John Templeton Smith served in the RAF and for a few short years was an airline pilot.
He moved into aerospace journalism in his 30's, before having the good fortune in finding that the bestselling thriller writer, Desmond Bagley, lived nearby.
With Bagley's guidance on writing the novel, Smith went on to produce ten novels beginning with Skytrap (written under the name John Smith, and published by WW Norton, NY in 1984).
Smith went on to teach Creative Writing at Oklahoma City University (OCU) during the late 1980's, and it was during this period that he penned the "John Winter Trilogy": 'White Lie', 'Saigon Express', and 'Then a Soldier'.
