I used the pen name because I knew I wanted to write better novels under my own name someday.

He attended Elmont Memorial High School in Elmont New York and graduated from Hofstra University. Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23 1943) is an American author of thriller novels. Works
DeMille often uses Long Island as a setting in his novels as in The Gold Coast Plum Island Word of Honor and Night Fall.

Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23 1943) is an American author of thriller novels. DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon Kurt Ladner and Brad Matthews.