Brad Meltzer

Early life

Brad Meltzer was born on April 1, 1970. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and then moved to South Florida, where he graduated from North Miami Beach Senior High School in 1988. He earned a degree from the University of Michigan, the first in his immediate family to attend a four-year college. In 1993, Meltzer lived in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts with roommate, fellow comic book writer/artist Judd Winick, working in sales at Games magazine by day while working on his first novel by night. Afterwards Meltzer graduated from Columbia Law School, and was selected to the Columbia Law Review.

Career

Meltzer has had books on the bestseller list for Fiction, Non-Fiction (History Decoded), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and comic books (Justice League of America), for which he won the Eisner Award.

Meltzer is also responsible for helping find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero, making national news on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Using his TV show, Brad Meltzer's Lost History, he told the story of the missing flag and asked Americans for their help in returning it. Four days later, a former Marine walked into a fire station in Everett, Washington, said he saw Meltzer's TV show, and now wanted to return the flag. Meltzer recently unveiled the flag at the 9/11 Museum in New York, where it is now on display.

Known for his thorough research, Meltzer counts former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush as fans, and both have helped him with his research.

In September 2006, Meltzer participated in a work group with the CIA, the FBI, various psychologists, and Department of Homeland Security intelligence staff to brainstorm new ways that terrorists might attack the U.S.

As an inspirational speaker, Meltzer's TEDx Talk, "How To Write Your Own Obituary", has been viewed over 50,000 times, and prompted TED to ask him to do another TED Talk: "Write Your Story, Change History", which has been viewed over 80,000 times.

Meltzer helped save and preserve the house where Superman was created in Cleveland, Ohio, helping to create the Siegel & Shuster Society, then telling the story of the house and running an auction that raised over $100,000.

Meltzer has worked with numerous organizations throughout Florida to promote literacy within the State. Meltzer has worked in the past with Florida Family Literacy Initiative, and is due to participate in the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County's 23rd Annual Love of Literacy Luncheon in March 2014.

Meltzer was one of four authors selected to entertain at Barbara Bush's 90th birthday party in 2015.

Meltzer is responsible for helping save the life of his 11th grade history teacher. When his teacher told Meltzer she was sick and needed a new kidney, Meltzer asked his 100,000 Facebook fans to find her a new kidney and in the process, helped save her life.

During Star Wars Night at the 2015 Marlins/Mets baseball game, Meltzer threw out the first pitch of the game, then proceeded to fight mascot Billy the Marlin in a lightsaber battle.

Novels

His first novel, Fraternity, garnered 24 rejection letters, but he then sold his second novel, The Tenth Justice, while in law school. In 1994, he co-wrote the original swearing-in oath that is taken by AmeriCorps members, and has been delivered by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 1996, Meltzer created one of the earliest author websites for his first published novel, The Tenth Justice. Over the years, every single one of Meltzer's thrillers has made The New York Times bestseller list and The Hollywood Reporter has listed him as one of "Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors".

While Meltzer was conducting research for his novel The Inner Circle, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush gave him a copy of the secret letter that he had left in the Oval Office desk for Bill Clinton.

In 2015, in researching his novel The President's Shadow, Meltzer revealed that while Ronald Reagan was President, he sometimes carried a gun with him. This was confirmed by a Secret Service agent.

His popular “Culper Ring” novels, of which The President’s Shadow is the third, imagine that a secret spy ring, founded in real life by George Washington, continues to exist today. His 2013 novel, The Fifth Assassin, follows a killer bent on re-creating the crimes of presidential assassinations from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald.

Non-Fiction

In May 2010, Meltzer released his first nonfiction book, Heroes For My Son, a book he had worked on for almost a decade, since the night his first son was born.

