Theodore Victor Olsen (April 25, 1932, in

Rhinelander, Wisconsin Rhinelander is a city in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 8,285 at the 2020 census. History The area that eventually became the city of Rhinelander was originally called Pelican Rapids by early s ...

– July 13, 1993, in Rhinelander) was an American

western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...

author. The films ''

The Stalking Moon ''The Stalking Moon'' is a 1968 American Western film in Technicolor directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint. It is based on the novel of the same name by T.V. Olsen. Plot U.S. Army soldiers round up a group ...

'' and ''

Soldier Blue ''Soldier Blue'' is a 1970 American revisionist Western film directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, and Donald Pleasence. Adapted by John Gay from the novel ''Arrow in the Sun'' by T.V. Olsen, it is inspired by ...

'' were based on his works.

Biography

Olsen's family migrated from Norway in 1901. Theodore Olsen was born on April 25, 1932, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He went to school in Rhinelander and began to write in high school. He began a Western novel at that time. He went to college in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Olsen finally finished his novel, ''Haven of the Hunted'', and it was published in 1956. He also began to sell Western stories to

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...

at this time. Though he occasionally traveled west, he lived his whole life in Rhinelander and used exhaustive research to help accurately portray scenes of the West in his stories. Olsen was married to fellow fiction author Beverly Butler. Olsen died in Rhinelander on July 13, 1993, and several works were published posthumously. Much of Olsen's family still lives in the Rhinelander region. They own a ranch with a century-old farm house and dairy barn.

Bibliography

Novels

Western * ''Haven of the Hunted'',

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...

1956, new ed. Chivers Press 6/2000, * ''The Man from Nowhere'', Ace 1959, new ed. Chivers 3/1992, * ''McGivern'',

Gold Medal Books Gold Medal Books, launched by Fawcett Publications in 1950, was an American book publisher known for introducing paperback originals, a publishing innovation at the time. Fawcett was also an independent newsstand distributor, and in 1949 the c ...

1960, new ed.

Thorndike Press Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

4/2001, * ''High Lawless'', Fawcett 1960, new ed. Sagebush Westerns 7/2010, * ''Gunswift'', Fawcett Books 1960, new ed. Center Point Print 7/2006, * ''Brand of the Star'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1961, new ed. Thorndike 4/2011, * ''Ramrod Rider'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1961, new ed. Center Point 9/2005, * ''Savage Sierra'', Gold Medal 1963, new ed. Thorndike 3/1998, * ''A Man Called Brazos'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1964, new ed. Gunsmoke Westerns 8/2005, * ''Canyon of the Gun'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1965, new ed. Gunsmoke 9/2007, * ''The Stalking Moon'',

Doubleday (publisher) Doubleday is an American publishing company. It was founded as the Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897. By 1947, it was the largest book publisher in the United States. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and ...

1965, new ed.

Leisure Books Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series ...

5/2010, * ''The Hard Men'', Star Weekly Novel 1966, new ed. Gunsmoke 7/2001, * ''Blizzard Pass'', Fawcett 1/1968, new ed. Thorndike 10/2004, * ''Soldier Blue'' a.k.a. ''Arrow in the Sun'', Star Weekly 1970, new ed. Thorndike * ''The Burning Sky'', Star Weekly 1/1971, new ed. Chivers 5/1998, * ''A Man Named Yuma'', Gold Medal 1/1971, new ed. Chivers 3/2011, * ''Bitter Grass'',

Sphere Books Sphere Books is the name of two British paperback publishers. History The original Sphere Books was launched in 1966 by Thomson Corporation. Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin. Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) bough ...

4/1971, * ''There Was a Season'', Doubleday 1972 * ''Summer of the Drums'', Doubleday 1972 ** * ''Mission to the West'', Ace 1/1973, new ed. Leisure 9/1997, * ''Eye of the Wolf'', Sphere 3/1973, * ''Run to the Mountain'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1974, new ed. Gunsmoke 11/2008, * ''Starbuck's Brand'', Belmont Tower 1974, new ed. Leisure 11/1997, * ''Day of the Buzzard'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1976, new ed. Gunsmoke 1/2009, * ''Westward They Rode'', Ace 1/1976, new ed. Leisure 7/1996, * ''Track the Man Down'', Manor Books 1976, new ed. Leisure 10/1998, * ''Bonner's Stallion'', Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1977, new ed. Center Point May 2010, * ''Rattlesnake'', Doubleday 2/1979, * ''The Lockhart Breed'',

Walker & Company Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

3/1982, * ''Red is the River'', Fawcett 1/1983, * ''Lazlo's Strike'', Doubleday 1/1983, new ed. Gunsmoke 2/2010, * ''Blood of the Breed'', Ulverscroft Print 1/1985, * ''Lonesome Gun'', Fawcett 10/1985, * ''Blood Rage'',

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

6/1987, * ''A Killer is Waiting'', Fawcett 2/1988, * ''Break the Young Land'',

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

1988, new ed. Center Point 9/2004, * ''Under the Gun'', Fawcett 9/1989, * ''Keno'', Chivers 4/1991, * ''The Golden Chance'', Fawcett 9/1992, * ''Deadly Pursuit'', Thorndike 8/1995, , sequel to ''Golden Chance'' * ''Treasures of the Sun'',

Five Star Publishing 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

Westerns 11/1998, * ''The Lost Colony'', Five Star 9/1999, * ''The Vanishing Herd'', Five Star 5/2001, Other Novels * ''Brothers of the Sword'',

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...

1962 (

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

)

Anthologies

* ''War Whoop and Battle Cry'', collection of stories together with Clifton Adams, Clay Fisher and

Luke Short Luke Lamar Short (January22, 1854September8, 1893) was an American Old West gunfighter, cowboy, U.S. Army scout, dispatch rider, gambler, boxing promoter, and saloon owner. He survived numerous gunfights, the most famous of which were aga ...

, edited by

Brian Garfield Brian Francis Wynne Garfield (January 26, 1939 – December 29, 2018) was an Edgar Award-winning American novelist, historian and screenwriter. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, he wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen. Garfield went on ...

Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...

1/1968 * ''Lone Hand (Frontier Stories)'', Thorndike 6/1998, * ''Man without a Past (Frontier Stories)'', Five Star 11/2001,

Non-fiction

Rhinelander Country series # ''Roots of the North'', Pineview Publishing 1979 # ''Birth of a City'', Pineview 1983, # ''Our First Hundred Years'', Pineview 1983

Filmography

* ''

'', 1968 directed by

Robert Mulligan Robert Patrick Mulligan (August 23, 1925 – December 20, 2008) was an American director and producer. He is best known for his sensitive dramas, including ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), '' Summer of '42'' (1971), '' The Other'' (1972), '' Sam ...

, with

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

and

Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American retired actress. In a career that spanned nearly 80 years, she won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two British Academy Film Awa ...

* ''

'', 1970 directed by

Ralph Nelson Ralph Nelson (August 12, 1916 – December 21, 1987) was an American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor. He was best known for directing '' Lilies of the Field'' (1963), '' Father Goose'' (1964), and '' Charly'' (1968 ...

, with

Peter Strauss Peter Lawrence Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. He is an Emmy winner and five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee. Early life S ...

and

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...

Awards

* 1992:

Golden Spur Award Spur Awards are literary prizes given annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur Awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA was ...

in the category Paperback Original for ''Golden Chance''

References

External links

* http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/o/t-v-olsen/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Theodore V. Western (genre) writers 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 1932 births 1993 deaths People from Rhinelander, Wisconsin American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Wisconsin 20th-century American male writers