Thomas Pride is the name of a true ancestor from my mother's side of the family. I chose the pen name Thomas Pride rather than my own for several reasons:

First, I have lived an interesting and diverse life, that has included a lifetime of pursuing and launching philosophical works and ideas under my own name. The funny thing about the internet is that it remembers both your accomplishments, but seems expert at aggregating, indexing, sorting and highlighting any negativities. So, in respect of fictional stories, I wanted the stories to have a chance of a life of their own, without having to compete with my own history of ideas, blogs and digital memories.

Second, if you haven't yet had the opportunity, then I hope you will see that the stories I have launched under Thomas Pride are actually quite good. They are concise, gripping, funny, sad, diverse and thoroughly enjoyable. One of the positive by-products of a life of near-missed successes and regular failures is the collection of stories. I have dozens and dozens of them. So, I genuinely wanted to let the stories and the characters within them have a chance to blossom without someone digging out some embarrassing quote of my past. There is enough time for that in the future.

Finally, Thomas Pride is an intriguing character. It turns out his first name wasn't Thomas - that is a title, just as Cromwell (Will of the Krom, a Khazar word for warlord) is a title. Instead his first name was Oliver. And while he died in the same and within a few weeks of the mysterious figure known by the title “Cromwell”, his birth is highly unreliable and as much a mystery.

Furthermore, no mention is given in any official history books that he was the first Reeve (sheriff) of Buckshire, or that he was one of the first of several lords, (including lords Roth, Ire, Grei, Monck, Constable and Lusty). The only reliable evidence we have is that to be a "pride" was the worst sin of all. Worse than being a "wrath" (roth) or "greed" (greed) or any of the others. Certainly worse than being a "cromwell". So a perfect pen name for a failed philosopher and story teller.

I hope you like the stories and those to come.