Mel Odom (born December 16, 1957, in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) 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 Byng is a town in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,175 at the 2010 census. History The beginnings of the town of Byng were established in 1917 with the building of a post office and power plant (about five miles nor ...

in May 1976, and later graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from

East Central University East Central University (ECU or East Central) is a public university in Ada, Oklahoma. It is part of Oklahoma's Regional University System. Beyond its flagship campus in Ada, the university has courses available in McAlester, Shawnee, and Duran ...

Ada, Oklahoma Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,481 at the 2020 United States Census. The city was named for Ada Reed, the daughter of an early settler, and was incorporated in 1901. Ada is ...

. He teaches undergraduate courses at the

Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication is the journalism unit of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The College is named for the former longtime publishers of ''The Oklahoman''. History In 1897, five years after the Univ ...

in the Professional Writing program at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

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 A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and ca ...

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 ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...

novel in 1998, ''The Lost Library of Cormanthyr'', and then his '' Threat from the Sea'' trilogy. Odom has written dozens of novels in several fields - action-adventure, computer strategy guides, fantasy, game-related fiction, horror, juvenile, movie novelizations, science fiction, and young adult - as well as comics. Odom wrote several novels in the Forgotten Realms series, including the trilogy ''

The Threat from the Sea ''The Threat From the Sea'' is a series of fantasy novels written mostly by Mel Odom. It contains three novels: '' Rising Tide'', ''Under Fallen Stars'', and '' The Sea Devil's Eye''. It also contains the anthology book, ''Realms of the Deep''. ...

'', 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 ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''. The most popular show for which he has written original novels is ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

''. He has also written novelizations of movies, including: ''

Blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...

'' starring

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), ''White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), ''Passenger 57'' (1992), '' R ...

, and ''

xXx XXX may refer to: Codes and symbols * 30 (number), Roman numeral XXX * XXX, designating pornography ** XXX, an X rating#United_States, X rating ** .xxx, an internet top-level domain intended for pornographic sites * XXX, a symbol of the straight ...

'' starring

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Diesel began audition ...

. One of his best known fantasy novels is ''The Rover'' (2001), which in 2002 won the

Alex Award The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

, an

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

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 High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...

in the tradition of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''. In 2003, he published ''Apocalypse Dawn'', a military spin-off of the enormously popular

Left Behind Series ''Left Behind'' is a multimedia franchise that started with a series of 16 bestselling religious novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It focuses on a seven-year conflict between the Tribulation Force, an underground network of converts, ...

; Odom's book made the Christian bestseller list. Odom also writes DVD/HD DVD/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 Mack Bolan, alias '' The Executioner'', is a fictional character who has been serialized in 631 novels with sales of more than 200 million books. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in ''The Execution ...

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 ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspir ...

'' universe by game develope
Harebrained Schemes
Kickstarter announcement
/ref>

Personal life

He lives in

Moore, Oklahoma Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. Located between Oklah ...

, with his wife and five children. By 1998, he had begun playing an ''

AD&D In insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) is a policy that pays benefits to the beneficiary if the cause of death is an accident. This is a limited form of life insurance which is generally less expensive, or in some cases is an add ...

'' Forgotten Realms campaign with the two oldest.

Bibliography

;

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) ;

novels * ''Preying for Keeps'' (1996) – * ''Headhunters'' (1997) – * ''Run Hard, Die Fast'' (1999) – ; F.R.E.E.Lancers novels from

Top Secret (role-playing game) ''Top Secret'' is an espionage-themed tabletop role-playing game written by Merle M. Rasmussen and first published in 1980 by TSR, Inc. ''Top Secret'' (original edition) The original version of ''Top Secret'' was designed by Merle M. Rasmuss ...

* F.R.E.E.Lancers (1995) * F.R.E.E.Fall (1996) ;

The Secret World of Alex Mack ''The Secret World of Alex Mack'' is an American television series that ran from October 8, 1994 to January 15, 1998, on Nickelodeon (part of the SNICK line-up). The series was co-created by Ken Lipman and Thomas W. Lynch and was produced by Lync ...

novel * ''In Hot Pursuit'' (1998) ;

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 ''Angel'' novels have been published since 2000 by Pocket Books. The last was published in 2004. Chronology Season 1 These ''Buffyverse'' tales take place during ''Buffy'' season 4, and ''Angel'' season 1 (from autumn 1999 to spring 2000). S ...

** ''Redemption'' (2000) ** ''Bruja'' (2001) ** ''Image'' (2002) * ''

Tales of the Slayer ''Tales of the Slayer'' are volumes containing prose short stories. Four volumes of this series have been released, all published by Pocket Books. Each contains a number of short stories surrounding the mythology of past Slayers. Tales within ...

'' short stories ** "Silent Screams" (2001) ** "Ch'ing Shih" (2003) ;

Might and Magic ''Might and Magic'' is a series of role-playing video games from New World Computing, which in 1996 became a subsidiary of The 3DO Company. The original ''Might and Magic'' series ended with the closure of the 3DO Company. The rights to the ''Mi ...

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 ''Rogue Angel'' is a series of paperback novels produced bi-monthly since July 2006 by Harlequin Enterprises, published under a succession of imprints and written under the house name of "Alex Archer". Actual authors are credited with small notes i ...

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) ;

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 ''Gamma World'' is a science fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet, and first published by TSR in 1978. It borrowed heavily from Ward's earlier game, ''Metamorphosis Alpha''. Setting ''Gamma World'' ...

novels * ''Sooner Dead'' (2011) ; A Blackpool Mystery series (based on bestselling game series

Mystery Case Files ''Mystery Case Files'' is a video game series originally developed by the internal studios of Big Fish Games. Some installments were developed by Eipix Entertainment between 2015 and 2019 and Elephant Games who developed sequels from 2013 to 201 ...

) (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 wit
Mel Odom at ''Watcher's Web''
* under that name, and several linked pseudonyms (WARNING: LC may credit Odom alone for work under shared pseudonyms) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Odom, Mel 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