J.T. Edson

J.T. Edson, whose given name was John Thomas Edson, was a highly respected author from the United Kingdom. He was born on February 17, 1928, in Whitwell, a small mining village near the border of Derbyshire County, England. Edson's parents were miners, and he was their first child. After his father's death in 1928, his mother remarried when he was 18 years old. From a young age, Edson was captivated by Western and Escapist Adventure serials, which he frequently watched at the cinema. This fascination with Westerns played a significant role in shaping his writing career.

Edson's writing career started in 1947 when he wrote "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti. During his 20s and 30s, he served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. While in the military, he developed his writing skills by reading books by great escapist writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye, and Edgar Wallace. After leaving the military, Edson won second prize in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them. He wrote mostly escapism adventures such as Westerns and police procedurals and became a major earner for the company.