Writer and educator David Eddings was born on July 7, 1931 in Spokane, Washington. He received a B.A. in English from Reed College in Portland in 1954 and a M.A. in Middle English from the University of Washington in 1961, writing part of a novel as his Master's thesis. After serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, Eddings began working as a grocery clerk. He later worked for the Boeing Company, placing Minuteman missiles throughout the U.S. He spent a few years teaching English in a business college and a teachers' college. His first novel, High Hunt, was an outdoor adventure about a group of men on a deer hunt in the mountains of Washington State. After nine years, Eddings published Pawn of Prophecy, the first of the Belgariad series. The success of that series led to three more, the Mallorean, the Elenium, and the Dreamers. He collaborated with his wife Leigh Eddings on many of his books. He died on June 2, 2009 at the age of 77.