John Saul (born February 25, 1942) is an American author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. .

Biography

Born in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, Saul grew up in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

, and graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He went on to several colleges, including Cerritos College,

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

and

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

, variously majoring in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

and theater, but remains degree-less. After leaving college, Saul decided to become a writer, and spent 15 years working in various jobs while learning his craft. Prior to the start of his career writing thrillers, Saul had around 10 books published under pen names, the first of which he wrote in one weekend after unexpectedly losing his job. His first book sale earned him $200.. Today he has over 60 million books in print.. In 1976,

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

contacted him about his writing a

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

. The resulting novel, '' Suffer the Children'', appeared on all the bestseller lists in the United States and reached the number one spot in Canada. His 1979 novel ''Cry for the Strangers'' was made into a 1982 TV movie starring

Patrick Duffy Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American television actor and director widely known for his role as Bobby Ewing on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas (TV series), Dallas'' (1978–1991). Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby ...

and

Cindy Pickett Cindy Pickett (born April 18, 1947) is an American actress. She is known for her 1970s role as Jackie Marler-Spaulding on the CBS soap ''Guiding Light'' and Dr. Carol Novino on the television drama ''St. Elsewhere'' in the 1980s. Pickett, however, ...

. In addition to his novels, Saul has had several one-act plays produced in Los Angeles and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Saul lives part-time in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, both in Seattle and in the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

, and has a residence on the Big Island of Hawaii. Saul is openly gay. He lives with his partner of almost 50 years (since 1975) who has collaborated on several of his novels. He is a frequent speaker at th
Maui Writers' Conference
In 2023, Saul received the

Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement The Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement annually recognizes one to three living artists for "superior achievement in an entire career" which has "substantially influenced the horror genre". It is conferred by the Horror Writers Association, ...

Works

Novels

References

*John Saul: A Critical Companion by Paul Bail

External links

* http://www.johnsaul.com/ * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saul, John 1942 births Living people Writers from Pasadena, California Writers from Whittier, California American male novelists American horror writers American thriller writers Antioch College alumni American gay writers American LGBTQ novelists Gay novelists LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ people from Washington (state)