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Timothy S. Johnston is the author of Science Fiction/Thrillers The War Beneath, The Savage Deeps, Fatal Depth, The Shadow of War, A Blanket of Steel, The Furnace, The Freezer, and The Void, and he has won the GLOBAL THRILLER Award Grand Prize, the EPIC Award, the CYGNUS Science Fiction Award Grand Prize, as well as the CLUE Award.
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Timothy S. Johnston is a lifelong fan of thrillers and science fiction thrillers in both print and film. His greatest desire is to contribute to the genre which has given him so much over the past five decades. He wishes he could personally thank every novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker, director and actor who has ever inspired him to tell great stories. He has been an educator for thirty years and a writer for forty. He lives on planet Earth, but he dreams of the stars. Visit www.timothysjohnston.com to register for news alerts, read his blog and reviews, and learn more about his current and upcoming thrillers. Timothy is the author of The War Beneath, The Savage Deeps, Fatal Depth, An Island of Light, The Shadow of War, and A Blanket of Steel. His futuristic murder mystery/thrillers include The Furnace, The Freezer, and The Void. He has won the 2016 EPIC Award (Science Fiction), the 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Grand Prize, the 2023 CYGNUS Award Grand Prize, and the 2015 CLUE Award (Blended Mystery category). He has been Finalist or Semi-Finalist in other award competitions, and short- or longlisted in others. Follow Timothy on Facebook @TSJAuthor and X @TSJ_Author.
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Timothy S. Johnston is an award-winning writer of futuristic and contemporary mystery/thrillers. He was born in 1970 and has experienced firsthand the explosion of computer technology, the evolution of science fiction in film and television, the birth of action blockbusters, and the exponential growth of the video game industry. He reads as much Crichton, Asimov, and Christie as time permits, and he holds these three writers as his greatest creative influences. He was born to tell electrifying thrillers with elements of science and technology, and he takes pride in his love for science fiction action and horror films. He saw Alien at age 10, The Thing at age 12, and has spent countless hours watching Star Trek in syndication. He can quote Predator and The Terminator endlessly, and is currently reliving SF films from the 1980s with his teenage daughter. He cites John Carpenter as his favorite director, Planet of the Apes as his favorite film, and Frederik Pohl’s Gateway as his favorite book.
He is dedicated to the art of telling a compelling story and contributing to the genre that has given him so much over the past five decades. He is passionate about writing and committed to inspiring others through his stories. His science fiction murder mystery The Furnace won the 2015 CYGNUS Award in the “Science Fiction Thriller” category and was shortlisted for the 2015 Science Fiction EPIC Award. All three books in The Tanner Sequence won the 2015 CLUE Award for Thriller / Suspense Novel in the “Blended Genre” category. The Freezer won the 2016 Science Fiction Epic Award and was shortlisted for the 2015 CYGNUS Award. In 2016, Timothy S. Johnston signed with ChiZine Publications to publish a brand new series. The saga is The Rise of Oceania, set underwater in the near future amidst the espionage, intrigue, and action of a Second Cold War rapidly turning hot. The books are: The War Beneath and The Savage Deeps. In 2020, Timothy signed with Fitzhenry & Whiteside to continue the series, and released Fatal Depth and An Island of Light in 2021, The Shadow of War in 2022, and A Blanket of Steel in December, 2023. The War Beneath won First Place in the 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards in the Action/Adventure category, was a Finalist in the 2019 SILVER FALCHION Awards, a Finalist in the 2019 CYGNUS Awards, and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2018 CLUE Awards. The Savage Deeps won the 2020 CYGNUS Award in the Climate Fiction category. Fatal Depth won the 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award and was a 2022 Silver Falchion Best Action Adventure Finalist. The Shadow of War won the 2023 CYGNUS Science Fiction Award Grand Prize, and A Blanket of Steel won the 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Grand Prize.
Timothy S. Johnston writes about his love for Science Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, and Suspense on his blog, Life After Gateway; the site has 200,000 hits and over 3,000 visitors each month. He also sponsors an annual award for senior creative writers in the Thames Valley District School Board in Southwestern Ontario.
Timothy S. Johnston is a member of the following organizations: International Thriller Writers, SF Canada, Crime Writers of Canada, and the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
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Timothy S. Johnston fell in love with science fiction and horror at a young age. Television shows such as Star Trek, Space: 1999, and The Twilight Zone during his formative years had an enormous impact on his creative journey. Films of the era including Alien, Star Wars, Logan’s Run, Rollerball (1975), Soylent Green, The Omega Man, and Silent Running also stimulated his emerging imagination. Then, during his teen years in the 1980s, he discovered The Terminator, The Thing, Escape From New York, Blade Runner, The Fly, and Aliens — movies with a harder edge that furthered his admiration for the genre. He read The Exorcist, Jaws, and The Amityville Horror at the age of twelve, and Stephen King horrors in subsequent years such as Cujo, It, and Christine. Other writers he discovered in his teens included Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur C. Clarke, Lester del Rey, and Robert Heinlein. He was often tired during the day because of nighttime reading, and is now embarrassed to admit that he was frequently late to school.
By the time Timothy was seventeen, he knew that writing riveting page-turners and telling stories in the science fiction, horror, and thriller categories was where his destiny lay.
Timothy is also an avid filmgoer. In the genre field his favorite films are Planet of the Apes (1968), The Thing (1982), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Dramas include Glengarry Glen Ross, 12 Angry Men, and American History X. He has an eclectic sense of humor and enjoys a wide variety of comedies ranging from Mel Brooks to Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. His preferred comedy duo is Abbott and Costello.
His favorite Science Fiction books are Gateway by Frederik Pohl, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Asimov’s Foundation saga, Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. He credits Michael Crichton, Isaac Asimov, and Agatha Christie as his biggest inspirations.
Timothy S. Johnston enjoys writing thrillers that have numerous twists and turns and involve a scientific or technological plot line. Rather than telling a story that goes from A to B, he will tell one that goes from A to Z — and beyond. Cliffhangers abound in his thrillers, and putting one down before completion is difficult.
He hopes to see one of his books in film or on television, and in his wildest dreams to one day collaborate with James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, John Carpenter, and Steven Spielberg. Timothy S. Johnston has enormous respect for creative talents in every genre and artistic realm, be it writing, film, game design, music, or visual art, and he is not shy about crediting those who continue to inspire and stimulate his imagination and creativity.
Timothy S. Johnston writes about his love for Science Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, and Suspense on his blog, Life After Gateway; the site has 200,000 hits and over 3,000 visitors each month. He also sponsors an annual award for senior creative writers in the Thames Valley District School Board in Southwestern Ontario. He is currently at work on The Rise of Oceania, his book series with publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
“The Shadow of War is a slambang thriller set in an all-too-plausible future. Fans of Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton will be spellbound.” — Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Oppenheimer Alternative
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“… action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews on A Blanket of Steel
“This engrossing and exciting SF thriller is Johnston’s third Tanner Sequence adventure (after The Freezer), but it stands well on its own … SF and mystery fans will be impressed with Johnston’s tightly written deep-space whodunit.” — Publishers Weekly STARRED review of The Void
“If you’re a fan of technothrillers, searching for an engaging and fast-paced page-turner, you won’t regret adding The Furnace to your sci-fi collection.” — FOUR Stars at Readers’ Favorite
