John Saul

Author profile

born

February 25, 1942

gender

male

website

http://www.johnsaul.com/

genre

Horror, Mystery & Thrillers

About this author

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John Saul was born in Pasadena, California on February 25, 1942, and grew up in Whittier where he graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He attended several colleges—Antioch, in Ohio, Cerritos, in Norwalk, California, Montana State University and San Francisco State College, variously majoring in anthropology, liberal arts, and theater, but never obtaining a degree.
After leaving college, he decided the best thing for a college dropout to do was become a writer, and spent the next fifteen years working in various jobs while attempting to write a book someone would want to publish. Should anyone ever want to write a novel concerning the car-rental industry or the travails of temporary typists, John can provide excellent background mate...more John Saul was born in Pasadena, California on February 25, 1942, and grew up in Whittier where he graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He attended several colleges—Antioch, in Ohio, Cerritos, in Norwalk, California, Montana State University and San Francisco State College, variously majoring in anthropology, liberal arts, and theater, but never obtaining a degree.
After leaving college, he decided the best thing for a college dropout to do was become a writer, and spent the next fifteen years working in various jobs while attempting to write a book someone would want to publish. Should anyone ever want to write a novel concerning the car-rental industry or the travails of temporary typists, John can provide excellent background material.

Those years garnered him a nice collection of unpublished manuscripts, but not a lot of money. Eventually he found an agent in New York, who spent several years sending his manuscripts around, and trying to make the rejection slips sound hopeful. Then, in 1976, one of his manuscripts reached Dell, who didn't want to buy it, but asked if he'd be interested in writing a psychological thriller. He put together an outline, and crossed his fingers.

At that point, things started getting bizarre. His agent decided the outline had all the makings of a best-seller, and so did Dell. Gambling on a first novel by an unknown author, they backed the book with television advertising (one of the first times a paperback original was promoted on television) and the gamble paid off. Within a month Suffer the Children appeared on all the best-seller lists in the country and made the #1 spot in Canada. Subsequently all 32 of his books, have made all the best-seller lists and have been published world wide. Though many of his books were published by Bantam/Doubleday/Dell his last fourteen books have been published by Ballantine/Fawcett/Columbine.

In addition to his work as novelist, John is also interested in the theater. He has acted, and as a playwright has had several one-act plays produced in Los Angeles and Seattle, and two optioned in New York. One of his novels was produced by Gerber Productions Company and M.G.M. as a C.B.S. movie and currently one of his novels is in development.

John served on the Expansion Arts Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is actively involved with the development of other writers, and is a lecturer at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference and the Maui Writers Conference and received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Northwest Writers Conference. John is also a trustee and Vice President of The Chester Woodruff Foundation (New York), a philanthropic organization.

John lives part-time in the Pacific Northwest, both in Seattle and in the San Juan Islands. He also maintains a residence on the Big Island of Hawaii. He currently enjoys motor homing, travel and golf. He is an avid reader, bridge player, golfer and loves to cook. (less)

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Books by John Saul

Average rating: 3.73 · 53,770 ratings · 1,809 reviews · 62 distinct works

	Suffer the Children 3.78 avg rating — 5,312 ratings — published 1977 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Darkness 3.77 avg rating — 3,537 ratings — published 1991 — 17 editions	My rating:
	Creature 3.64 avg rating — 2,917 ratings — published 1989 — 20 editions	My rating:
	Shadows 3.78 avg rating — 2,760 ratings — published 1992 — 22 editions	My rating:
	The God Project 3.80 avg rating — 2,652 ratings — published 1983 — 17 editions	My rating:
	Second Child 3.76 avg rating — 2,116 ratings — published 1990 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Nathaniel 3.72 avg rating — 2,004 ratings — published 1984 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Comes the Blind Fury 3.80 avg rating — 1,776 ratings — published 1983 — 19 editions	My rating:
	The Manhattan Hunt Club 3.89 avg rating — 1,704 ratings — published 2004 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Black Creek Crossing 3.77 avg rating — 1,707 ratings — published 2001 — 18 editions	My rating:

More books by John Saul…

Series by John Saul

Blackstone Chronicles (6 books)
by John Saul

4.03 avg rating — 3,430 ratings

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Quotes by John Saul

“The country would be far better if the population were half as interested in keeping their minds in as good condition as they tried to keep their bodies.”
― John Saul

13 people liked it

“You know what you have to do, Matthew." Darkness began to close around him, until all he could see was the head ot the deer. The deer and something beyond... "Do it Matthew," the voice whisperd. "Do it for me...”
― John Saul, Nightshade

2 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Novel Ladies: Nominations For April's Group Reads	71	32	Feb 27, 2009 07:41pm
Novel Ladies: Faces of Fear by John Saul	9	15	Jul 06, 2009 05:42am
Novel Ladies: Black Creek Crossing by John Saul	13	18	Aug 16, 2009 07:30am
Novel Ladies: Group Read Nominations - October 2009	150	72	Sep 08, 2009 01:31pm
Novel Ladies: Favorite Spooky/Scary Books...	69	49	Oct 27, 2009 09:24am
John Saul: House of Reckoning	14	21	Jan 17, 2010 03:07pm
Adults who love Y...: Books you read and loved as a teen	79	28	Feb 13, 2010 04:23pm
What's The Name o...: ~SOLVED~ 1990's (or earlier) teen girl tortured by evil popular half-sister who comes to live with her family after her own family dies in a fire [s]	13	103	Oct 06, 2010 12:15pm
Stephen King Fans: John Saul	48	135	Nov 07, 2010 10:12pm

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John Saul

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Books by John Saul