Author Spotlight: Robert Vaughan

Robert Vaughan may not be a big-name author, but he sold tens of millions of books in the 20th century under many names. His pseudonyms include Paula Fairman, K. C. McKenna, Paula Moore, Fancy DeWitt, Patricia Matthews, Jonathon Scofield, Lee Davis Willoughby, and Kit Dalton.

Vaughan has written more than 300 to 400 books using 30 to 40 pseudonyms, plus his real name.

He has penned romance, action-adventure, military, and western fiction.

Childhood and Life Before Writing

Robert Vaughan was born in 1938 in Morley, Missouri, and raised in Sikeston, Missouri. His father served in the military. Robert followed in his father’s tracks in the late 1950s, entering Army Aviation. 

He served a long and distinguished career in the US Army. Vaughan was a soldier for 23 years. He had tours in Korea and Germany, and three combat tours in Vietnam.

Vaughan would participate in the atmospheric nuclear bomb tests in 1957.

He was engaged in the civil-rights deployment during James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi. He was also deployed to Homestead AFB as part of the potential invasion force during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

As a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, Vaughan received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, The Bronze Star, the Air Medal, and other medals. During his military career, he was selected as the most outstanding military writer six times. 

Robert Vaughan, Romance and Lots of Pseudonyms

Vaughan began his writing career writing training manuals for the US Army. After his discharge in 1972, he began his prolific writing career, working in almost every genre.

Under numerous pseudonyms, including “Paula Moore” and “Paula Fairman,” Vaughan wrote many popular contemporary and historical romance novels–popular (at the time they were written, anyway).

Paula Fairman’s first two books with Pinnacle sold millions of copies. When Paul Fairman–the real Paula–passed away, Robert Vaghaun stepped in to continue to write a dozen more bestsellers.

Patricia Matthews was another successful Pinnacle author. The publisher even labeled her as “America’s First Lady of Historical Romance.”

Patricia Matthews was–ostensibly–the working name of the husband and wife team, Patricia Brisco Matthews & Clayton Matthews. However, Vaughan is on record as claiming to be the author of two Matthews novels, Love’s Bold Journey and Love’s Sweet Agony:

“I wrote [them] as Patricia Matthews, made number one on the list. In 1981, I sold 6 million books. In my lifetime, I have probably sold 40 million books, but nobody knows who I am.

Now, my wife Ruth and I are co-writing romance novels as Sara Luck. 

She’s actually quite good at it, and I’m proud of her.  And though the Sara Luck books don’t have my name, Ruth and I at least own the name.”

ROBERT VAUGHAN

He has also said that he wrote:

“[T]wenty-three Romance novels, writing as Paula Moore, Paula Fairman, and Patricia Matthews, total sales of over fifteen million copies. Two of these romance novels, Love’s Bold Journey and Love’s Sweet Agony, were number one on the NYT and PW bestseller lists.”  

ROBERT VAUGHAN

Other Works of Fiction by Vaughan

Vaughan wrote the novelization for the television movie Andersonville.

He also wrote Survival: A Novel of The Donner Party, Brandywine’s War, The Valkyrie Mandate, The Power, and the Pride, Gravedancer, When Honor Dies, and The Broken Covenant.

He won the 1977 Porgie Award (Best Paperback Original) for his book, The Power and the Pride.

Legacy and Life Today

A Pulitzer Prize nominee, Vaughan has won the Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Golden Triangle Writers Club, and the Best Novel of the Vietnam War from Canadian University Symposium, and the Porgie Award from West Coast Books.

He was also named the Best Military Writer of the Year by Army Aviation Digest for six consecutive years. He was an on-air Television personality in Portsmouth, VA, Phoenix, AZ, and has been a national military consultant for FOX NEWS and CNN.

Vaughan was inducted into the Writers’ Hall of Fame in 1998.

Vaughan enjoys classical music and loves football, particularly college football. He also enjoys cooking and public speaking and will “accept invitations at the drop of a hat.”

He and his wife Ruth split their time living on the Alabama coast, with residing in places all over the country, such as Oregon, Wyoming, and Chicago.

Vaughan and his wife work together on their writing projects.