author
William Oliver Turner
1914–1980
A prolific writer of Western fiction, he built his career as a freelance storyteller after earlier work in newspapers, magazines, and advertising. He was also known as an amateur magician, an unexpected sideline that adds a little extra color to his life and work.
1 Audiobook
The High Hander
by William Oliver Turner
About the author
William Oliver Turner was an American author best known for writing novels and stories in the Western genre. Archival and library sources describe him as a freelance fiction writer who specialized in westerns, and note that his work has remained of interest to readers of classic popular fiction.
Before turning fully to writing, he worked for newspapers, advertising agencies, and for a time edited a magazine in Iowa. One archival note says he later moved to Tacoma, Washington, in the mid-1960s to write full time, while another biographical source adds that he had earlier lived in Evanston, Illinois and studied at Knox College.
Turner also had a second passion outside literature: he was known as an amateur magician. That combination of working writer and dedicated hobbyist gives his biography a distinctive feel, and helps explain why he still stands out a little from many other mid-century Western authors.