Mark O’Bannon —
The Cosmic Architect of Mythic Worlds
Epic Fantasy • Cosmic Science Fiction • Mythic Adventure
Sometimes a life gathers meaning long before the person living it understands why. Quiet threads appear — in ancestry, in history, in the choices of those who came before — forming a pattern that reveals itself only when the time is right.
Mark O’Bannon writes from within such a pattern.
His lineage traces back to the De Vere family, an English house entwined with the literary world of the Elizabethan age. Among his ancestors stand several signers of the Magna Carta — placing the ideals of liberty and resistance to tyranny deep within his bloodline. These roots, both literary and fiercely devoted to freedom, echo through everything he creates.
Another branch of Mark’s heritage shaped the modern world. His grandfather, Reuben H. Fleet, purchased the Wright Brothers’ company, founded Consolidated Aircraft, and created the U.S. Airmail. He launched the first international airline, NYRBA, and during World War II employed forty thousand people as his factories produced 18,000 B-24 Liberators. Fleet developed the PBY Catalina — the flying boat that rescued downed airmen, spotted the Bismarck, and helped turn the tide at Midway. He built the San Diego airport for his company and later gave it to the city. His work did not merely advance aviation; it altered the course of history.
Innovation continued through the family. Mark’s uncle, Preston Fleet, financed the inventors of IMAX and built the first one hundred IMAX theaters, shaping the era of immersive cinematic storytelling. Through marriage, Mark’s extended family includes Lon Chaney Jr., one of Hollywood’s legendary shapeshifters whose iconic roles defined entire genres. Another ancestor, Frederick Fleet, served as the Titanic’s lookout the night it struck the iceberg — a symbol of warning, fate, and the burden of seeing what others do not. Even in infancy, Mark’s life brushed against American legacy; the Roosevelt family gifted his mother the bassinet he slept in as a newborn.
His brother, Charles Holloway, later discovered the mathematical definition of freedom. Together, they teach Free World Theory — a modern framework for building a truly free society. Its principles shape the core of Mark’s Imperium saga, where questions of liberty, destiny, and the human spirit become the engines of story.
Today, Mark O’Bannon writes across realms: cosmic empires, Celtic dreamlands, dragon-shifting guardians, mythic barbarians, and worlds built upon the architecture of destiny. His work blends imagination with legacy, invention with myth, and the timeless struggle for freedom with the vastness of the possible.
His structural craft was honed under the guidance of John Truby, one of the most respected story theorists of our time — a foundation that allows him to weave vast story-ecosystems with precision, resonance, and a sense of inevitable design.
Step into the worlds he creates.
The realms are open.
Waiting.