According to his parents the first word Tom Burkhalter said was “airplane.” He started writing his first novel at ten, but it took nearly fifty years of bumming around at odd jobs and experiencing life to really learn how to write. In the meantime he took degrees in mathematics and law, delivered pizzas, ran a materials testing laboratory, spent too much time in the sun and heat, and developed a love of cats. He is a volunteer at the Hickory Aviation Museum with a bunch of other plane nuts, once including a cast of characters from World War II, at least one of whom served as a model for a fictional character in his books. Tom lives in Hickory, NC, USA.