Dale Brown

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Dale Brown

Goodreads Author


Born
The United States
Website

Genre

Member Since
October 2013


Former U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the superstar author of 25 consecutive New York Times best-selling military-action-aviation adventure novels: FLIGHT OF THE OLD DOG (1987), SILVER TOWER (1988), DAY OF THE CHEETAH (1989), HAMMERHEADS (1990), SKY MASTERS (1991), NIGHT OF THE HAWK (1992), CHAINS OF COMMAND (1993), STORMING HEAVEN (1994), SHADOWS OF STEEL (1996) and FATAL TERRAIN (1997), THE TIN MAN (1998), BATTLE BORN (1999), and WARRIOR CLASS (2001). His Fourteenth Novel AIRBATTLE FORCE will be published in late Spring 2003... Dale's novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries. Worldwide sales of his novels, audiobooks and computer games exceed 10 million copies.

Dale was born in Buffalo, New York on No
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Popular Answered Questions

Dale Brown Absolutely. Back in the 1980s everyone knew and understood who the bad guys were: the Soviet Union and Communist China. I didn't need to go into the h…moreAbsolutely. Back in the 1980s everyone knew and understood who the bad guys were: the Soviet Union and Communist China. I didn't need to go into the history or politics of why we were going to war. The fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War complicated things because a war in the Middle East, Asia, or Eastern Europe meant that I had to explain the geopolitics of the conflict I was going to write about.

But the Cold War seems to have returned, and both Russia and China are powerful rivals flexing their military muscles and challenging the United States all over the world. But it's not just ideological: it's economic, societal, and cultural as well as political. All that needs to be explained to properly set up the story.

Rapid changes in technology makes the stories more complex as well. Writing about bomber technology is straighforward and simple to describe for me. But changes in computers, electronics, space, cyber, and the Internet, and how all these shape the battlefield, takes time to research and describe in a novel. I like the tech stuff, but I have to remember that folks read novels for entertainment, not necessarily for information.

It's more complex, but I like the challenge. I love doing research into new technology and then thinking about how that new stuff might affect a future conflict--and make the result entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time. That challenge is why I became an author!

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Dale Brown My advice to aspiring writers: write what you love and not what's hot. If you enjoy what you're writing you'll be more likely to finish it, rewrite an…moreMy advice to aspiring writers: write what you love and not what's hot. If you enjoy what you're writing you'll be more likely to finish it, rewrite and improve it, and market it when the time comes.

It's tempting to try to write a novel about vampires, secret societies, or zombies because we see them every day in movies or TV. And it's true that certain themes have a life cycle. But if you don't care about those subjects, you'll run out of steam before the book is finished, or it's more likely that it won't be your best possible work because you have no interest in the subject.

I have been asked many times to write novels about secret societies (and as a Western European history major, that's a subject I enjoy). I have lots of ideas for novels about areas other than near-future war. But I like writing about high-tech military conflicts and geopolitics, so that's what I'll keep doing.

"But, clueless one," you may ask, "how is the military techno-thriller market these days? In fact, wizened one, aren't you just about the only guy out there writing military techno-thrillers these days?"

I may be out of step, unenlightened, or totally oblivious to the market...but I know that if I try to chase the latest literary fad out there, I could be chasing a shadow at best. At worst, if I did a crappy job on yet another zombie story, I'd be accused of trying to copycat the market and falling flat on my face doing so.

My advice: don't try to chase the market unless you have a better spin on something that's already out there and you're really into that subject. Fair warning: your better spin has probably already been done. But if you are really excited about your subject and your story, go for it.

Not saying I don't have a "Fifty Shades of Grey" in me, but for now I'll stick with military techno-thrillers...and in fact, it's kinda cool to see that maybe I am the only one doing them right now. Also, nothing says a military techno-thriller has to be set in the near-future... ;-)
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Average rating: 4.07 · 110,390 ratings · 3,638 reviews · 151 distinct worksSimilar authors
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More books by Dale Brown…
Flight of the Old Dog Night Of The Hawk Sky Masters Day of the Cheetah Shadows of Steel Fatal Terrain The Tin Man
(24 books)
by
4.06 avg rating — 71,459 ratings

Arctic Storm Rising Countdown to Midnight Weapons of Opportunity The Devil's Fortress
(4 books)
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4.31 avg rating — 13,467 ratings

Tiger's Claw Starfire Iron Wolf Price of Duty The Moscow Offensive The Kremlin Strike Eagle Station
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4.12 avg rating — 10,939 ratings

Dreamland Nerve Center Razor's Edge Piranha Strike Zone Armageddon Satan's Tail
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4.07 avg rating — 10,474 ratings

Silver Tower Hammerheads Chains of Command Storming Heaven
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3.94 avg rating — 9,909 ratings

More series by Dale Brown…
Quotes by Dale Brown  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it. —Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist”
Dale Brown, The Moscow Offensive

“THE SIMMERING STRATEGIC CLASH IN U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS—(Stratfor.com, January 20, 2011): . . . Beijing is compelled by its economic development to seek military tools to secure its vital supply lines and defend its coasts, the historic weak point where foreign states have invaded. With each Chinese move to push out from its narrow geographical confines, the United States perceives a military force gaining in ability to block or interfere with U.S. commercial and military passage and access in the region. This violates a core American strategic need—command of the seas and global reach.”
Dale Brown, Tiger's Claw

“In life, adversity only visits the strong. It stays forever with the weak. We have to decide whether we're going to be strong or weak.”
Dale Brown

Polls

Please vote them 2 of 2 for Nov 2025 BOTM: "From the TBR List"

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Neal Stephenson
 
  3 votes, 33.3%

The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells H.G. Wells
 
  3 votes, 33.3%

Ubik by Philip K. Dick (1969)
Ubik by Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick
 
  2 votes, 22.2%

Pines by Blake Crouch (2012)
Pines (Wayward Pines, #1) by Blake Crouch Blake Crouch
 
  1 vote, 11.1%

Flight of the Old Dog by Dale Brown (1987)
Flight of the Old Dog (Patrick McLanahan, #1) by Dale Brown Dale Brown
 
  0 votes, 0.0%

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