Terry's Fans (9)

Terry C. Johnston

Author profile

born

January 01, 1947 in Arkansas City, KS, The United States

died

March 01, 2001

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction, History

About this author

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Terry C. Johnston was born January 1, 1947 in Arkansas City, KS.
Nineteen publishers rejected Johnston's first novel, Carry the Wind, before it was printed in 1982. However, this first novel was to gain the honor of receiving the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award for best first fiction. Johnston is known for his eye for historical detail, and he is a stickler for accuracy. He is known for traveling and exploring down known and unknown dusty roads during the hot summer months, and traversing slippery, muddy roads and hiking through snow to stand upon a historical sight that he would tell his readers in an upcoming book. "Parking in the lower lot, I trudged up the hill to reach the spot where Colonel John Gibbon's infa...more Terry C. Johnston was born January 1, 1947 in Arkansas City, KS.
Nineteen publishers rejected Johnston's first novel, Carry the Wind, before it was printed in 1982. However, this first novel was to gain the honor of receiving the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award for best first fiction. Johnston is known for his eye for historical detail, and he is a stickler for accuracy. He is known for traveling and exploring down known and unknown dusty roads during the hot summer months, and traversing slippery, muddy roads and hiking through snow to stand upon a historical sight that he would tell his readers in an upcoming book. "Parking in the lower lot, I trudged up the hill to reach the spot where Colonel John Gibbon's infantry waited out the last hours before their attack on the unsuspecting camp. Standing there in the icy snowstorm I was totally overwhelmed by the sight of those skeletal cones of lodgepoles standing stark against the low, gray sky . . ." Some of the sites that he would stand upon were known to the world like the Little Big Horn Battlefield and others would be obscure to the average reader like the Weippe Prairie north of Lochsa. He is known to combine "a roaring good tale with fascinating insights into the lives and times of his principal characters, generally managing to employ his extensive knowledge to enhance a story rather than intrude upon it" (Whitehead, 1991). Johnston would say that he considered himself "not a literary writer but a storyteller." His desire was to reach and teach thousands if not millions of readers about the early western frontier.

He accomplished part of this goal, not only through his books, but through discussions given to elementary children, lectures at symposiums, and historical one-week tours "during which you will re-live the grit and blood, the tears and tragedy of the great Indian Wars." He would blend historical fact with human emotion to re-create the past during his historical tours each summer. One presentation he gave to a fourth grade class was about the Plains Indian culture. He held a discussion with a Honors English class in Castle Rock middle school about "research, writing, and editing that goes into producing two historical novels each year, when compared to their "term papers." He gave keynote speeches at seminars and lectures at symposiums. He traveled all around Montana to sign books for fans, and he signed the books at the local Albertson's in each town. He held radio interviews that "took me into cities, talking before audiences, I never would have managed to reach otherwise."

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combine editions
Books by Terry C. Johnston

Average rating: 4.06 · 829 ratings · 33 reviews · 38 distinct works

	Carry the Wind 4.24 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 1982 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Borderlords 4.28 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 1986 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Sioux Dawn: The Fetterman Massacre, 1866 4.02 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1958 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Red Cloud's Revenge: Showdown On The Northern Plains, 1867 4.15 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 1991	My rating:
	Dance on the Wind 4.04 avg rating — 45 ratings — published 1995 — 4 editions	My rating:
	One-Eyed Dream 4.25 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1988 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Buffalo Palace 4.14 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1996 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Stalkers: The Battle Of Beecher Island, 1868 4.32 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 1990 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Black Sun: The Battle of Summit Springs, 1869 4.21 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Devil's Backbone: The Modoc War, 1872-3 3.97 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions	My rating: