Dale Brown (born November 2, 1956) is an American author most famous for his military-action-aviation techno-thrillers, with thirteen New York Times best sellers to his credit.
Brown was born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Western European History, and received a commission in the United States Air Force in 1978.
A navigator-bombardier in the G-model B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber and the FB-111, a supersonic medium bomber, he rose to the rank of captain via automatic promotion. He is the recipient of several military decorations and awards, including the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Combat Crew Award, and the Marksmanship ribbon. He is also a Life Member of the Air Force Association and the U.S. Naval Institute. After leaving the Air Force in 1986 he wrote his first book, Flight of the Old Dog. His novels are published in eleven languages and distributed to over seventy countries.
Brown is represented by Madison Avenue literary agent Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group. Gottlieb is best known as the agent that discovered Tom Clancy, and who now represents Deepak Chopra, Ralph Peters, James Wesley Rawles, Neale Donald Walsch and the estate of Isaac Asimov.
Brown, his wife Diane, and son Hunter, live near the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He enjoys flying his own private jet, a Grumman Gulfstream II; on the ground, he enjoys tennis, skiing, scuba diving, and ice hockey.
Brown tends to stay with the same characters over a long period of time. Many of the characters introduced in "Flight of the Old Dog", are still around for the latest, though a few have been killed in previous books. Most of his books occur in the same timeline, with a few exceptions.
Silver Tower, published after Flight of the Old Dog, a mostly independent novel with no character references, is first linked by mention of the SkyBolt module in Battle Born. However, the novel is merged into the Patrick McLanahan saga when some of its main characters and the fictional military space station Armstrong appear in Strike Force.
Chains of Command, which features Rebecca Furness and Darren Mace, was actually a separate series, but later, the characters re-appeared in Battle Born, and was merged into the Dreamland and McLanahan series.
Hammerheads, which features Admiral Ian Hardcastle, was also a separate series, with McLanahan and other Dreamland characters mainly doing cameos. Hardcastle later reappeared in Storming Heaven.
The Dreamland series co-authored with Jim DeFelice covers the gaps between the Patrick McLanahan series novels. While most of the old characters are only mentioned in passing, some of the technology depicted in the series were later merged into the main series, starting with Air Battle Force.
Henri Cazaux, the main villain of Storming Heaven, was referred to in The Tin Man. His own right-hand man, Gregory Townsend, would be the book's main antagonist.
As sole author
Patrick McLanahan Series
Flight of the Old Dog (1987) - The first Dale Brown novel introduces Patrick McLanahan and the crew of an experimental EB-52 Megafortress bomber as they attempt to destroy a Soviet anti-ballistic missile laser.
Sky Masters (1991) - McLanahan and the heavy bombers of the U.S. Air Battle Force leads the American counterattack against a Chinese invasion of the Philippines.
Night of the Hawk (1992) - Some members of the Old Dog crew - General Elliott, Patrick McLanahan, and John Ormack - are recalled to recover an old friend, who has been discovered alive at a secret facility in Lithuania.
Day of the Cheetah (1989) - Set eight years after the Flight of the Old Dog, the novel's plot revolves around a theft of an experimental fighter by a Soviet deep-cover agent and the High-Technology Aerospace Weapons Center's efforts to recover or destroy it.
Shadows of Steel (1996) - Humiliated by the fiasco depicted in Day of the Cheetah, Patrick McLanahan is recalled in May 1997 for a secret B-2 stealth bomber mission over Iran to stop a new Persian Gulf war.
Fatal Terrain (1997) - Set a month after the ending of Shadows of Steel, Taiwan's declaration of independence forces China to go to war. The Old Dog crew is brought back to save the world from Chinese domination, but not everyone could come home alive.
The Tin Man (1998) - A few months after the events of Fatal Terrain, Patrick McLanahan faces a new enemy, right in his home turf in Sacramento, California.
