Tom Lee
Tom Lee’s educational background, with degrees in Math and Econ from UCSB and an MBS from UCLA, didn’t lead to his foray into the world of novel writing. It led to his profession as a software developer which in turn gave him the means to pursue other interests. One of those interests began as a bet with friends. To win the bet he wrote and performed a stand-up comedy routine in a Hermosa Beach night club. The enthusiastic response that night was an inspiration to keep at it. After performing his bits at various Southern California comedy venues with mixed results, he was asked to submit a script for a TV show called The Whiz Kids. A week later the script was finished, but that same week the show was cancelled.
Though the show was ending, his writing was just beginning. That script inspired him to write a screen play called Soliton, a comedy thriller that failed to attract a Hollywood agent, but good enough to keep him writing. His first novel a high-tech thriller called The Biggest Game, was good enough to get a Hollywood agent and a book contract. At the insistence of his agent, he started his second novel, another thriller, The Gods Underground. When that book was finished, his kids were in Junior High school, and so that they could read a book of his, he wrote a young adults novel titled The Checkmate Hero.