NEW!
T. H. (Tom) Pine has branched out from writing (which he still does, of course) into professional editing. There's a crucial need, today more than ever, for good, solid editing. One look at what's passing for writing on the web will tell you that. Since he started, he's gained several highly-satisfied clients. His fees are simple and affordable. He charges $5.00 per 1,000 words flat. No dealing with hourly fees, a hassle for you and him. He will also page format your book to galley-ready condition for self-publishing, or to send a clean copy to your publisher (the fee may go up a dollar or so if he has to do a lot of work. He will negotiate all prices, however, and send you a sample of his editing before he starts on your project.
He will charge a little more if you need someone to teach you the basics of "novelistic" writing, which is his forte. Tom's recently published a writing guide, An Informal Guide to Writing Well, available on Kindle for $3.99. It's money well spent, since it contains tons of tips and information he's gleaned over more than ten years of writing published works.
Unleash your creative side and see how Tom can turn your novel, or shorter work, into best-seller quality material. You owe it to yourself! "Editing is one of your most powerful tools." ~ Steve Martin
T. H. (Tom) Pine began a second career as a freelance writer—a dream come true for him—after working 30+ years for The Phone Company. “I didn’t think I had anything worth writing about until I was around 34 years old, but I began writing from an early age. When I was a really young boy, I would draw these unusual characters, write short stories along with the pictures, and staple the pages into these little pamphlets. I was a fairly good artist as a kid, until my art turned to words rather than pictures. In my early teens, my parents “discovered” my writing quite by accident. They found and read a slightly erotic piece I wrote about an Indian princess (all a product of my burgeoning libido). I was mortified, but at least they read my stuff!”
Before becoming a published writer, Tom reviewed die-cast model cars, and current movies—especially science fiction/horror films. Having amassed a large collection of 1:24 scale models cars, he began writing reviews on worthy images (an insider term for models) from the various mints and model companies, at one time heading the review team for Legacy Motors, the retail ally of The Diecast Car Collectors Club (D4C) web site. His reviews remain on the site and he still receives an occasional e-mail on the subject. “I’ve always loved cars and, since I didn’t have the wherewithal to collect the classics, I got into “little cars” in a big way. The precision of those 1:24 scale, museum quality, die cast models always impresses me, and allows me to imagine I own the real thing!”
Tom also writes movie reviews and was Entertainment Editor for his hometown newspaper, The Colonia Press. In addition, he wrote reviews of classic science fiction and horror films as a staff writer for Chiller Theater Magazine, a fanzine published twice annually in conjunction with the Chiller Theater Film, Model and Toy Expo held in Secaucus, NJ. Kevin Clement, the editor of Chiller, proclaimed Tom his horror expert and entitled his column “The Horror World According to T. H. Pine.” “I got into writing movie reviews because I was growing tired of petulant reviewers who would trash a movie just because they were having a bad hair day. I also noticed that few reviewers knew anything about sci-fi movies, some of the biggest grossing films ever screened (think King Kong, Terminator 2, ET, Close Encounters, and Jurassic Park)!” A collection of Tom's latest science fiction/horror reviews are on this site.
Another Tom Pine specialty is interviews with film stars and personalities from yesteryear. Tom became friends with, and interviewed Pamela Green, once called “Britain's Betty Page.” Tom even visited Pam at her home on the Isle of Wight in England, when he was on vacation there with his wife, Marilyn. The resulting article appears on Pamela’s web site and he includes it here. “I saw some of Pamela's early pics in a magazine ad and ordered some. They were really good quality photos, a cut above the usual fare. I eventually wrote to her, then phoned, and we struck up an acquaintance. We even exchanged Christmas cards across The Pond. When we met her in person on a vacation to Britain in 1998, we had a great visit. She showed us her work while we sat in her parlor with her cats and had tea. It was a great visit, a high point on our vacation trip.”
Tom also interviewed then head of Marvel Comics, Bill Jemas, for Rutgers Alumni Magazine. You can find that review on this site as well. "As a comics reader, even in my adult life, a visit to "Spider Man Central" was quite a treat for me. I went into New York City, to the main offices of Marvel, and was only supposed to get 45 minutes with Mr. Jemas. We spent over an hour-and-a-half talking! It turned out he was as big a comics fan as I was. What a treat!"
