Michael Newton (author)
Michael Newton (September 16, 1951 – September 6, 2021) was an American author best known for his work on Don Pendleton's "The Executioner" book series. Biography. Newton began work on the Executioner series by co-writing "The Executioner's War Book" with Pendleton in 1977. Henceforth he became a steady writer for the series with 136 entries to his credit. He penned several milestone Executioner novels such as #100, #200, and #300. Writing under the pseudonym Lyle Brandt, Newton also became a popular writer of Western novels. Newton wrote a number of non-fiction titles as well , including a book on genre writing ("How to Write Action Adventure Novels") and numerous true crime titles. His book "Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida" won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. Altogether, Newton published 357 books, which included 258 novels and 99 nonfiction books. He also published 91 nonfiction articles and 58 shorter pieces, including chapters in several best-selling true-crime anthologies. In 2017 Newton received the Lifetime Achievement Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers, honoring his publication of 62 western novels. Cryptozoology. Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology  won the American Library Association's award for Outstanding Reference Work in 2006. The book features 2,744 entries on cryptozoology with a glossary and lengthy bibliography. It was positively reviewed in The Quarterly Review of Biology" as enjoyable reading and an important resource on the topic.