Robert Tine

Life He was born Robert S. Tine in Providence, Rhode Island, and he grew up in Barrington, the Bahamas, Wales, South Africa, Swaziland, and Argentina. He was a graduate of Columbia University in New York. He also lived in Italy in the 1980s, where two of his novels were set: State of Grace (1980) and Black Market (1992).

In 2005 he moved from New York to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he died in 2019. Publishers Weekly, in its review of Black Market, called Tine "a genius at characterization."

However, Tine's larger output by far was in the field of novelizations from movies (mostly science fiction, action, and neo-noir, but also four tie-ins to the John Hughes' Beethoven franchise) and TV shows such as JAG and Touched by an Angel.

"The Outrider" Tine is most remembered today for his hard-boiled "Outrider" series, comprising five mass-market survival fiction novels published by Pinnacle in 1984 and 1985 under the pseudonym Richard Harding (not to be confused with author and war reporter Richard Harding Davis, 1864–1916).

Heavily inspired by George Miller's 1979 film Mad Max, "The Outrider" series is set in what is left of a dystopian United States following a nuclear apocalypse. The hero, the lonesome, rugged survivalist Bonner, is based in the ruins of Chicago, although his adventures take him through much of the ravaged country. He has been compared with other vigilante types such as those in Jerry Ahern's Survivalist and Defender series, James Axler's Deathlands and Outlanders series, and D.B. Drumm's Traveler. Each story is awash with pulpy clichés, machismo, and gory action scenes. Genre fans hold the series in high regard.

The fifth and last book in the series actually ends with the announcement of a sixth entry, titled Black Death.

"The Outrider" series was included as a feature presentation on the January 5th, 2018 episode of the Library at the End of the World podcast.

Partial bibliography