Prolific author David Eddings--author of bestselling five-volume fantasy series Belgariad and Malloreon--passed away today at age 77.

According to his author page, the writer served in the United States Army, and later worked as a buyer for the Boeing Company, a grocery clerk, and a college English teacher.

Here's more from his About.com obituary: "Eddings was famously old-fashioned, never using a typewriter or computer (he wrote out his scripts in long-hand) and was well-known for being self-effacing, once remarking, 'I'm never going to be in danger of getting a Nobel Prize for literature.' He was most pleased when told that his books had turned nonreaders into booklovers." (Link via, image via.)