Mel Odom (author)

Mel Odom (author)
Mel Odom (born December 16, 1957, in California) is an American writer known primarily for science fiction and fantasy novels set in existing properties.
Education
Odom graduated from Byng High School in Byng, Oklahoma in May 1976, and later graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. He teaches undergraduate courses at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication in the Professional Writing program at the University of Oklahoma.
Career
Odom sold his first book in January 1988 and wrote dozens more books over the next ten years. He wrote two novels for the F.R.E.E.Lancers campaign setting for TSR's Top Secret/S.I. role-playing game, F.R.E.E.Lancers and F.R.E.E.Fall. He followed these with his first Forgotten Realms novel in 1998, The Lost Library of Cormanthyr, and then his Threat from the Sea trilogy.
Odom has written dozens of novels in several fieldsaction-adventure, computer strategy guides, fantasy, game-related fiction, horror, juvenile, movie novelizations, science fiction, and young adultas well as comics.
Odom wrote several novels in the Forgotten Realms series, including the trilogy The Threat from the Sea, and two short stories. He has gained renown with his The Rover and Left Behind Apocalypse series, and two novels for the NCIS franchise.
He has published original novels for popular TV shows, including Roswell and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. The most popular show for which he has written original novels is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has also written novelizations of movies, including: Blade starring Wesley Snipes, and xXx starring Vin Diesel.
One of his best known fantasy novels is The Rover (2001), which in 2002 won the Alex Award, an American Library Association award given to novels written for adults that would also appeal to young readers (see the link below). Three sequels have appeared since then: Destruction of the Books (2004), Lord of the Libraries (2005), and The Quest for the Trilogy (2007). These stories are high fantasy in the tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.
In 2003, he published Apocalypse Dawn, a military spin-off of the enormously popular Left Behind Series; Odom's book made the Christian bestseller list.
Odom also writes DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray reviews for AVRev.com.
He is known to have written under several pen names, among others Jordan Gray. Additionally, under the pseudonym of Don Pendleton, Odom has written several Mack Bolan novels, an action-adventure series.
On 7 February 2015 it was announced that Odom would be writing the new companion novel to the upcoming Shadowrun: Hong Kong game. The novel was scheduled to be released in December 2015, coinciding with game. Shadowrun: Hong Kong is the third crowdfunded game set in the Shadowrun universe by game developer Harebrained Schemes.
Personal life
He lives in Moore, Oklahoma, with his wife and five children. By 1998, he had begun playing an AD&D Forgotten Realms campaign with the two oldest.
Bibliography
Mack Bolan novels
(under pen name Don Pendleton)
War Born (1989)
Storm Trilogy
Storm Warning (1992)
Eye of the Storm (1992)
Storm Burst (1992)
Crimson Tide (2002)
The Moon Shadow Trilogy
Nuclear Game (2003)
Deadly Pursuit (2003)
Final Play (2003)
Shadowrun novels
Preying for Keeps (1996) –
Headhunters (1997) –
Run Hard, Die Fast (1999) –
F.R.E.E.Lancers novels from Top Secret (role-playing game)
F.R.E.E.Lancers (1995)
F.R.E.E.Fall (1996)
The Secret World of Alex Mack novel
In Hot Pursuit (1998)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch novels
Harvest Moon (1998)
Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998)
I'll Zap Manhattan (1999)
Mummy Dearest (2000)
Pirate Pandemonium (2001)
Dream Boat (2001)
Tiger Tale (2002)
Buffyverse stories
Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels
Unnatural Selection (1999)
Revenant (2001)
Crossings (2002)
Cursed (2003)
Angel novels
Redemption (2000)
Bruja (2001)
Image (2002)
Tales of the Slayer short stories
"Silent Screams" (2001)
"Ch'ing Shih" (2003)
Might and Magic novel
The Sea of Mist (2001)
The Rover series
The Rover (2001)
Destruction of the Books (2004)
Lord of the Libraries (2005)
The Quest for the Trilogy (2007)
Diablo novel
The Black Road (2002)
Left Behind: Military series
Apocalypse Dawn (2003)
Apocalypse Crucible (2004)
Apocalypse Burning (2004)
Apocalypse Unleashed (2008)
NCIS novels
Paid in Blood (2006)
Blood Evidence (2007)
Blood Lines (2008)
Identity Trilogy
Android: Golem (2011)
Android: Mimic (2012)
Android: Rebel (2014)
Hunter's League series
A Conspiracy Revealed (2005)
The Mystery Unravels (2005)
The Secret Explodes (2005)
His Legacy Avenged (2006)
Rogue Angel series
(under pen name Alex Archer)
Destiny (2006)
The Spider Stone (2006)
Forbidden City (2006)
God of Thunder (2007)
Serpent's Kiss (2008)
Hellgate: London novel
Exodus (2007)
Goetia (2008)
Covenant (2008)
Forgotten Realms novels and anthologies
The Lost Library of Cormanthyr (1998)
Rising Tide (1999)
Under Fallen Stars (1999)
Realms of the Deep (2000)
The Sea Devil's Eye (2000)
The Jewel of Turmish (2002)
Realms of War (2008)
Gamma World novels
Sooner Dead (2011)
A Blackpool Mystery series (based on bestselling game series Mystery Case Files)
(under pen name Jordan Gray)
Stolen (2010)
Vanished (2010)
Submerged (2011)
Unearthed (2011)
Makaum War series
Master Sergeant: The Makaum War: Book One (2015)
Guerilla: The Makaum War: Book Two (2015)
Other novels
Stalker Analog (1993)
Lethal Interface (1993)
Hunters of the Dark Sea (2003)
References
External links
Interview with Mel Odom at Watcher's Web
under that name, and several linked pseudonyms (WARNING: LC may credit Odom alone for work under shared pseudonyms)
1957 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
American fantasy writers
American male novelists
American science fiction writers
East Central University alumni
Living people
People from Moore, Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma alumni
Writers from California