Tom Casey

Tom Casey is a native of New York City. He grew up in the small Sound Shore community of Rye, not far from Manhattan, where sailing was an early enthusiasm. Boats soon led to planes. The author learned to fly in his teens and made a career of travel and aviation as he sharpened his skills as a writer. "Flying jets was a fortunate day job for a novelist. I retired as a B777 captain in 2008, after 30 years with American Airlines."

Mr. Casey writes in a signature lyrical style. After reading STRANGERS'GATE, Norman Mailer wrote of him, "From the brilliance of the opening chapter, one is aware of a writer with an exceptional point of view...who can write the story with his own fair share of winged prose."

The author says, "I'm a constant reader. My interest in writing evolved organically from a love of literature. I was fortunate to see my first novel, HUMAN ERROR, receive attention and plaudits from writers I admire. My second novel, STRANGERS' GATE, got similar notice and was optioned for film."

When asked about the discipline required to manage two careers, he grins and says, "Talent carries a fierce mandate for hard work no matter what you do. On a basic level flying is a great thrill tied to sex, but writing has an element of obligation in its satisfactions. These things drive you. Art expresses the secular spirit of the human experience in its essence. The sublime -- and we know it when we see it -- is the mating of beauty with terror. It's therefore not so difficult to understand how, as Amelia Earhart said, the love of flight is the love of beauty. I've known that love, and been enthralled with its sublimities, it is what I write about."