Donald Gallinger

Donald Nelson Gallinger (born May 4, 1953) is author of several novels. His most recent work, The Master Planets, (a novel that has received acclaim from sources such as ForeWord Magazine) tells the story of one Polish partisan fighter’s savagery during World War II and its devastating effects on her American family years later. Centering on the fictional woman’s teenage son, Peter, the novel seeks to show how the unknown past can reach into the ... more

Donald Nelson Gallinger (born May 4, 1953) is author of several novels. His most recent work, The Master Planets, (a novel that has received acclaim from sources such as ForeWord Magazine) tells the story of one Polish partisan fighter’s savagery during World War II and its devastating effects on her American family years later. Centering on the fictional woman’s teenage son, Peter, the novel seeks to show how the unknown past can reach into the unwary present. Born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut, Gallinger grew up hearing first-hand stories of World War II partisan fighters from friends of his parents. These stories, absorbed during childhood, probably inspired a more scholarly interest in the politics of resistance later captured in his fiction. The question “Why didn’t more victims fight back?” or, more pointedly, “What happened to the people who did fight back?” became one of the thematic building blocks of The Master Planets. Gallinger sought answers in source materials at... less