Contact Me

e-mail
Twitter
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Writing Stuff

I Should Be Writing
The Secrets
Duotrope's Digest
Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day

Authors I Admire

Cory Doctorow
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Ken MacLeod
Warren Ellis

Links of Interest

Creative Commons
Bean
Kat Alley Hosting

Yes, this is exactly how I look, but with a nose ring.

So, who the hell am I? My name is Tom Dillon, and I live in Olympia, WA, with my wife and her cats (they ignore me). I want to write for a living and to do that I need to improve my writing. That's where you, gullible fools that you are (I mean that in the best possible way, naturally), come in. Here's how this works: I give you free stuff (stories), and you give me feedback (hate mail, packages of unmarked bills, whatever you think is appropriate, really). Pretty straight forward, right?

It has occurred to me that you may not have had all your questions answered by the paragraph above, and so I will have to enlighten you. Below, I have interviewed myself, which should be helpful. Don't worry, I'm not Fox, I promise that I'll ask myself tough questions, so that you may receive a comprehensive impression of who I really am.

Q - Are you the greatest thing since sliced bread?
A - Yes, but I think that you were thinking of fire, not sliced bread. If not for my extreme modesty, who knows what damage I would do?

Q - What is up with the weird logo at the bottom of the sidebar?
A - That is a Creative Commons license. There didn't seem to be any point in locking up my work in copyright, so I have made it so that you can copy it, and distribute it however you want without my permission (so long as you do not make money off of it). The issue of copyright is a complex one, but I think that I agree with Cory Doctorow that for non-established authors (a group in which I most certainly belong), the problem is not that their work is being stolen, but rather that no one knows who the hell they are.

Q - Why are your stories so dark? Are you an unhappy person?
A - I am not an unhappy person, but the things that are screaming to get out of my head are not happy things, and I feel that it is important not to sugar-coat the stories that I am telling. As a society, I think that we isolate ourselves in our safety and that we all too often that the world, both past and present, is not a safe, happy place, and that most of what I write will reflect that darkness.

Q - I've heard that you're a dirty Communist, is that true?
A - Good save there, making an accusation into a question, very clever. The truth is . . . complicated. If you take that to mean that I support Stalinism (former Soviet Union) or Maoism (Chinese Communism), then you are wrong. What I do support is democracy, freedom, liberty, and the issues that go along with them (I'm for womens' rights, gay rights, immigrants' rights, etc. and against war, racism, and exploitation). Although I was, in the past, on board with the whole socialist platform, that is no longer the case. Instead, I might be better described as "post-capitalist" these days. What this means, I think, is that I'm not convinced that capitalism is a good strategy for mankind's long-term survival, but that I'm not sure what should replace it. In the meantime I will continue to advocate for progress that will make the world a better place.

Q - Where does the name Pawnstorm come from?
A - Excellent question, I've been waiting for someone to ask me that for a while now. I used to spend a lot of time playing chess. One day, one of my friends, who I almost always beat just started marching his pawns forward. My over-extended position could not hold and I lost, falling victim to a pawnstorm. You could also take it as relating to to politics, as I think that change should flow up and not down, and I suppose that would be correct as well.

Q - I've heard that you use a Dvorak keyboard, is that right? Isn't it hard?
A - Yes to the first, no to the second. If you aren't familiar with Dvorak, check out this site. Basically, as a writer, I figure that I will do a lot of typing over the next few years, and that means that I will run a very high risk of developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Then I stumbled on this post by Holly Lisle, and I decided to give it a shot. The change is just a software change, no new keyboard required (although it will force you to touch type), and after a few months of practice, I am much happier with my new layout.