WILL COMBINE BOOKS TO SAVE POSTAGE-SOFT COVER SMALL SIZE EDITIONOlden was born to African-American parents in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was graphic designer Georg Olden, his mother was actress and model Courtenaye Olden.[2][3] After Georg was hired as art director for CBS, the Oldens moved to New York City. Olden graduated from Queens College. Marc Olden started his writing career with two works of non-fiction ? a biography of Angela Davis and a study of cocaine in 1970s New York ? before turning to the fiction genres of thriller and suspense. Under the pen name Robert Hawkes, Olden began writing the Narc series, which follows a policeman on a counterdrug task force. During those early years, Olden also produced the novel Black Samurai, which became a film starring Jim Kelly. Olden's novel follows the exploits of Robert Sand, a martial arts expert and the only non-Japanese trained by a Japanese samurai master; it became the first in a successful series. Many of Olden?s eastern-influenced books, such as Giri, Dai-Sho, Gaijin, Oni, Te, Kisaeng, and Krait reflect his lifelong study of the martial arts. At his death, he held advanced degree black belts in aikido and karate