Say hello to Ted Thomas, another new member of the Type Eighteen Books family. We’re thrilled to be publishing his debut novel in early 2028, and we’ll tell you more about it very soon!

Ted has made a career as a food and advertising photographer for the past twenty-five years. As an avid surfer, sailor, traveler, and chef, his writing is inspired by his life adventures. He regularly participates in Spoken Word Poetry events in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his script for the documentary short, “Velcro, A Study in Polyvagal Equine Therapy” won an Award of Merit in the Best Shorts Film Festival in 2022. With his two children off creating their own adventures, Ted lives in Northern California with his wife, Hilary, and his boat, First Draft. He is a member of the Authors Guild.

Here are Ted’s answers to our prying questions:

Who are some of your favorite authors, and why?

“The only people for me are the mad ones…” Jack Kerouac is the reason I moved to San Francisco. I was twenty-four years old and felt a burning desire to leave New Jersey. I had also just finished reading On the Road. So, in true Bohemian style, I threw a dart at the map to decide where to live, and as the mad fates would have it, I hit a bullseye right into the heart of San Francisco. Knowing no one except for a grade school friend I hadn’t seen in fifteen years, I drove 3,000 miles across the country and slept on his couch in North Beach. For two months, I immersed myself in the birthplace of The Beats, falling in love with the most amazing city in the world.

Because of that experience, I’m also a big fan of Jack London, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and all the classics. There’s a romance to their writing where even the simplest things feel monumental and poetic. When I’m home but need to satisfy my constant wanderlust, Paul Theroux is my go-to travel author. Oh, and I recently discovered Paul Harding. What he does with the English language is truly beautiful.

When did you know you were a writer?

“The first line of the first novel I ever attempted, “In the old days, I remember the feeling,” was written in 1992 in an overcrowded bus station in Vietnam. It was 5:00 a.m., and I had no idea how to write a novel, or what I was even going to write about. At the time, I had my hands full embarking on a career in travel photography. Looking back now, I realize the novel I started that morning was never going to be the great work of fiction I had hoped it to be. But that didn’t matter because I was hooked, Over time and between photo shoots, travels, and starting a family, that one sentence scribbled into a dog-eared, leather-bound travel journal set me on this long path of the learning, curiosity, and wonder that is being a writer.

Where were you born? Do you think the places of our lives inform our writing?

Of course! I was born in Summit, New Jersey, and spent every summer of my childhood on Long Beach Island, a sleepy barrier island on the Jersey Shore. For me, summertime was everything. “Dawn patrol” surf sessions, carefree beach days, and a night job at The Boat House restaurant. Dig deep into every aspect of who I am and what I write, and you’ll find those three things.

Where would you vacation—city, country, beach, or mountains?

I’ve done a fair amount of traveling, both internationally and here in the United States. Surfing, diving, sailing, or just sitting down and staring out to the horizon—with very few exceptions, every trip I take these days involves the ocean.

What do you think is the most important part of storytelling?

Authenticity. If you’re true to yourself and to your characters, you can write about anything and make it interesting.

Welcome, Ted! Learn more about this new author at his website HERE.