About Richard Allen
I’ve been a drummer my entire life, so Richard Drummer became the name I write under. Drumming defined me then, as it does now.
I was an early export from Astoria, Long Island, when my family moved to Michigan. I discovered music and the drums in elementary school band and began what would become a lifelong love affair. Growing up in Royal Oak and then Rochester, I continued to play, and writing song lyrics became another creative outlet. Songs, I discovered years later, are just stories, condensed to three verses and a chorus. Being an avid reader, I began emulating my favorite authors and writing the full versions of the stories, and new worlds opened up.
To date, I’ve written six novels, all suspense thrillers: political action, Spy-Fi, paranormal, and technological. I’m drawn to science fiction, but like Michael Crichton, I’m grounded by reality. I like writing about worlds that could exist. The concepts may seem unreachable, but science is busy building bridges to those places. I love introducing concepts that force readers to imagine a new reality where partial brain transplants and computers with a conscience are commonplace. That’s what I love about reading a great book: the author transports me to another time and place, free for the moment from the bonds of this reality and offering a glimpse of what could be. Have you read a good book lately?
Richard
ARTHUR BLADE
TAKES THE BRONZE!
CIA Director of Counterintelligence Arthur Blade has weeks to live. An experimental procedure offers the only hope of survival, and a segment of his brain is transplanted into a dying Navy SEAL. He lives on with a mind honed by decades of tradecraft in the body of a young warrior. The ultimate agent. His enemies quickly take aim at their most deadly nemesis but soon learn it is nearly impossible to kill a ghost.
Arthur Blade And The Red Tide
The ultimate spy is back in the exciting sequel to the award-winning novel The Second Life Of Arthur Blade.
Blade uncovers an impending attack by China and Russia.
The Red Tide is coming! Russian computer wizards, the Volta brothers, hold the key to stopping the attack. Blade travels to Sosnovy Bor to bargain for their cooperation, only to confront his old nemesis, the alluring and deadly Veronnika. The countdown to Armageddon has begun.
In our darkest hour, one man alone can save a nation.
ENEMY WITHIN THE GATES
Absolute power corrupts … absolutely
A covert military mission threatens the aspirations of political newcomer Katherine Karlson and her run for the presidency. She devises a plan to scuttle the mission, destroying all hope for peace in the Middle East. Her daughter is the only witness and demands that her mother undo the treasonous act. Karlson is forced to choose between the highest office in the land and her only child, which also means silencing everyone who learned of the crime.
The most deadly adversary is the one you don’t see coming. The one you trust, standing beside you within the gates.
ANOTHER MILESTONE
My unpublished thriller,
DEATH IS NOT ALWAYS THOROUGH
has won the gold medal in the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards.
Grace Cummings stared, horrified, as her husband’s experimental jet exploded overhead. Two years later, she has proof that his plane was sabotaged. Before she can act on the evidence, the killers strike again and leave her to die lying against her car. But rather than leave this world, her life essence is trapped within the red convertible, becoming her sheet metal prison.
For fifty years, the car is bought and sold before being purchased by Allison, a young college coed. The imprisoned spirit reveals herself through the radio, and a bond is formed. Now, together, they search for clues of cold-war espionage and murder while being pursued by a psychopath bent on destroying the car that nearly killed him.
Are you a fan of
short stories?
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine showcases some of the world’s best authors, and the November 2024 issue features the debut short story by Richard Drummer.
The Death Of Iggy In The Key of G is a short murder mystery centered around the music scene, much of it taken from my gigging days in Detroit. Can you tell where the truth ends and the fiction begins?
Speaking of
short stories…
Prey For Me, my short killer thriller, won first place in the 2024 Gulf Coast Writers’ contest.
When Death Knocks became my second short story to win first place in the 2026 Gulf Coast Writers’ contest.
I love the format of the short story nearly as much as diving into a novel project. While it takes me the better part of a year to complete a full-length manuscript, short stories are a welcome distraction. Both Prey For Me and When Death Knocks can be viewed on the Gulf Coast Writers website.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The third exciting addition to the Arthur Blade Spy-fi series is, at long last, finished. ARTHUR BLADE AND THE 13-STAR COUNCIL follows former CIA counterterrorism director Arthur Blade as he faces his deadliest foe in Paxima Magog, sinister sister to Sirhan Abbas, leader of the Hashashin assassins. The president is the target, and the snipers have him in their sights. I’m working with the artist to design the new cover. Look for an early fall release date.
My sixth novel, The Eve Project, is finally finished, and I’m shopping it to agents. Three brilliant computer engineers who designed the new AI defense system computer are dead. The fourth, Claire Drake, is hunted for their murder. But Claire is the only one who can stop their creation, Eve, from rewriting its own programming and starting World War III.
Get In Touch
I am humbled that you have chosen one of my novels from among the thousands of others on the market. Please feel free to share your input, either at the email listed or on Facebook@ RichardDrummerAuthor.
