Thom Fillinger

Hi! I'm an Author of three sci-fi books, PROJECT HOUDINI, STARFLOWER, GONEBEE'S ODYSSEY & a spy story, A CHAMELEON'S SHADOW. Perhaps there is a correlation between my being a die-hard optimist and the fact that I was born in the Great Depression of the 30's & 40's. After all, things could only get better. As the middle of five children, a certain watchfulness developed within me. A survival characteristic? To me it opened the door to the marvelous world of creative imagination ... a world in which all things were possible! I read everything I could get my hands on. It was as natural as a birthday-suit that I should take to reading fiction. For that matter, if books weren't handy, I'd even read soup can labels & cereal boxes. (This was in the stone ages, before TV)

Through the sorcery of fiction, I was able to stare full into the face of Death & survive. It showed me the heights of human pleasure as well as the despair of degradation. Boldly, I stood on the frozen tundra of Saturn's moon Mimas. Many times I had been guided through tribulations by an intelligence far in excess of my own. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur Clark & many others, I embarked upon entertaining others with my stories.

I have a loving wife,4 children who are thoughtful & kind, a cat, a dog, a computer & a sense of humor. Who in their right mind could ask for more? There is but one more blessing that I ask for . . . some success in having my books read by others. Perhaps not with the grandeur of an Asimov or a Hemingway, but for the enjoyment & relaxation that it would bring to others who are in need of a respite from the trials of life.

Over the years I have had a wide variety of jobs. more than 60 in all. Half of them were part time jobs. They were not all great but they did help put bread on the table. I was a stock boy, a delivery driver, aircraft parts inspector, Western Union clerk, a cook, a waiter, a restaurant manager. I sold vacuum cleaners, life insurance, computers & software. I was a mainframe computer operator, a jewelry manufacturing foreman, worked in newspaper circulation promotion & as an author, to name but a few. I also did volunteer work for a dozen different charities. One was teaching Bible studies. One was as an Explorer Scout Advisor. Others included: Girl Scout cookie sales, Little League baseball coach, umpire for girl's softball, collections for various charities, church fair worker & also as a church soup kitchen chef.

Ardently burning my bridges behind me, I have always returned to my compulsion to write. Maybe it's because I always felt that I could do it a bit better than some of the authors that I had read. Good reading! Thom