Mack Maloney grew up in the Dorchester section of Boston and was taught to read and write by the nuns at St. Ann's School. His father was a veteran of World War II and he used to read military books all the time. As a kid Mack started reading them too, along with a lot of science fiction. After wasting four years at high school he somehow wound up in college and eventually received a BS in journalism. After that it was on to grad school for a degree in filmmaking from Emerson College. Mack was a sports reporter for two years after college before joining corporate America as a publicist for General Electric Company. He started writing books in 1984, and have been doing it full time since 1987.