Brendan Wilson

Following twenty-five years of military service as a U.S. Army ranger and paratrooper, Brendan Wilson retired as a lieutenant colonel and then joined NATO where he served as a defense planner and diplomat for the next fifteen years. During the course of his forty years of work as a soldier and diplomat, he saw service in war-torn Libya, Ukraine, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Iraq. In addition, he commanded a fire base on the DMZ in the Republic of Korea. A former coach and team captain for military martial arts competition teams in the 101st Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps, he holds master ranking (8th Dan) in two different martial arts, and he won the silver medal in the 2009 U.S. Open for Taekwondo. In 2022, he was inducted into the AMAA Hall of Honor for distinguished international impact in the martial arts. In 2024 he was awarded the grandmaster of the year award by American Martial Arts Alliance Magazine. In retirement, Wilson turned his efforts to filmmaking. He wrote and produced two award-winning short films ("Doug's Christmas" and "A Child Lies Here") and served as executive producer for the award-winning web series, "Greeting! From Prison." Moved by seeing human lives upended in war-torn areas, Wilson enrolled in law school and, completed his JD in 2022. In 2024, the second novel in the Mei Ling Lee Series, Warrior Goddess, was released. Wilson lives in DeKalb, Illinois. He spends his days, writing, studying law, and practicing his martial arts.