The Metaphysics of the Novel: The Inner Workings of a Novel and a Novelist

Don Pendleton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, December 12, 1927. During World War II, on December 7, 1942, days before his 15th birthday, Don enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Radioman First Class until November of 1947. He served in all the war theaters, receiving various medals. He received his GED certificate of high school equivalency while in the Navy in 1947. In 1952, in the midst of the Korean conflict, Don returned to active Naval service for two years. He began writing in 1957 and his first short story was published that year, followed by a first novel in 1961. But it was not until 1967, at the age of 40, that his attention turned to full-time writing. After producing a number of short stories, science fiction and mystery novels, he launched, in 1969, the phenomenal Executioner Series. The first Executioner novel, War Against the Mafia, was followed by an additional 37 sequels during the ensuing 12 years. The Executioner: Mack Bolan series has been published around the world in more than 25 languages with close to two hundred million copies in print. In 1980, Don franchised his Executioner characters to Harlequin's Worldwide Library of Toronto, Gold Eagle Imprint. Until his death, Don served as Consulting Editor on the Gold Eagle Program, although was not directly responsible for any of the Mack Bolan novels written since 1981. Their team of writers have produced close to 400 novels based on Don's original works and use his names as a house pseudonym. In addition to being a novelist, Don was a poet, a screenwriter, essayist and metaphysical scholar. In 1990, he turned to nonfiction with the publication of To Dance With Angels, written with his wife, Linda Pendleton. The book, a definite study of life after death, is currently in its fourth edition. Don's nonfiction books now include three manuscripts published posthumously as ebooks: A Search for Meaning From the Surface of a Small Planet by Don Pendleton; The Metaphysics of the Novel, the Inner Workings of a Novel and a Novelist by Don Pendleton with Linda Pendleton; Whispers From the Soul: The Divine Dance of Consciousness by Don and Linda Pendleton. A Search for Meaning From the Surface of a Small Planet won the Independent Ebooks Award for the Best of Nonfiction, 2002. Pendleton was a member of the Authors Guild, Inc.; The Authors League; The Writers Guild of America, West; a past West Coast Director of the Mystery Writers of America; NAPRA; International Platform Association; and a frequent speaker on school and college campuses and at writers' symposiums. In 1992, Don received the Lifetime Achievement Gem Award presented by Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., a leading Comic Book distributor. Don Pendleton died October 23, 1995.