About
Thacher E Cleveland (est. 1976), was born in Watertown, NY and shortly after was transported to New York City, where he lived until it was time to go to real school. Y’know, not one of those sissy ones with the blocks and naps, although a nun did wash his mouth out with soap, so maybe it wasn’t that sissy. Given his history of bad language, the family moved to New Jersey so he could speak it more fluently. Life in Montclair was okay, and involved a lot of getting taller, and math.
Tad (as he uses in conversation, because it’s less syllables and people are lazy), spent much of his school time being a giant nerd, excelling at things like Transformers, GI Joe, comic books and role-playing games. He also dabbled in having really bad long hair that he was unusually attached too (not just at the scalp). He began writing at an early age, but never really took it seriously. His first work was a gripping piece of GI Joe fan-fiction (probably not slash…probably), which even in elementary school used too many parenthesis.
“Thatch” (which no one calls him) decided to seriously pursue writing in the 8th grade after writing a story in creative writing class about a shadow that kills people (and was loosely based on a picture from the “Shadow” entry in the Monstrous Compendium, the one that went in the 3 ring binder) and discovering Stephen King (claiming him for Spain). A series of really bad short stories followed, as well as many barely-begun “novels” (one involving a kid who rides a skateboard controlled by a Nintendo Power Glove and then gets turned into electricity…we think. Those were rough times).
TEC (as he signs his correspondences) went to Antioch College in 1994, knowing he was going to be a writer and know that they co-op program would give him enough work experience to say “Would you like Fries with that?” after graduation, not to mention they had a kick-ass internship at Marvel Comics (the holy land). Two years later he fathered a child (Alexandra Margaret), dropped out of school, got a job at the College bookstore, got married and then got divorced (not all at once, but spread out). While a rollercoaster, he at least got a decent haircut somewhere along the line.
Edward (his middle name, almost his first name, but then his initials would’ve been ETC) worked at the Antioch Bookstore for almost nine years, selling overpriced learning slabs to kids who really, really didn’t want to pay for them, much less sell them back for a dollar at the end of the term (he didn’t like it anymore than they did, especially after nine years worth of hearing them bitch about it). Eventually it was time to move on, which he did, down the street, to Dark Star Books & Comics in 2004, where he learned what it was like to sell things to people that actually wanted them, not to mention selling things that he loved (because who loves Molecular Chemistry? No one, that’s who). After three years of indentured servitude, he opened his own store, Super-Fly Comics & Games, with friend and former Dark Star employee, Tony Barry. Super-Fly has been found to be the largest concentration of kick-ass and awesome in the Ohio area.
I (because no one else is writing this, I am) have found a wonderful woman, Kenzie, to share my life with (and keeps my hair nice and short), and we contractually joined before an audience (married) on August 25th, 2007. In addition to my wascally wabbit of a child, we have three cats, one gay, spastic and tuxedoed (Hollywood), one skittish, anti-social and secretive (Delilah) and one tailless and marginally sane (Fiver). I finished one of those stupid high school books (which maybe isn’t so stupid now) and am trying to sell it. I’m writing other stuff, like comic scripts, a handful of short stories and maybe another book. It’s fun, but damn hard. In the meantime, I sell books and comics the only way I know how, with a cash register.
As for that nun with the soap? Well, that’s a whole ‘nother story…
