About Tom

Hello, my name is Tom Olsinski. I hope you will enjoy reading what I write and perhaps understand my motivations. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts as well!

We have included sections of my interests to share with you, which will be updated.

LATEST NEWS UPDATE!!!!

TOM’S NEW NOVEL “ATTACK OF THE LAMBS” HAS BEEN PUBLISHED AND IS NOW  AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AS E-BOOK ($3.99) AND PAPERBACK ($16.95). SIGNED COPIES CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THIS WEBSITE.

ATTACK OF THE LAMBS

A masked man shoots up a packed church where the pastor and parishioners perish. Former detective Harry Powell shoots the assailant causing him to flee. When authorities settle on an unlikely suspect, church leaders are skeptical. Concerned that other attacks may come, they hire Powell to partner with ex-nun Maggie O’Connor to investigate. The agnostic gun-wielding Powell and the peace-loving O’Connor must overcome their disparities to solve the case. The partners unravel a complex murderous plot to cover up a revengeful criminal conspiracy, and link to a global sex trafficking ring. In an unexpected twist, they expose a catastrophic plot to destroy cathedrals in America. To stop this threat, Powell and O’Connor become targets themselves and collaborate with a clandestine militia and go on the offensive. They experience love and redemption while seeking to solve the surprising subterfuge.

 

 

“”old “” NEWS UPDATE!

Pegasus Books has just released my new novel, When Killers Collide. Please look in Tom’s Books on this website menu where you can read a summary. See the tab where you can read the prologue of my new novel.  CLICK THE BUY NOW TAB IN THE LEFT MARGIN AND YOUR BOOK WILL BE AUTOGRAPHED BY TOM! 

http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Olsinski/e/B0164HTVCA/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

I was born Manhattan because my dad preferred the hospitals there to the ones in Queens, where we lived. It’s all part of New York City and I grew up in Jackson Heights, went to school in the Bronx and worked in Brooklyn. All the NYC boroughs covered here except Staten Island.

Unlike many writers who have spent much time writing, I have had several careers and broad experiences. I think a person is a combination of the genes they are born with (for example, I will never have a shortage for words) and their experiences. One is beyond our control, while the other is much within our control. But only controlled if we choose to make things happen. It is a grand world we live in and the only thing that should hold back our efforts is when we run out of time.

Why a Renaissance Man as I titled this intro? I started studying science in college and would have gone to medical school if I hadn’t bombed the science part of the test required. I then worked as a pharmacist for a decade. When the guns were aimed at the staff in a drugstore I owned, I reconsidered my career choice. Coincidentally a Fortune 100 company came along and offered me a job in sales. I didn’t think I would enjoy that but came to enjoy weekends off and a company car and the fact that no one was shooting at me. I have been a personal coach and a public lector. I have taught classes and painted canvasses (acrylics).
I have played sports, from a childhood of stickball and handball and bowling to teens time on basketball and football to adulthood of softball and now golf and others in between. Scientist? Sports? The arts? Business?

From that shift I spent years in business, mostly in sales and marketing. I enjoyed marketing immensely as a mental strategic game against competitors. Like the competitive sports I grew up playing and loving. Then I made another shift in vocation to a full time writer. Non-fiction had been my focus during the parallel business career, but I knew I favored the idea of making stories up and telling them. I had been known for oral tales that entertained and thought I could apply this to the written word.
What have I done? I was a pharmacist. I was a businessman and healthcare executive. I was a sports coach and a minister in church. Most importantly I am a husband and father. I am a writer and public policy critic. I am a golfer.
What do I believe? Personal integrity comes first. I am a strong family man. I believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe in the golden rule. I believe a person should do what is right regardless of other influences or needs. I believe a person owns the life they help create and that education and hard work are basic to success. I believe that persistence is the key to most success.
I have always enjoyed traveling and have more time now to enjoy visits to places I haven’t seen. I have been in 44 of the 50 US states. I’d like to make that 50 for some inexplicable reason.
If you see me this won’t come as a surprise – I love to eat. I am 6 feet 2 inches and hit the scales at 250. My mother would say I have big bones. I admit to no hormonal cause other that loving food. I can appreciate anything good from an Egg McMuffin to a Ruth’s Chris steak.
What interest me? I love writing – to see the words fill empty space makes me feel complete and when I don’t write I feel an annoying absence in my day. I have written a monthly business magazine column and newspaper health column. I have written short stories and novels. I have written a memoir about a health scare. I attempted a couple of stage plays. I have written an outline of my marketing experience as director of Prozac, an antidepressant. I love to read, averaging 70 books a year and I’d love to share with you and hear about your favorites as I am always seeking a great book to read. Bestseller lists don’t satiate that hunger.
Unlike some intellectuals, I admit I watch television and enjoy sports. I prefer shows that involve a murder, whether true or fiction. But I was also a huge Broadway fan when I lived in NYC.
Why do I write? Besides liking the process before the blank page and feeling it is what I was intended to do, there is more. When I gave speeches and lead groups in business, what I always savored was looking at the audience and being able to impact that response, whether it was laughter or motivation or empathy for the sick people helped by medicines. I like to see people respond. Hearing people say they liked a character I created or enjoy the story they read is a thrill for me. It is another world for me to pursue for the remainder of my days. Done the science, done the business, done the sports. Now what was always a parallel but somewhat secondary role now has come to a blossoming stage to come front and center. I plan to focus on novels that I would enjoy reading that offer true hope for tomorrow to the reader. I savor the future with this new chapter of my life.

Perhaps psychologically reacting to when my short story was selected for my high school yearbook was a premonition of my ongoing battle between a love of writing and books against a pragmatic business role to pay the rent. The avocation linked with the vocation, as witnessed by my national business column and weekly healthcare advice articles. Even in my business career, my favorite roles were in marketing that focused on mental health issues. Reading an average of seventy books a year balanced between fiction and non-fiction combined with writing regularly with an advanced marketing education gives me unique qualifications to create interesting well told stories.

While all people are unique, like singer-songwriters who often better interpret their creations, the author who has created the story and lived in the locations can perhaps better convey the conflicts and issues involved. When Killers Collide shows that truth.

While reading on Wrightsville Beach, the author was startled to see military helicopters regularly flying along the peaceful beachfront. He wondered why this occurred almost daily. His initial intrigue expanded when studying the coastal proliferation of military and where terrorists might target. Watching the Cape Fear pageantry triggered a “what if?” Having previously studied the motivations of individual killers, the author imagined these two concepts combined that evolved into WKC. The long enjoyed security on native soil faces real threats from various sources. Tom believed writing a book that highlights this danger would inspire many people to read it. The author also observes much of fiction portrays a single superhero who overcomes many villains without support. The reality of police procedures and business success taught him that one person often drives the success, but many contribute to outcomes. “All of us is better than one of us.” The triumph of good versus evil might inspire people in a cynical time to accept that together we can protect ourselves from those that would destroy a country if we work together. WKC is a really good story offering hope in a time of repeated negative stories of national decline.