about Tom

I was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1970, which makes me a lifelong Yankees fan, but my family moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida three years later. Luckily, I had some good friends who kept me out of trouble. I didn't begin seriously writing until my junior year at Florida State University when I enrolled in Fiction Workshop with Janet Burroway. Soon after, I completed my first experimental novel, Kill Your Television (1993).

After graduation, I moved to Oregon and worked as an environmental activist, taxi driver, bookstore clerk, and finally as a substitute teacher in Portland and Eugene. During this time I made more good friends, completed a personal memoir of my cross-country move, Chasing Sunsets (1996), and self-published a book of poems, Portland (1997).

I currently teach language arts and social studies at Cal Young Middle School in Eugene, Oregon. My first young adult novel, The Seminole and the Slave (2004), won Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards contest and is currently available through this website.

After stalling on another young adult project, a trilogy set in ancient Rome, I switched my writing focus from young adult fiction to literary fiction for adults. I am currently an MFA candidate in the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University, and my first published short story is forthcoming this summer in Whitefish Review.

Like pretty much everyone else in the western world, you can find me on facebook.

Why write? Read my contest entry on The Joy of Writing.
Old School! Check out two of my yearbook photos from the '80's!
Tired of lyrics about guns, blunts, and booty calls? Read my serious rap about slavery.
What are the Top 25 Novels for young people? See my list and send me yours!
What are the Top 25 Albums ever released? See my list and send me yours!
What are the Top 100 Songs ever released? See my list and send me yours!
Check out these short movies that I made.
Here are some of my favorite links.