Battle Born (1999) - In 2000, McLanahan is assigned to turn a group of Air Guard B-1 pilots into America's premier tactical air strike force. A new threat created by a sudden reunification of the Korean peninsula hastens the training.
Warrior Class (2001) - Set in 2001, Russian billionaire Pavel Kazakov builds a huge pipeline through the Balkans with the support of the Russian Army and everybody gets rich. And to those who will not yield, he will order his secret stealth fighter-bomber to destroy them. However, a new US president and his brand of leadership ties McLanahan's hands from doing anything about Kazakov.
Wings of Fire (2002) - When Libya plots to invade and control Egypt, McLanahan and his advanced force, the Night Stalkers, are sent in to stop the chaos. However, the consequences are personal for his family.
Air Battle Force (2003) - Patrick McLanahan takes modern aerial warfare into Turkmenistan to fight a ragtag Taliban army and later a Russian invasion.
Plan of Attack (2004) - A new military leader in Russia orders a nuclear bomber strike into the United States, eliminating nearly all of its land-based strategic forces. McLanahan and the rest of the Dreamland crew take matters into their own hands to save what is left of America.
Strike Force (2007) - Three years after the events of Plan of Attack, a now-Lt Gen McLanahan uses new XR-A9 Black Stallion spaceplanes to intervene and change the course of history in Iran.
Shadow Command (2008) - Set in 2009, the novel pits McLanahan and his team against a new US president, Joseph Gardner, who connives with Russia to take him down.
Rogue Forces (2009) - Reverting to the career of a private contractor, Patrick McLanahan and former President Kevin Martindale operate their own PMC, Scion Aviation International. Their latest contract: stabilizing Iraq as US forces withdraw from the country. Events would unfold, however, to force McLanahan to choose where his loyalty would lie.
Executive Intent (2010) - A new crisis emerges as America unveils its new orbital weapon, the Thor's Hammer, with China and Russia responding by gaining control of the seas. McLanahan must join forces with Brigadier General Kai Raydon to prevent WWIII from happening. Meanwhile, a jaded Vice-President Phoenix begins to challenge and question President Gardner's decisions and policies, slowly beginning to threaten his very Presidency itself.
Act of War Series
Act of War (June 2005; the game Direct Action is based on this book)
Kingman Group is the largest energy producer in the world, and when the terrorist group GAMMA managed to nuke the Kingman Texas facility, US is forced to create a brand-new force to combat terrorism: Task Force Talon. Using the latest technology such as wearable exoskeleton/armor, the force made up of cutting-edge technology and law-enforcement / military hybrid command thought its tasks were clear: find the terrorists, and eliminate them, no matter where. However, they did not realize one of their closest allies may not turn out to be as friendly as they thought...
Edge of Battle (2006)
Sequel to Act of War: Violence and tensions along the U.S.-Mexican border have never been higher, sparked by battles between rival drug lords and an increased flow of illegal migrants. To combat the threat, the U.S. has executed Operation Rampart: a controversial test base in southern California run by Major Jason Richter and members of Task Force TALON.
Independent Series
Silver Tower (1988)
The world's first military space station is America's only hope against Soviet invasion of Iran.
Hammerheads (1990)
America's first border security force takes on a fearsome Cuban military drug smuggling gang.
Chains of Command (1993)
A fledgling Air Force Reserve unit, led by the Air Force's first female combat pilot, spearheads the U.S. response to a Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
Storming Heaven (1994)
Admiral Ian Hardcastle must set up an air defense network inside the United States to stop an aerial terrorist from attacking the largest U.S. airports and Washington, DC itself.
In April 2004, Brown pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud. Brown was charged with creating companies in the West Indies for the purposes of receiving tax deductions from fictitious expenses. The fictitious expenses amounted to more than $440,000, which Brown claimed on his 1998 income tax filing. He then used the tax deductions to remodel his home. USATODAY.com - Author Dale Brown guilty of tax fraud