Thomas Watson

I am a writer, gardener, naturalist, science fiction fan, and amateur astronomer living in the Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest. All of these interests are rooted in my Midwestern childhood. I grew up in a rural environment in north central Illinois in a land of streams and ponds, fields and forests, and dark skies at night. It was, for me, the perfect place in which to grow up. At the same time, I grew up during the Space Race, a child of the count-down to launch. Imagining what might come next, when we’d been to the Moon and back, led me to science fiction, something that was encouraged by an aunt who happened to be a fan of such things. All of these things played a role in shaping who and what I am, but running through it all, the theme that ties it together, has been the desire to write. That's been true for so long I can't remember how it started. It may well be that my desire to write is the cumulative effect of a life-long print addiction. My parents claim that I learned to read before I could tie my own shoelaces. Whether or not that's true, I did learn to read very early in life and have always cast a very wide net. The experience of reading, of feeling the power of words, eventually became a desire to see if I could do the same thing. I'm still trying to answer that question.\n\nMy first book is a memoir, an exploration of how I came back to amateur astronomy, and came to understand at last its hold on my imagination. I plan other works on amateur astronomy, as well as natural history and gardening. Eventually.\n\nFor the past five years I've been focused on the imaginary universe of The War of the Second Iteration. The entire series is now available for Kindle and in paperback: The Luck of Han'anga, Founders' Effect, The Plight of the Eli'ahtna, The Courage to Accept and the fifth and final installment - Setha'im Prosh. That project is now complete, and it's time to explore a new universe.