David Fisher

For over three decades, David Fisher has been writing about an extraordinary variety of subjects, ranging from Mafia hit men to Nobel Prize winning biochemists. He is the author of more than 50 books and has been a frequent contributor to major magazines and newspapers. He is the only writer ever to have a work of non-fiction, a novel and a reference book offered simultaneously by the Book-of-the Month Club. He began his professional career as a staff writer for comedienne Joan Rivers' syndicated talk show, "That Show". From there he joined Life Magazine, when it was still published weekly, becoming the youngest reporter in that magazine's history, covering primarily sports and youth culture. He began his free-lance writing career with a children's biography of "Malcolm X". A year later he co-authored his first bestseller, "Killer" (Playboy Books) with Joey Black, the first confessional written by a Mafia hit man. After writing a second bestseller with Joey Black, "Hit #29", which was purchased by Paramount, as well as two additional books, he wrote the very first book about transcendental meditation, "Tranquility Without Pills" (Wyden Books). He wrote several others books about the world of crime, including "Louie's Widow". In 1980 John William Clouser, who had been on the FBI's Most Wanted list longer than any man in history, contacted Fisher and asked him to arrange his surrender. After surrendering on national television, Clouser and Fisher collaborated on "The Most Wanted Man in America" (Stein and Day). Fisher began writing about sports in the early 1980s, co-authoring the bestsellers, "The Umpire Strikes Back" and "Strike Two" (Bantam Books) as well as two additional books with legendary umpire Ron Luciano, and former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda's bestselling autobiography, "The Artful Dodger" (Morrow). He also collaborated with Eugene Klein, who invented junk bonds to put together one of the nation's first conglomerates, The National General Corporation, and then tried to apply the lessons learned in business to pro football, in the cautionary tale, "First Down and A Billion". Fisher created a new reference system when he created and edited, "What's What, A Visual Glossary of the Physical World" (Hammond) which Esquire called, "The most important new reference work published in the past half-century," and which subsequently was published in nine bilingual editions, selling more than 1,000,000 copies. Fisher's first novel, "The Pack", (Putnam's) was released as a feature film by Warners. His second novel, "The War Magician" (Coward McCann), based on the true story of magician Jasper Maskelyne, who used the techniques of stage magic against Rommel in the Western Desert and whose classic deceptions were key to victory at El Alamein, was developed as a film by Tom Cruise and was republished in six countries. Moving from sports to entertainment, Fisher created and co-authored with George Burns the #1 bestsellers, "Gracie, A Love Story" and "All My Best Friends". George Burns had co-authored five books prior to collaborating with Fisher, none of them bestsellers, and one book after their collaboration, which also failed to hit the bestseller list. The audio version of "Gracie", which Fisher wrote and directed, was honored in 1990 with a Grammy for Best Spoken Record. Fisher also created and co-authored with Leslie Nielsen "The Naked Truth", (Pocket Books) a parody of celebrity autobiographies. The audio version of that book was also nominated for a Grammy. He also collaborated with legendary TV and feature film producer David Wolper, who is responsible for 10 of the top 50 shows in TV history as well as motion pictures like "L.A. Confidential" and "Willy Wonka" on the bestseller, "Producer" (Scribners). And he collaborated with legendary sidekick Ed McMahon on his memoir, "Laughing Out Loud" (Warners) and a history of early television, "When Television Was Young". Fisher is the only reporter granted complete access to the FBI's famed crime lab and his book, "Hard Evidence", (S&S) has been published in six languages and triggered the explosive interest in forensic science. His novella, "Conversations With My Cat", (Viking) was also published in six languages and after being the #2 bestseller in France, was honored with the 'Prix Literature de 1,000,000 Amis,' an award given annually to the best book concerning animals published that year. Fisher's parody, "Chicken Poop for the Soul, Stories to Harden Your Heart", (Pocket Books) has sold more than 125,000 copies and led to a second collection of his humorous stories, "Chicken Poop II: More Droppings". His humor book which featured classic fairy tales as might be written by lawyers, "Legally Correct Fairy Tales", (Warner Books) has also sold more than 100,000 copies. His collaboration with Nobel Prize winning biochemist Kary Mullis, whose invention of the polymerese chain reaction literally changed the world, "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field", (Pantheon) remains in print ten years after publication. His controversial bestseller, "Been There, Done That" (St. Martin's) with Eddie Fisher, received rave reviews from critics and a less kind reception from Eddie Fisher's former wives. His book "Patient Number One"; (Crown) is the incredible story of the CEO of a biotech firm whose own company created the stem cell selection device that saved his life when he was diagnosed with stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Later a judge rewrote 103 patent claims, overthrew a jury judgment and put this company out of business, depriving terminally ill patients of this potentially life-saving device. "Patient Number One" is an HBO movie produced by Janet Zucker and Tony Eldridge with the script written by Nicholas Meyer. Both of Fisher's collaborations with Hall of Fame quarterback and broadcaster Terry Bradshaw, "It's Only A Game" and the inspirational "Keep It Simple", (Pocket Books) were bestsellers, as was his collaboration with legendary attorney Johnny Cochran, "A Lawyer's Life". (St. Martin's Press) In the corporate world Fisher created and co-authored United Airlines 75th anniversary book, "The Age of Flight" as well as Safe Flight's 60th anniversary book. When the pharmaceutical firm Warner-Lambert was purchased by Pfizer and was about to lose its corporate identity Fisher created the celebratory book, "In Good Company". Fisher also wrote "Animals Inc.", a humorous novel showing how Orwell's Animal Farm might have been run using the philosophy of the Gallup Organization, one of America's leading business consulting firms. Fisher created a new publishing format when he brought together legendary FBI Agent Joseph 'Donnie Brasco' Pistone and former Mafia Family head Bill Bonnano for the novel, "The Good Guys", which was published by Warner Books in January 2005. In a starred review the influential publication Kirkus Reviews called it "the very model of a high-crime page turner - the kind so often promised and so infrequently delivered." The New York Post wrote, "Incredibly fun to read. Mario Puzo would be smiling," and the Times of London called it "A richly entertaining read." In addition, he has created the computer game, "Made Man" with a British company which was released in April 2007 -- and "Crime Lab", with Lonetree Entertainment. Fisher has also written extensively for newspapers and magazines. His columns have appeared on the Op Ed page of the New York Times and Newsday, and he has contributed many articles to a variety of magazines, ranging from Sports Illustrated to Car and Driver. An article he wrote for Car and Driver, "The Birth of My Car" was honored as the best automotive feature writing in 1987. Fisher also created and wrote the baseball comic strip, "Scroogie", with legendary relief pitcher and character Tug McGraw, which was syndicated in 125 papers for four years, and was published in two collections. (Fawcett) Fisher's recent bestseller is William Shatner's autobiography, "Up Till Now" (St. Martin's) was published in 2008, as was Congressman Robert Wexler's extremely-well reviewed book, "Fire-Breathing Liberal" (St. Martin's) an insider's look at the way the House of Represenatives functions. In January, 2009, Grand Central Books published "The Accountant", Fisher's collaboration with Roberto Escobar, Pablo Escobar's brother, who with his brother led the infamous Medellin drug cartel, telling the whole story of the rise and fall of the most successful criminal in history. Published in 2009, "Friends of the Family, The True Story of the Mafia Cops". Fisher's collaboration with Detective Tommy Dades (NYPD ret.), and Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Michael Vecchione, the two men who opened the cold case leading to the indictment and conviction of two highly placed New York City detectives who were moonlighting as Mafia killers.