance man. He can see into the future and even into the distant past using his psychic powers to assist special clients who are in crisis."

In other words, the same old hokum dressed up in new-age mumbo-jumbo. In his first book, Ashes to Ashes, he's hired by a beautiful heiress in dire need of a sexual surrogate. aliens, ghosts, Satan worshippers, UFOs, dolphins and other assorted cosmic and supernatural conspiracies... Pendleton left no pulp cliche untouched.

Thanks to the miracle of POD and iUniverse, most of his books are now once again available. No, don't thank me.

Don Pendleton was one prolific dude, if nothing else. A Navy vet who served in WWII and Korea, he wrote mystery, action/adventure, science-fiction, crime fiction, and suspense novels, as well as short stories and non-fiction. he also wrote comics, poetry, screenplays and poetry. But he'll always be remember for creating the Mack Bolan: The Executioner series, which became the definitive Men's Action/Adventure series. But somehow, he also found time in there to create private eyes Ford, Joe Copp and Stewart Mann, who actually was a bit of a dry run for Bolan.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S, UH, MOUTH

• "Although The Executioner Series is far and away my most significant contribution to world literature, I still do not perceive myself as 'belonging' to any particular literary niche. I am simply a storyteller, an entertainer who hopes to enthrall with visions of the reader's own incipient greatness.
  .
  "Through (Ashton Ford) I attempt to understand more fully and to give better meaning to my perceptions of what is going on here on Planet Earth, and the greatest mystery of all the mysteries: the why of existence itself. Through Ford I use everything I can reach in the total knowledge of mankind to elaborate this mystery and to arm my characters for the quest. I try to entertain myself with their adventures, hoping that what entertains me may also entertain others­so these books, like life itself, are not all grim purpose and trembling truths. They are fun to write; for some they will be fun to read."
  (Don Pendleton)

NOVELS

• Ashes to Ashes (1986)
• Eye to Eye (1986)
• Mind to Mind (1987)
• Life to Life (1987)
• Heart to Heart (1987)
• Time to Time (1988)

RELATED LINKS

• Don Pendleton: Author
  The official website of Don Pendleton. The guestbook is hosted by his widow, Linda Pendleton.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

Associate Member