Newton was born in
Kansas City, Missouri, and began to write short stories for Western magazines while studying history at the
University of Missouri at Kansas City. being based at
Camp Abbot, a training center near
Bend, Oregon, in 1943. After the war he settled in Bend, and became a professional writer, publishing 74 novels under various names, including one,
Range Boss (
Pocket Books, 1949), that was the first work of fiction issued in paperback, without having first appeared in hardcovers. In 1952 Newton was one of the six founder members of
Western Writers of America, Inc., serving as its first secretary-treasurer, and as a board member for ten years. In the late 1950s, Newton moved to
Hollywood to work as a writer and story consultant for several television shows, before returning to Bend in 1965. During the 1970s, he gave classes in fiction writing at
Central Oregon Community College, and at the Haystack summer school at
Cannon Beach. ==Personal life==