Tom’s introduction to published writing began when he met Night of the Living Dead writer John Russo at a Chiller Theatre convention. John asked him if he wrote horror fiction, and Tom sent him a cautionary tale, “Death of the Graffiti Master,” which John duly printed in his publication. Two years later, at another con, John asked if Tom had submitted anything else. Tom had to admit he hadn’t and proceeded two more horror short stories, which John also ran, “I owe John a great debt for first publishing my work. To have the man I consider, along with George Romero, the progenitor of the modern horror film publish my humble works is quite an honor. John, a darn good horror writer himself, even did me the honor of telling me he liked my writing style! I’ll always be grateful to him for his generosity and support.”
A number of people Tom met told him horror was not their cup of tea and that they preferred mysteries. This got Tom to thinking, and he dusted off a six-page “experiment,” which blossomed into the “Cilla Stephenson,” Christian-based mystery series. “I had never written any mysteries, so when I completed my first mystery novel, The Pastor and the Private Eye, I ran it by my mystery reader acquaintances to see if it followed ‘The Formula.’ It did, and I sent it to a small, up-and-coming publisher in Michigan. She loved the story and published the book. That novel led to a second, Season of the Vigilante. One reader even said that I write like James Paterson. Wow! Not one to abandon my characters to 'limbo,' a third novel, Night of the Chupacabra soon followed.” Tom's also an avid "lighthouse hunter" and, at one lighthouse bookstore, the proprietor, discovering he wrote books, suggested he write a lighthouse-themed book. "I wasn't particularly interested in writing a history book, so I came up with the idea of a prequel, set before my intrepid detective, Cilla, meets the pastor in book one, where she investigates a haunted lighthouse in Michigan. The lighthouse is fictional, but the location, Mackinaw City ir real. Thus, The Haunted Lighthouse of Mackinaw City came to be. I have other adventures on which to send Cilla, but it's a matter of writing them."
NOTE TO READERS: Though the above novels are Christian-based, they deal with sometimes dark and disturbing subjects. This is on purpose. Christians live in a sinful world. In reality, they often come face-to-face with less than positive, even compromising, situations and, sometimes, unimaginable horrors. Keeping that in mind, these books are for the older teen and adults.
Tom has also self-published a children’s book, Crystal: Guardian of Upsidedonia. The book, which consists of three separate sections, grew out of some stories Tom wrote for his daughter to read to her at bedtime. “Evie had this big, stuffed pony she named Crystal, and I made up stories about this magical pony, who was regent of Upsidedonia. I put what I had written aside, but Marilyn encouraged me to finish the stories and make them into a novel. It was hard to write in that style I used so many years earlier, but I managed to complete the book. Evie led me to a marvelous artist, Hillary Esdaile, who read my mind in drawing the bizarre creatures I came up with. Her work is amazing! Marilyn, by the way, thinks this book will be big. Her lips to God's ears!”
Finally, if all of the above isn’t enough, Tom writes Faith Stories: Christian Fiction with more adult-oriented themes. Tired of the usual "young adult" fare, he decided to write stories that would appeal to an adult audience. Look for some of these short stories on this site. “In my opinion, too many stories written for Christian adult readers forget that we are flesh and blood, imperfect people. I try to cover adult themes, as realistically as possible, without being too graphic. I sort of set the scene and let the reader fill in the rest. I also find preachy stories to be a drag. When the average person shares his or her faith, it isn’t from a pulpit. It’s more like showing another person what we believe, using our life experiences as examples.”
“I enjoy taking a theme and writing about it from different viewpoints. Whatever I experience, I suppose I haven’t really experienced it until I’ve written about it. Readers will find so many of my interests and experiences in my stories. I especially like dialogue, which my wife tells me I write well, because even I don’t exactly know where it’s going! I also consider my characters friends, and there’s nothing I like more than writing continuing stories and watching them grow and encounter adventures along the way. There are a lot of folks running around in my fevered brain!”
It’s Tom’s hope and desire that you, the reader, enjoy the journeys he writes about and find within his books and stories themes that resonate within your soul. That, after all, is the aim of any writer.