Stephen Bly


Stephen Bly was an American author and novelist. He wrote more than 100 books and hundreds of articles, poems, and short stories. His book, The Long Trail Home Broadman & Holman, won the 2002 Christy Award in the category Western novel. Three other books, Picture Rock Crossway Books, The Outlaw's Twin Sister, and Last of the Texas Camp, were Christy Award finalists. Bly's books, primarily Western novel genre in the American West, historical and contemporary, are written from a Christian worldview. His Paperback Writer was noted in a Publishers Weekly review for its “amusing parody of the proverbial dime-store paperback novel."

Early life

Stephen Bly was born August 17, 1944, Ivanhoe, California, to Arthur "Art" Worthington and Alice Wilson Bly. He had one sibling, a sister, Judith "Judy" Bly Walston. He grew up on a farm in central California's San Joaquin Valley.

Career

Bly ranched with his uncle M.J. Allen near Coalinga, California, and his father Arthur Bly in Ivanhoe, California, until age 30. Bly graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy from California State University, Fresno and received a M.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary.
He also served a brief stint in politics by helping Assemblyman Gordon W. Duffy of California State Legislature win his first term and stayed on as his administrative assistant. After serving as pastor of several Presbyterian churches in California, he was the pastor of Winchester Community Church and elected to several terms as city councilman and as mayor of Winchester, Idaho. He was an active member of the Western Writers of America. He also collected and restored antique Winchesters and was roving editor for Big Show Journal.
From 1982 to 1996, he was part of a team of speakers who represented Family Living Conferences for Moody Bible Institute. He traveled with Kevin Leman, Gary Chapman, Dr. Harold J. Sala, Gary Ezzo, and Greg Speck. He and his wife, Janet, mentored writing students for Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild.
Bly once told an interviewer that he dislikes writing about a place he has never been to, as he prefers travel through the 11 western states of the U.S., havin spent much more time on unpaved roads than highways.

Personal life

Bly met his wife, writer Janet Chester, at Redwood High School, California. They raised three sons: Russell, Michael and Aaron.
On June 9, 2011, Bly died at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Idaho, after a 5-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 66 years old. At the time of his death, he was working on his last fiction book, Stuart Brannon's Final Shot. His wife, Janet, and three adult sons—Russell, Michael and Aaron—finished the novel for him which was released in 2012.

Books

Nonfiction

;Stuart Brannon Western series
;Nathan T. Riggins Western Adventure series
;Code of the West Western series
;The Austin-Stoner Files series
;The Lewis and Clark Squad series
;The Heroines of the Golden West series
;Old California series
;Fortunes of the Black Hills series
;The Skinners of Goldfield series
;The Belles of Lordsburg series
;The Retta Barre Oregon Trail series
;The Homestead series
;Adventures on the Western Frontier series
;The Horse Dreams series

Fiction

;Crystal Blake series
;Hidden West series
;Carson City Chronicles series