About the Author
Tom Swiss describes his spiritual path as "Zen Pagan Taoist Atheist Discordian", which usually baffles questioners enough to leave him alone. Over the past decade he has built a reputation as a lecturer on subjects spanning the gamut from acupressure to Zen and from self-defense to sexuality. He is a regular presenter at the Starwood Festival and the Free Spirit Gathering, and has previously served as President of the Free Spirit Alliance.
Tom has been a practicing Pagan since 1990, and a student of Asian culture through the lens of traditional martial and healing arts since 1985. He is a karate student and instructor, ranked godan (fifth degree black belt) in a traditional Japanese school; and is also an NCCAOM Diplomate in Asian Bodywork Therapy, with a small private practice in shiatsu acupressure. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, and has a keen interest in how technological changes affect societies.
As one of the coordinators of the weekly "Zelda's Inferno" poetry workshop, he is a fixture in the Baltimore poetry scene. He has performed his poetry at venues too numerous to count, and on film in the documentary The Poets from Planet X. His poems have appeared the anthology Octopus Dreams, in Zelda's Zine, and in the indie.
He lives in Catonsville, Maryland (a suburb of Baltimore best known for the "Catonsville Nine" anti-war demonstration and for its concentration of music stores and venues), where he is currently at work on a novel and on an album of original music.
See his homepage at infamous.net for more information.
