Edward Cline


Edward Cline was an American novelist and essayist. An Objectivist, he was best known for his Sparrowhawk series of novels, which were set in England and Virginia before the American Revolutionary War. He also wrote numerous detective novels, and was noted as a critic of Islam on his blog The Rules of Reason.

Background

Cline was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended South Texas Junior College. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1965. He was active as a writer from 1972, and worked numerous different jobs, including in "factories, construction, airline and publishing communications, inventory management, banking, computer sales, insurance, and as a computer screen designer, book editor, copyeditor, and proofreader."

Books and writing

Apart from the Sparrowhawk series, Cline's other fiction included a contemporary detective series, a suspense series, and a period detective series.
Cline was also known for his writings on aesthetics, his defenses of capitalism and of free speech, and his criticisms of contemporary political trends and of Islam. As a writer, his strongest influence was the novelist Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. Cline wrote on freedom of speech and censorship issues for The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science and The Journal of Information Ethics. He wrote feature and cover stories, as well as book reviews, for Marine Corps League Magazine, The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, The Wall Street Journal, and The Intellectual Activist. His article on English political philosopher John Locke was carried in two editions of Western Civilization. He wrote the Rules of Reason blog, and his columns also appeared in Capitalism Magazine, Family Security Matters, and other blog sites. He also wrote a "counter-jihad handbook" about Islam.
In May 2016, Cline was informed by the FBI that his name was on a list of over 8,000 names that was characterized as an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria kill list. Cline's landlord promptly evicted him from his Williamsburg, Virginia apartment. In an interview with Vocativ Cline said, "The situation is unprecedented in my lifetime experience. I've never before been evicted or thrown under the bus for what I think and write." According to Vocativ, Cline had "spent the last 15 years raging against Islam and the existential threat he believes it poses to western civilization." A fundraising in support of Cline raised more than $14,000, after his story was covered by online outlets such as FrontPage Magazine and Gates of Vienna.
Cline is reported to have died in 2023.

''Sparrowhawk'' series

  • Sparrowhawk One: Jack Frake, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, 2001,
  • Sparrowhawk Two: Hugh Kenrick MacAdam/Cage Publishing, 2002
  • Sparrowhawk Three: Caxton, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, 2004,
  • Sparrowhawk Four: Empire, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, 2004,
  • Sparrowhawk Five: Revolution, MacAdam/Cage, 2005,
  • Sparrowhawk Six: War, MacAdam/Cage, 2007,
  • Sparrowhawk Companion, MacAdam/Cage, 2008,

    Chess Hanrahan series

  • First Prize, Chess Hanrahan, #1, Mysterious Press/Warner Book, 1988,
  • Presence of Mind, Chess Hanrahan, #2, Perfect Crime Books, 2010,
  • Honors Due, Chess Hanrahan, #3, Perfect Crime Books, 2011,
  • With Distinction, Chess Hanrahan, #4, Perfect Crime Books, 2012,

    Merritt Fury series

  • Whisper the Guns, Merritt Fury, #1 Atlantean Press, 1992,
  • We Three Kings, Merritt Fury, #2, Atlantean Press, 1994,
  • Run From Judgment, Merritt Fury, #3, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,

    Cyrus Skeen series

  • China Basin, Cyrus Skeen, #1, Patrick Henry Press, 2011,
  • The Head of Athena, Cyrus Skeen, #2, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • The Daedâlus Conspiracy, Cyrus Skeen, #3, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • The Chameleon, Cyrus Skeen, #4, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • A Crimson Overture, Cyrus Skeen, #5, Patrick Henry Press, 2013,
  • The Black Stone, Cyrus Skeen, #6, Patrick Henry Press, 2014,
  • The Pickwick Affair, Cyrus Skeen, #7, Patrick Henry Press, 2014,
  • Silver Screens, Cyrus Skeen, #8, Patrick Henry Press, 2015,
  • The Circles of Odin, Cyrus Skeen, #9, Patrick Henry Press, 2015,
  • Sleight of Hand, Cyrus Skeen, #10, Patrick Henry Press, 2015,
  • Stolen Words, Cyrus Skeen, #11, Patrick Henry Press, 2015,
  • An August Interlude, Cyrus Skeen, #12, Patrick Henry Press, 2015,
  • Wintery Discontent, Cyrus Skeen, #13, Patrick Henry Press, 2015
  • Manhattan Blues, Cyrus Skeen, #14, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • The Janus Affair, Cyrus Skeen, #15, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • First Things, Cyrus Skeen, #16, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Civic Affairs, Cyrus Skeen, #17, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Exegesis, Cyrus Skeen, #18, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Seeing Double, Cyrus Skeen, #19, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Trichotomy, Cyrus Skeen, #20, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Beginnings, Cyrus Skeen, #21, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Reciprocity, Cyrus Skeen, #22, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Saving Athena, Cyrus Skeen, #23, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Split Infinitives, Cyrus Skeen, #24, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Passions, Cyrus Skeen, #25, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Celebrity News, Cyrus Skeen, #26, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Inquest, Cyrus Skeen, #27, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Double Entendre, Cyrus Skeen, #28, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Sufferance, Cyrus Skeen, #29, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Warlocks, Cyrus Skeen, #30, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • The Skeen Chronicles, Cyrus Skeen, #31, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • Reprisals, Cyrus Skeen Detective, #32, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • The Pendulum, Cyrus Skeen, #33, Patrick Henry Press, 2017
  • School Days, Cyrus Skeen, #34, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • Breakdown, Cyrus Skeen, #36, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • The Gumshoe Guild, Cyrus Skeen, #37, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • Serenity, Cyrus Skeen, #38, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • Chicago Serenade, Cyrus Skeen, #39, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • Flute, Cyrus Skeen, #40, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • A Final Canvas, Cyrus Skeen, #41, Patrick Henry Press, 2019
  • Gallery, Cyrus Skeen, #42, Patrick Henry Press, 2019

    The War of Ideas series

  • Running Out My Guns, The War of Ideas, #1, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • Broadsides in the War of Ideas, The War of Ideas, #2, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • Corsairs and Freebooters, The War of Ideas, #3, Patrick Henry Press, 2012,
  • Boarding Parties & Grappling Hooks, The War of Ideas, #4, Patrick Henry Press, 2013,
  • Letters of Marque, The War of Ideas, #5, Patrick Henry Press, 2013,
  • From The Crow's Nest, The War of Ideas, #6, Patrick Henry Press, 2014,

    Other works

  • The Wizards of Disambiguation: A Critique of Detective Genre Literary Criticism, Atlantean Press Review, 1993
  • Islam's Reign of Terror, Patrick Henry Press/Voltaire Press, 2014,
  • Rational Scrutiny: Paradoxes and Contradictions in Detective Fiction, Patrick Henry Press, 2014,
  • Handbook on Islam: A Counter-Jihad Guide for the Uninitiated, the Ill-Advised the Misinformed, and the Lied-To, CreateSpace, 2015,
  • Cogitations: Recent Reflections on the State of Things, Patrick Henry Press, 2015
  • Routing Islam, Patrick Henry Press, 2016
  • Collectables, Patrick Henry Press, 2018
  • The Ghouls of Grammatical Egalitarianism, Patrick Henry Press, 2019