Terry C. Johnston


Terry C. Johnston was an American Western fiction author who wrote 31 novels and had more than 10 million books in print.

Background

He was born in Arkansas City, Kansas. His parents were a junior college president and a teacher. He gained a BA from Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma. As a young man, he traveled and worked various jobs, all the while becoming a student of the Old West. Johnston published his first novel, Carry the Wind, in 1982 after it had been rejected by 29 publishers; it won the Western Writers of America's Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award. Johnston wrote his first novel while he worked as a lease manager for Northwest Auto in Northglenn, Colorado, using the company's word processor after work to write, sometimes working through the night. He settled near Billings, Montana.

Major works

Johnston is best known for two major works: a series of nine historical novels spanning the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade era and its eventual demise told through the eyes of the protagonist, Titus "Scratch" Bass.; and a larger number of novels about the Indian wars of the West, the Plainsmen Series, following the conflicts through protagonist Seamus Donegan. Another series of books was based on a possibly true story of a relationship General Custer had with a Cheyenne girl.

Death and legacy

Johnston said to his wife that he felt when he killed off Scratch or when Scratch died he wouldn't last too long afterwards, and he died of colon cancer on March 25, 2001, only a month after being diagnosed. In his memory The Terry C. Johnston Memorial Scholarship Fund was established at Montana State University – Billings, as well as donations made to the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee and the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

Personal life

He was married three times. His first wife was Doris with whom he had one son ; they divorced in 1982. Johnston's second wife was Rhonda Stacy with whom he had one son and one daughter ; they divorced in 1992. His third wife was Vanette.

Published work

Bass/Paddock Trilogy
Son of the Plains
Jonas Hook
Titus Bass
'
  • Dance on the Wind
  • Buffalo Palace
  • Crack in the Sky
'
The Plainsmen Series