Welcome !

Welcome to my website. Enjoy your visit and come back soon.

I’m J. Thomas Ross, author and editor, and that’s not a pseudonym. My middle name really is Thomas. My parents promised my grandfather to name their first child after him, and so I ended up with Thomas as my middle name. My grandfather, a remarkable man, wrote poetry in his spare time. He was the only one in the family who understood the need to express ideas on paper and saw value in writing as an occupation. So, although the name caused me distress as a child (you can imagine!), as I grew older and my interest in writing solidified, I valued the name more and more and use it proudly now.

Since I retired from teaching, I’ve been pursuing a second career as a writer and doing a little editing on the side. I write character-oriented science fiction and fantasy, tales that people who aren’t fans of the genres can also enjoy, and I like to mix in dabs of adventure, suspense, mystery, and romance as well.

My first published story appears in the fantasy anthology Tales of Fortannis: A Bard’s Eye View.

I am currently working on a future-time YA adventure/fantasy novel which features the narrator, a no-nonsense seventeen-year-old girl, and her foster brother Digger, who has genetically-engineered special abilities. Unfortunately, since genetic engineering of humans has been banned and those with such abilities are pariahs, they must keep his abilities secret, especially when they are shanghaied and forced to serve aboard a smugglers’ ship. As they learn more about the ship and its crew to work out an escape plan, the line between friends and enemies begins to blur. Is there anyone they can trust?

Another project I’m working on is a science fiction novel featuring a young woman who, to make money to save her family’s farm, takes a job at a space ship demolition yard on the asteroid Vesta. Curiosity drives Chi to seek out the reclusive, mysterious old man who is called upon whenever a ‘problem’ ship ‘resists’ demolition. As she learns the old man’s secret, encounters unexpected romance, and faces increasing peril, Chi struggles with decisions about her future. Can she make the right choices, for herself and for Vesta?

At first, I had set this novel on a fictitious asteroid, but while gathering information about asteroids, I came upon Vesta, the second largest and brightest asteroid in the asteroid belt. Unlike most asteroids, Vesta, has an iron-nickel core and a crust. It seemed the perfect setting for the story, far better than anything I could invent. Check my Links page for more information about Vesta.

Thanks for visiting my website. Come again soon!