After years as a successful scientist, Tom began writing fiction in 1996. He started with science fiction novels and then began writing medical thrillers.

His medical thrillers follow the exploits of Dr. Peyton McKean, whom Tom likes to bill as: "The Greatest Mind Since Sherlock Holmes." A biotechnology researcher and DNA evidence sleuth, McKean is not only one of the most brilliant minds of our times, but a born adventurer who can match daring-do with James Bond.

McKean's first adventure was chronicled in The Jihad Virus. Tom has two additional adventures in the Peyton McKean series under development.

Tom's science fiction novels grew out of his love of animals, living and extinct, and the people who love those animals. Dinosaur Wars and its sequel, Dinosaur Wars: Counterattack, follow two young people, Chase Armstrong, a Yellowstone Park wildlife biologist, and Kit Daniels, a Montana cattle rancher's daughter and fossil digger, who face an invasion of prehistoric beasts in the mountain heartland of America.

Tom studied fiction writing at the University of Washington and was awarded certificates in both Literary and Commercial Fiction. His novels and short stories have been finalist entries five times in the prestigious Pacific Northwest Writers Competition. The Jihad Virus took third prize in that event in 2003 and a short story, "Earth Rover," took the same prize in 2005.