Member Since: Aug. 04, 2010
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Tor Richardson


Biography

My name is Tor Richardson. Welcome to my Smashwords site.

If you’ve landed on this page, you’d probably like to know a little about me. Okay, I was born in Seattle. I’ve traveled up and down the west coast, but still like Seattle quite a bit. I don’t actually live in the city, but I’m close enough to see it out the window. Along with the mountains. We have a lot of mountain in this neck of the woods. Water, too. (And, don’t forget the rain.)

Unlike most other writers, I don’t have a pet cat. My family had a very independent tomcat when I was a kid. I once saw him drop down from a tree onto the back of a dog who wandered into our backyard by mistake. (Boy, what a mistake!) He rode that black lab like a cowboy, using his claws as spurs and slapping the dog on the head as they went yowling up the road. Since then, I’ve never really thought of a cat as a house pet. Cats like that need lots of room.

I’ve always enjoyed story. I managed to sneak a creative writing class past my parents while at college (engineering majors aren’t supposed to take those kinds of classes). Unfortunately, that experience didn’t pan out. In hindsight, I’m not quite sure about that class. It certainly wasn’t writing, and it was far from creative. (I remember a vampire story I wrote for an assignment in 1981, as well as the ridicule it received. The instructor insisted that nobody would ever be interested in vampire stories. She pretty much demanded that I burn it and try again.) The experience was enough to keep me away from writing for a number of years (openly, at least).

But… once a storyteller, always a storyteller. In time, the writing came back with a vengeance. I was finally able to make the transition to a full-time fiction writer. Now, I enjoy coming to work every day. Telling new stories and creating new worlds is much more fun than trying to make sense of the one we’ve got. And meeting the people who enjoy those stories is a lot of fun, too.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy your look around.

- Tor

Where to find Tor Richardson online

Website: http://www.torrichardson.com

Books

The Man in the Paper Mache Hat    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 3490 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on January 20, 2012. Fiction.
A robbery gone wrong leaves the bank tellers safe behind their bullet-proof glass and one very angry robber in the lobby with his hostages. For one of those hostages, an old man in a paper mache hat, the afternoon is about to turn deadly.
Randy's Choice    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 3790 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on November 18, 2011. Fiction.
Eleven-year-old Randy faces a hard choice: whether to stay in an unhappy home where he's not wanted, or run away to live with his friends from the lake—friends that nobody else can see.
The Razor Files    by Tor Richardson
Price: $4.99 USD. 103020 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on September 26, 2011. Fiction.
A billion-dollar insurance company fails and a young Axel Crane, accounting clerk, loses his job. Called back by regulators to help look for clues to a scheme that bled it dry, he stumbles into a world of shell companies and corporate intrigue where everyone who learns that secret dies from a fatal accident. Is he next? The Razor files: one perfect scam; one billion reasons to keep the secret.
Autopilot    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 7410 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on August 25, 2011. Fiction.
"Another day, another airliner. Just shoot me now." This essay follows the thoughts of an executive commuting to work on an airliner—once a mark of the elite, but now a barely-tolerated imposition. Along the way, he remembers life as a fun-loving kid and searches to recall how he was tricked into going through life on Autopilot: caring only for the destination at the expense of the journey.
The Case of the Missing Mushrooms    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 7460 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on May 3, 2011. Fiction.
Roused from his warm bed, Stone-Arm Sam enters Fairy Town to investigate a burglary at Miss Moffett's Mushroom Shop, a favor for a friend. Snubbed by the fairy police (s.o.p. for any dwarf), he soon learns that Moffett's enchanted mushrooms have gone missing. But nobody ever mentioned magic mushrooms. Retrieving them would not be a quick trip. And the burglar, once found, was sure to object.
Foreverglades II: No Time To Rest    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 5800 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on January 8, 2011. Fiction.
A distressed woman's daughter disappears. PI Jon Johnston disbelieves her tale of kidnapping, but for a thousand a day--plus expenses--he'll gladly poke around. When the daughter's boyfriend is kidnapped beneath his nose, he changes his tune. Now, he must find the reason, find the kids, and find out why there's been no ransom. Is this a kidnapping, or does someone have something else in mind?
Four Felonies and One Very Small Problem    by Tor Richardson
Price: $2.99 USD. 25790 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on November 26, 2010. Fiction.
(5.00 from 1 review)
What do an identity thief, a down-on-his-luck PI, and a kid running to keep up with his big sister during his first Halloween Candy Run have in common? More than you might think. Sample this collection of five short stories. It's in the Introduction. Stories include: Starting Over; Another Slow Night in Paradise; Foreverglades; My Name is Sue; and the whimsical Big Enough for Halloween.
Foreverglades    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 6610 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on November 14, 2010. Fiction.
Everyone needs a detective once in a while, but some people won't call the cops. When a gritty PI answers a summons by a new client, he finds a drug lord in need of a favor. PI's who work that side of the street often wind up dead, but business is thin and ten grand is hard to pass up... especially for a few hours of work. What could possibly be the harm in snooping around for a missing boat?
Another Slow Night in Paradise    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 5940 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on October 15, 2010. Fiction.
Exotic travel and exorbitant fees -- hallmarks of the smooth-talking business consultant. New people, new places, new companies. They make their money and run before anyone learns if the advice was any good, never stopping and always on the move. For one consulting artist, a slow night at a hotel bar leads to an encounter he wasn't expecting and an understanding he may be unable to accept.
Big Enough for Halloween    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 3410 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on September 19, 2010. Fiction.
Halloween is here -- a night of costumes and free candy. After two years of sitting at home watching Lucy and Dad go out, Billy is old enough to join his big sister in the fun. Lucy offers some quick advice, but then dashes for the door. Unfortunately, big sisters lie -- a fact Billy forgets in his quest for candy... and there may be a few Halloween customs that Lucy conveniently left out.
Starting Over    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 5580 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on August 30, 2010. Fiction.
(5.00 from 1 review)
Fred Turner lives the good life -- at your expense. With stolen credit cards and borrowed identities, he rides the highest lifestyle. But never for too long. Tricking others into stealing his stolen cards, he leaves them to face the law while he moves on, starting over with his next unknowing victim. It's always the perfect crime. Until the day he steals the wrong identity.
Pearls for Baby Boomers (Wisdom Not Included)    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 6010 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on August 12, 2010. Nonfiction.
Conventional wisdom says Baby Boomers should be retiring soon, but the world has gone slightly insane. Conventional wisdom is out the window. Travel is hard, money is troubling, doctors are annoying, and people are just plain rude. In a world where we are still too polite to speak our minds, Tor Richardson offers a pair of essays that might just do a little of that for us.
My Name is Sue    by Tor Richardson
Price: $0.99 USD. 4500 words. Published by Grey Cat Press  on August 4, 2010. Fiction.
Robbed outside a darkened shopping mall after hours, Sue Macy loses her purse, her car, her license... everything, or so she thinks. Catching a cab home, she greets her husband at the door, but he claims not to know her. Then another woman steps up behind him. What is she doing there, and why is he calling her Sue? That's when Sue begins to discover how much more she had to lose.

Tor Richardson’s tag cloud

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