The book is part of a two-book deal with Meltzer's publisher, and stated in a May 2010 interview that he was working on Heroes for My Daughter. The book is a collection of stories from the lives of 52 people such as Jim Henson, Rosa Parks and Mr. Rogers, and was written with the intention of being presented one day to his then-eight-year-old son. It debuted at #2 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Heroes for My Daughter also made The New York Times bestseller list.

In January 2014, Meltzer and artist Chris Eliopoulos launched a new line of non-fiction biographies for kids, starting with I am Amelia Earhart and I am Abraham Lincoln, which debuted on The New York Times bestseller list. The books are part of a series, Ordinary People Change the World, whose books tell the stories of America's icons in an entertaining way to engage young readers.

He followed the initial books with I am Rosa Parks, I am Albert Einstein, I am Jackie Robinson, I am Lucille Ball, I am Helen Keller, then I am Gandhi, I am Sacagawea, I am Jane Goodall, I am Jim Henson, I am George Washington and I am Martin Luther King, Jr.

Comic Books

Meltzer followed director Kevin Smith's run on DC Comics' Green Arrow and creating a six-issue story arc for DC Comics' Green Arrow #16-21 (October 2002 - April 2003). In 2004 he wrote the miniseries Identity Crisis, which became one of the most controversial storylines of the decade, one of the top selling books of the last decade, and also one of the most popular. It regularly makes the list of DC Comics's "best comics," "best moments," and even "best fights," praised by The New York Times and director Joss Whedon.

While the miniseries holds an average score of 7.3 out of 10 at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, (the lowest issue score going to issue 7, with 5.3, and the highest going to issue 1, with 8.7), it was criticized for its use of sexual violence as a plot device, for retconing events in DC continuity that critics and readers felt harmed the characterization of long-standing DC heroes, and for influencing similar subsequent comics.

Meltzer was one of many writers and artists who contributed to Superman/Batman #26 (June 2006), a tribute book dedicated to Sam Loeb, the son of writer Jeph Loeb, who died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 17. Meltzer scripted pages 11–12 and 19 of the comic book.

Meltzer took over the writing duties for a 13-issue stint on the new monthly Justice League of America series, which started with issue #0 on July 19, 2006, and issue #1 following a month later. Meltzer and artist Gene Ha received the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue (or One-Shot) for their work on issue 11 of the series. The award was presented by Samuel L. Jackson and Gabriel Macht.

In 2008, it was announced that Meltzer would write an arc of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic book for Dark Horse Comics. Whedon would later star as himself, alongside Brian K. Vaughan and Damon Lindelof in the trailer for Meltzer's 2008 release of The Book of Lies. Whedon, Vaughan and Lindelof - who portray themselves - act as conspiracy theorists who believe in a so-called "Book of Lies", which in Meltzer's novel connects the original murder story (Cain and Abel) to the murder of Jerry Siegel's father, shortly before the conception of the iconic Superman character. In 2010, Meltzer wrote #32 - #35 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

Meltzer and artist Bryan Hitch collaborated on a retelling of Batman's first appearance for Detective Comics vol. 2 #27 in January 2014.

Television

In addition to his novels, he was the co-creator of the television series Jack & Bobby, which ran for one season (2004–2005) on the WB television network.

Meltzer hosted the History series Brad Meltzer's Decoded, which aired from December 2, 2010 to January 20, 2012.

Meltzer's newest show on History's H2 network is Brad Meltzer's Lost History, which premiered October 31, 2014. Each episode of Lost History presents both solved and unsolved cases and success stories where Americans have helped find missing historic objects such as the Ground Zero flag from 9/11 and the original Wright Brothers flying machine patent. Viewers are encouraged to submit tips to an online site, in an effort to provide key information leading to the return of these treasures. In September 2016, Meltzer hosted "America's 9/11 Flag: Rose from the Ashes," telling the story of how his television show, Brad Meltzer's Lost History, located and authenticated the missing 9/11 flag the firefighters raised at Ground Zero.

Personal life

Meltzer lives in Florida with his wife, an attorney. He has two sons and a daughter.