Thaddeus Howze
Science fiction and fantasy writer, technology consultant, polymath, autistic, creator of worlds, iconoclast, humanist and occasional bastard (nobody’s perfect).
I am a troublemaker. I am an iconoclast. If you have a sacred cow, I am likely to shoot at it. Not because I like sacred hamburger (don’t know, haven’t tried it yet) but because we live in a society that does not want us to think much. And that is what I do. A lot. All the time. I give up sleep in my quest for knowledge. I plan to die with a book (if they still make them by then, or a tablet if they don’t) in my hands.
Having a career in information technology, I was considered one of the best in my field because I believe no problem goes unsolved with the proper application of logic, reason, and well-considered analysis. I am relentless. I chase facts like dogs chase Volkswagons. And like dogs, I never consider the consequences when I catch up with them; the facts matter and I want them. I get the job done.
Having worked in IT for nearly three decades in various industries including banking, finance, science, advertising, print, and the higher educational sector has given me the opportunity to see a wide array of how the business world works and give them the computing power they really need to do their jobs.
In recent years, my career has become one of a consultant and writer which gives me the opportunity to write journalistic reviews of the IT industry, political and social commentary on an array of subjects including autism, penal reform, education reform and further analysis on climate change (it ain’t a myth.)
I recently published a collection of short stories called Hayward’s Reach, which handle many of my personal views through the lens of science fiction and fantasy. The tales vary from the comic to the tragic as it explores what it really means to be human.
I (like so many science fiction writers) have had a diverse employment background. This works to my advantage as I get to write about experiences first hand. While I am not a health nut, I do believe we can be healthy and get old, the two are not mutually exclusive so I call myself a health enthusiast. I am also a martial artist, having a black belt in Karate and having studied Wing Chun and Northern Style Kung Fu. Once upon a time, I was in the military and consider it the best and worst experience of my life. So good, I can never forget any of it. So bad, I can never forget any of it.
I still ride a skateboard (and like it), have two Labradors and two and a half cats. (Cat lovers understand.) I am focused on my family, understanding it is the most important set of relationships one can have, and in particular my son who has been diagnosed with autism. I have not thrown in the towel instead using every computerized tool, writing, artistic, training and martial skill I can bring to bear on the problem. And it is working. My son can talk, now. He can use numbers and is improving far beyond anything told to us by doctors. We will never give up on him.
Like the old Victorian authors, I do believe in Beauty, Truth and Love. They still matter.
Gotta run. There are sacred cows (and hamburgers) that need to be tended to.
You can find my writing in all of these places: http://myonepage.com/ebonstorm
Twitter: @ebonstorm
Google+: http://gplus.to/ebonstorm
Hub City Blues: WordPress – http://hubcityblues.wordpress.com
A Matter of Scale: WordPress – https://ebonstorm.wordpress.com/
Mediasphere Curation: Tumblr – http://mediasphere.tumblr.com/
Tales of the Twilight Continuum: Weebly – http://ebonstorm.weebly.com/
Hidden Realms: Posterous – http://hiddenrealms.posterous.com/#!/68615711
My book, Hayward’s Reach, Tales of the Twilight Continuum and the Children of Earth.
A series of short stories told by the last survivor after an unseen cataclysm destroys the birthplace of Pan-Humanity and its attendant species.
Glendale Mokoto, as a Scout of the Corvan Empire has time on his hands and uses it to study temporal records in which the entire history of Old Earth is embedded.
In these tales Mokoto studies both the past and the future of Pan-Humanity, its allies and its enemies, and learns even in his current state of in-humanity, what it really means to be truly human.
If you need to know more serious information about me:
Thaddeus Howze is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-eight years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Technology requires a constant view of the needs of the client and the evolution of technology. Most techs simply don’t care that much. I do.
After attending the Bronx High School of Science, he entered into the military as an Operations Specialist in the US Navy; traveling the world to exotic locales such as Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and many others. During this time he developed a strong sense of duty, cooperation and attention-to-detail. After a brief trip back to New York for bagels, New York style pizza, and a trip to the Museum of Natural History, he returned to California at the end of his two tours of duty.
Thaddeus went to work in corporate America in information technology. Employed first by small copy service organizations, he honed his technology expertise in the graphic art and computer print industries in a trial by fire, pumping out hundreds of design documents, presentations, resumes and newsletters a month. Between fixing the devices and designing the publications, it did not take long for him to be known as the go-to guy for corporate offices needing high quality graphic support. He eventually came to be noticed and eventually hired by a large corporate concern called Providean Bank Corporation. Working there, he trained their artists to use computers in their design work, he developed the company’s wide-area computer networks, managed voice and data networks and brought the design technology that revolutionized their marketing department in-house. At the same time, he became the CEO of his own publishing and IT consulting firms, Mosaic Systems and Have Flash Drive, Will Travel.
In 1996, he noticed a lack of diversity in IT related industries and began volunteering at a small local community college to see where the next generation were getting their IT skills. A few months later he was offered an opportunity to work with that college in developing a program for urban youth to get experience and education directed toward careers in IT. Convinced he could make a difference, he worked tirelessly as a mentor, IT director and a computer science instructor for Laney College until 2003. During that time he worked both as an advocate for youth education as a member of the BDPA and by coordinating an IT mentoring program at the community college. The program included CISCO and Microsoft training and certification.
His success at the community college catapulted him for three years to John F. Kennedy University as the CIO and Vice President of IT. During a time of transition, the university relied on his technical expertise to successfully redevelop their entire IT infrastructure. He ushered in an age of technological development never seen at the University in its forty-year history. The University purchased a new facility in Pleasant Hill and merged its Orinda and Walnut Creek campuses. An entire overhaul of the IT infrastructure was required to connect the remaining three campuses to the new facility in Pleasant Hill. The infrastructure changes included a new metropolitan area network, a campus-wide wireless network, a voice-over-IP phone system, an upgrade to the University database system and the installation of an integrated software portal allowing students for the first time to be able to access their school records remotely and sign up for school online.
In 2006, he continued his IT career as a change agent working with the non-profits and small business sector providing technical development for firms such as Give Something Back, Perpetual Entertainment, The San Francisco Ballet and The Alameda County Bar Association.
Being a natural analyst, he found the Myers-Briggs Type testing to be a strong component of his decision to work in information technology. He took the test right after leaving the military to decide what kinds of work his natural aptitudes would lend themselves to. He found the test to be highly reliable and accurate and it has remained so ever since. If you really want to know him, then read up on the INTJ. He is a highly-intuitive, internally focused, ever-thinking engine capable of rendering clearly well thought out judgments about any topic of which he has knowledge.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator – INTJ [Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging]
A Matter of Scale 