Edward Cline

Edward Cline (October 22, 1946 – 2023) 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. Cline's other fiction included a contemporary detective series (featuring Chess Hanrahan, who solves paradoxical murders), a suspense series (featuring American entrepreneur Merritt Fury), and a period detective series (featuring Cyrus Skeen in 1920s San Francisco).

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 (and religion in general). 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.

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 (ISIS) 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.