TSJ at Fifty-Five |

TSJ at Fifty-Five

Here are my thoughts on this past year … It’s been a busy one.

Today, I woke to the realization that I am now 55 years old. I have written blog articles in the past on this day, reflecting on the previous decades and the enormous changes I’ve witnessed since 1970:

TSJ at 47
TSJ at 48
TSJ at 49
TSJ at 50
TSJ at 51

Sometimes I don’t have much to say about the day, so I don’t post anything other than the usual news items from the Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Horror, and Suspense genres. After all, it’s just another day, especially after five decades of them.

I’m a full-time writer. I work from home and I have the pleasure of immersing myself in my writing, researching future novels, working on my blog, creating new works, and also exploring the remarkable worlds that other creative minds have brought to us. For example, yesterday I posted a news item about Return of the Living Dead, played Alien: Isolation on X-Box (again), read a chapter in a book by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen (a gift from Aunty Stacey), wrote a new blog article for release next week (about the new Highlander movie), wrote this article, and somewhere in there I also made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my family.

Concurrently, during my days this past year, I have also been helping a few different causes in my community:

Communications for The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial at HMCS Prevost
Fundraising/communications for The Byron Springbank Veterans Monument
Communications for the Homes For Heroes Foundation (more to come on this) to support homeless veterans in London, Ontario
Supporting creative writers in the Thames Valley District School Board
Helping the Palace Theatre Arts Commons increase donations/attendance

I have had ten book signings this year and also a number of appearances, both in-person and via podcast/interview, like this one, at Crime Writers of Canada, and this interview with Interstellar Flight Magazine. I also won the 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Grand Prize for A Blanket of Steel.

I have increased my blog output, now publishing one story each day. You may have noticed this note on my social media:

Each day, I post one carefully curated news item from the Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Horror, and Suspense genres. Follow or subscribe to my blog and start your days dialed in to the exciting worlds of Timothy S. Johnston!

I do this to highlight my love for these genres, to amplify the signal of some of the properties that I feel deserve it, and to focus some attention on the things I love. Check out (and follow) my blog, Life After Gateway, where I have hit nearly 400 posts (this is number 389) and more than 10,500 followers.

My two daughters are both university students and are hard at work on their studies (and their futures). Thanksgiving is coming, so I am preparing to cook a turkey dinner for the family. I have a signing coming up at an Indigo store here in London, and two author workshops in the weeks ahead — one at a high school, and another at the University of Guelph. I also continue to write and have new books completed (but more on this later).

This year I went on three large trips, one to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Icon of the Seas. You may have seen this story. Here’s my family on board:

Life is pretty okay right now. I am keeping very busy. I am recovering from a fairly severe shoulder injury, but it will (luckily) just take time and physio. The effects of injuries of this type are more than pain; they involve psychological stresses and come with a mental health impact as well, and most people don’t really understand until they’ve dealt with something similar. (When I filmed this video series to help support the Palace Theatre in London, I could barely move my left arm. You might have noticed.)

TSJ at the Palace Theatre

But life goes on. One day at a time. I keep pushing forward, helping my family and community, and continue to contribute to — and highlight — the genres that I love. I have always felt that a good story can heal the world. The creative world — both creative people and the art they create — provides us with massive mental health benefits. Don’t believe me? If you’re ever feeling down, just watch a favourite film, or pick up a good book, create a scale model, or play that game that you love. You’ll know what I mean as soon as you do it. A good story has great potential to cure whatever ails you.

My John Carpenter Gallery

I recommend that you surround yourself with the things you love, be it family, friends, movies, sports, books, video games, or comics and collectables and so on. That’s what I do, and I promise, it works. It’s not just for inspiration; it’s for healing. After all, each day can be a chore, even if the activities are enjoyable. Thank you to my family, friends, past coworkers, fans, and readers/supporters who made this last year so memorable for me. To everyone who came to a signing to meet me and/or buy a book, to my publisher and past editors, the graphic designers, and the entire team who have contributed to anything “Timothy S. Johnston,” I appreciate you all. The next year will be just as great as this one, if not better.

I promise great things to come.

Here’s to another year around the sun!

— Timothy S. Johnston, 8 October 2025

Each day, I post one carefully curated news item from the Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Horror, and Suspense genres. Follow or subscribe to my blog and start your days dialed in to the exciting worlds of Timothy S. Johnston!

———

Follow TSJ on Facebook.
Follow TSJ on X.
Follow TSJ on Instagram.
Follow TSJ’s Blog Life After Gateway, featuring one carefully curated news item from the world of Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and Suspense each day. Enter your email in the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” widget on the right.

———

A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 8 October 2025

———

Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“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

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

———

A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

———

A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007