Carl Frederick

First, I'm not the Carl Frederick who wrote a book about EST. And...and how could anyone write a whole book about Eastern Standard Time?

Theoretically, I am a theoretical physicist. Even though I left the comforts of academia years ago, and haven't published in my field of Quantum Relativity for some time, I still think of myself as a physicist. Physics is not so much a field of employ as a way of life and perhaps even a religion. As for religion itself however, I am an observant but non-proselytizing vegetarian.

Before I came to (and subsequently left) Cornell I worked as an astro-physicist at NASA's Goddard Institute. There, I was actually an experimentalist. I designed and built balloon-borne telescopes for making far-infra-red astronomical observations. Although we launched them from diverse sites in Arizona and Argentina, most of the launches were from Palestine, Texas. From my three months out of every year in Texas, I learned a lot about cattle, and mastered a few nifty roping knots. (Since I'm a quantum as well as an astrophysicist, someone said that makes me a half-astrophysicist. I'm not sure I like the way that sounds.)

My training as an experimentalist was useful as it enabled me to design the world's first digital (1200 baud) modem. Venture Capital came in. Our company was moved to Boston (Chelmsford), and we became the first manufacturer of cheap, digital modems. I found I was unhappy in my role of captain of industry, or even of lance-corporal of industry. I left my company, Wolfdata, and returned to Ithaca.

Ithaca is a company town (Cornell U), and I love it here. I have a loose affiliation with the university and have the luxury of not being dependent on it for my livelihood.

Several years ago, I decided that I'd like to write Science Fiction. Although some of my colleagues might say my research papers fell into that genre, writing overt fiction was new to me. I've written a few novels and a respectable corpus of short stories. I've even put an interactive novel on the Web. It is interactive in that you can click to change the point of view and to expose sub-plots. WWW.darkzoo.net, if you are interested.

I play Scottish bagpipes. I particularly enjoy playing piobaireachd, the graceful, haunting, 'classical music' of the pipes. I like more conventional classical music also.

I'm an epee fencer. A few years ago, due to a shoulder sprain, I started fencing left-handed. It was like 'coming home'. I started life as a left-hander, but was forcibly switched in school.

I used to play chess seriously, but when computers got good enough to beat me at chess, I quit the game. When I played actively, I was a low-ranked Candidate Master. I take no pride in it though, as I regard playing a good game of chess as a sign of a misspent youth - poorly misspent at that.

Language is a hobby. When I was a kid, I thought the more languages you could speak, the better you could think. I still sort of believe that. I like speaking different languages. It's not that I am particularly proficient in them, but I have no shame.

I am a nut on animals, and have the world's nicest cat--Siamese. I volunteer at our local SPCA and the cat adopted me. His name is Drefan--which means 'trouble' in Old English.

Until my kids outgrew the programme, I was a scoutmaster for a troop of high-ability, lunatic kids. I eventually gave it up for lack of time, but I miss it. My former scouts, under different names, often wind up in my fiction.

I have two children, boys. My younger son lives here in Ithaca whilst the other has fled the nest, married a wonderful, aspiring actress, and moved to a larger pond. My son's wife and I commiserate often on the difficulties in breaking in to our respective desired disciplines. It amazes me how similar our problems are. Trying to break into writing, I find I have the same angst as the common, garden-variety, young writer. In a way, it is exciting embarking on a new life and reliving the pangs of youth. However, the angst is rapidly overtaking the excitement.

I'm a year 2000 graduate of the Odyssey Writers Workshop and a first place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. My short stories appear most often in Analog Magazine.

Please come and visit my website, www.darkzoo.net