Tom Bradley
Tom Bradley is one of the most exasperating,
offensive, pleasurable, and brilliant writers I know.
I recommend his work to anyone with spiritual
fortitude and a taste for something so strange
that it might well be genius.
— Denis Dutton, Arts & Letters Daily
offensive, pleasurable, and brilliant writers I know.
I recommend his work to anyone with spiritual
fortitude and a taste for something so strange
that it might well be genius.
— Denis Dutton, Arts & Letters Daily
When Tom Bradley was a little boy he was given a gazetteer for Christmas. As little boys will, he looked up all the places in the world that start with the F-word. There were two, Fukien in China and Fukuoka in Japan. Little did he suspect that he would one day be exiled to both.
Tom is a former lounge harpist. During his pre-exilic period, he played his own transcriptions of Bach and Debussy in a Salt Lake City synagogue that had been transformed into a pricey watering hole by a nephew of the Shah of Iran.
He taught British and American literature to Chinese graduate students in the years leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre. He was politely invited to leave China after burning a batch of student essays about the democracy movement rather than surrendering them to "the leaders."
Tom is a former lounge harpist. During his pre-exilic period, he played his own transcriptions of Bach and Debussy in a Salt Lake City synagogue that had been transformed into a pricey watering hole by a nephew of the Shah of Iran.He taught British and American literature to Chinese graduate students in the years leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre. He was politely invited to leave China after burning a batch of student essays about the democracy movement rather than surrendering them to "the leaders."
He wound up teaching conversational skills to freshman dentistry majors in the Japanese "imperial university" where they used to vivisect our bomber pilots and serve their livers raw at festive banquets. But his writing somehow sustains him.
Tom Bradley's books include Felicia's Nose (with Carol Novack, illustrated by Nick Patterson, MadHat Press, 2012), Family Romance (Jaded Ibis Press, illustrated by Nick Patterson), A Pleasure Jaunt With One of the Sex Workers Who Don’t Exist in the People’s Republic of China (Neopoiesis Press), Even the Dog Won’t Touch Me (Ahadada Press), Hemorrhaging Slave of an Obese Eunuch (Dog Horn Publishing) and Put It Down in a Book (Drill Press, 3:AM Magazine’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009). His next novel, with secret title and hidden nature, illustrated by the alchemical artist David Aronson, is coming next year from the occult publisher, Mandrake of Oxford. Further curiosity can be indulged at tombradley.org.
Tom Bradley's book Useful Despair
is available through MadHat Press:
Tom Bradley's book Energeticum/Phantasticum
is available through MadHat Press:
Tom Bradley's book with Carol Novack, Felicia's Nose,
is available through MadHat Press:
