Frederick Nolan (writer)


Frederick William Nolan was an English editor and writer, mostly known as Frederick Nolan; he also used the pen names Donald Severn, Daniel Rockfern, Christine McGuire, and Frederick H. Christian.

Early life and education

Nolan was born on 7 March 1931 in Liverpool, England, where he was educated, as well as in Aberaeron in Wales.

Career

At the age of 21, Nolan began the research that established him as one of England's leading authorities on the American West. In 1954, he co-founded The English Westerners' Society.
At the start of his career, Nolan became first a reader, and later an editor, for Corgi Books in London. Moving to London in the early 1960s made it possible for him to pursue the other consuming interest of his life: American musical theatre. During this time, he also began writing Western fiction as Frederick H. Christian, a pseudonym derived from his own, his wife Heidi's, and his oldest son's first names.
Over the next decade, while working in publishing – with Transworld, then Penguin, Collins, and Granada in London, and later with Ballantine and Warner in New York – he produced fourteen Westerns as well as a considerable body of journalism.
On 4 July 1973, Nolan quit his job as a highly paid publishing executive and signed a contract to write eight full-length novels in a year. The first of these was The Oshawa Project, which MGM later filmed as Brass Target. Since that time, Nolan completed more than seventy books, a similar number of biographical studies, and articles for historical journals.
One of the foremost authorities on the life and times of American outlaw Billy the Kid, and the history of the American West in general, Nolan appeared frequently in television documentaries dealing with the subject, as well as lecturing to historical societies in the U.K. and U.S., and on cruise ships.
His Westerns include the Angel series of books as well as five additional books in the Sudden series created by Oliver Strange. These have latterly been reissued under new titles, while the Angel series now appears under the pseudonym Daniel Rockfern.

Personal life

Nolan died in Chalfont St. Giles, don 15 June 2022, at the age of 91.

Honorable recognitions

In 1993, Nolan received the Border Regional Library Association of Texas Award for Literary Excellence. In 2001, he was awarded the first France V. Scholes Prize for outstanding research from the Historical Society of New Mexico. The same year, he received the first J. Evetts Haley Fellowship from the Haley Memorial Library in Midland, Texas. In 2005, the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association gave him its highest honour, the Glenn Shirley Award, for his lifetime contribution to outlaw-lawman history. In 2006, The Westerners Foundation named his The West of Billy the Kid one of the 100 most important 20th-century historical works on the American West. In 2007, the National Outlaw-Lawman Association awarded him its William D. Reynolds Award in Recognition of Outstanding Research and Writing in Western History. A year later, True West Magazine named him "Best Living Non-fiction Writer".

Selected bibliography

Novels

The Oshawa Project No Place to Be a Cop The Mittenwald Syndicate Carver's Kingdom White Nights, Red Dawn A Promise of Glory Blind Duty Field of Honour Wolf Trap Red Centre
Garrett Dossier:Sweet Sister Death Alert State Black Designated Assassin
  • ''Rat Run''

As Christine McGuire

Until Proven Guilty Until Justice Is Done
  • ''Until Death Do Us Part''

As Frederick H. Christian

Sudden Strikes Back Sudden at Bay Sudden, Apache Fighter Sudden – Troubleshooter
  • ''Sudden, Dead or Alive!''

As Daniel Rockfern

Standoff at LibertyRide Out to VengeanceAmbush in PurgatoryLong Ride into HellRide Clear of DarangaBad Day at Agua CalienteMassacre in MadisonShowdown at TrinidadShootout at Fischer's CrossingManhunt in Quemado
  • ''Duel at Cheyenne''

Non-fiction works

The Life and Death of John Henry Tunstall Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Their Music The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History Bad Blood: The Life and Times of the Horrel BrothersPortraits of the Old West Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway The West of Billy the Kid

Translated from French

Lucky Luke: Jesse JamesLucky Luke: The Stage Coach
  • ''Lucky Luke: The Dashing White Cowboy''