Thomas Maltman

Thomas Maltman’s essays, poetry, and fiction have been published in many literary journals. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009 the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an “Outstanding Book for the College Bound.” He’s taught for five years at Normandale Community College and lives in the Twin Cities area. Little Wolves, his second novel, made the January 2013 Indie Next List and was an Amazon Book of the Month.

From Maltman's Q & A with Jodi Chromey at Minnesota Reads:

What was your first favorite book?

The Hobbit wins hands down. That book saved my life during a difficult year when we moved from California to Oregon. It offered enchantment and escape and a sense of wonder. My ordinary world, plagued by bullies and endless rain, looked drab in comparison, but the novel taught me the power of the imagination. I wrote lots of stories of my own featuring flying eagles and midgets with hairy feet. My life got better, but I’ve been chasing that same sense of wonder in books and writing ever since.

I refuse to see the movie, however, still fuming that Peter Jackson turned it into a trilogy. Stop with the trilogies, Hollywood. The subtitle of The Hobbit is There and Back Again. Any sensible adventure brings us home again at a sensible time.

Let’s say Fahrenheit 451 comes to life, which book would you become in order to save it from annihilation?

Whoa. No pressure or anything, right? I would become...[read on]

Visit Thomas Maltman's website.

The Page 69 Test: Little Wolves.

Writers Read: Thomas Maltman.

--Marshal Zeringue