Craig Thomas
Craig Thomas was a Welsh author born in Cardiff, notable for his contributions to the genre of techno-thrillers and espionage fiction. After earning both a B.A. and an M.A. from University College, Cardiff, he began his career as a teacher before transitioning to writing full-time following the success of his second novel, "Firefox," published in 1977. This novel was a significant entry in the techno-thriller genre, blending action with elements of science fiction, and it was later adapted into a film. Thomas created a series of novels featuring the character Mitchell Gant and another series focused on Sir Kenneth Aubrey and Patrick Hyde, reflecting his interest in geopolitical dynamics during the Cold War era.
Thomas's works often featured animals in their titles and included speculative themes about modern political issues. His later novel, "Slipping into Shadow," marked a shift in focus from Cold War narratives to contemporary challenges like drug trafficking. Recognized as a pioneer in military techno-thrillers, Thomas's writing is characterized by a moral framework that emphasizes loyalty and principle amid the complexities of international espionage. His exploration of these themes has cemented his reputation as a significant figure in modern thriller literature.
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Craig Thomas
Author
- Born: November 24, 1942
- Birthplace: Cardiff, Wales
- Died: April 4, 2011
Biography
Craig David Thomas was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Gwen Owen and George Thomas, a journalist. He went to Cardiff High School and University College, Cardiff, where he earned a B.A. and an M.A. His thesis focused on English novelist Thomas Hardy. In 1967, after earning his M.A., he he married Jill White, who became his editor and business manager; they eventually moved near Lichfield in Staffordshire.
After completing education, Thomas worked as a schoolmaster in various secondary schools in England. During his eleven-year career as a teacher, he submitted television and radio scripts to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), none of which were accepted. A script editor suggested that the novel form was more suitable to his talent; taking this advice, Thomas successfully transformed one of his radio scripts into his first novel, Rat Trap.
Thomas’s second novel, the action-packed Firefox, published in 1977, became a best seller, permitting him to give up teaching and to become a full-time writer. Firefox was the first of Thomas’s Mitchell Gant series of adventure- espionage thrillers. Two of the most original aspects of the novel were its setting, which was largely in the Soviet Union and, more importantly, its introduction of elements that approach science fiction. This novel is considered to be the first of the novels to be written in what came to be the highly popular techno-thriller genre, a form of mystery fiction marked by the considerable deployment of high technology. The novel was adapted into a successful film in 1982.
Thomas published three Mitchell Gant novels. A longer series with which he is more closely identified featured the characters of the brainy Sir Kenneth Aubrey and the tough young British spy Patrick Hyde. Although his first novels were highly successful, it was Thomas’s belief that it was only with his fourth novel, Snow Falcon, that he found his own voice. Like Snow Falcon, many of his futuristic high-tech novels also feature the names of animals in their titles, such as A Hooded Crow, The Last Raven, Playing with Cobras, and Wildcat.
Thomas’s entire body of work is a result of his interest in speculating about the modern geopolitical situation in the last decades of the twentieth century; his sometimes very prescient speculative intellect also resulted in a philosophical nonfiction work, There to Here: Ideas of Political Society—John Locke and His Influence on Three Hudnred Years of Political Theory. Because of the changed global political situation, Thomas’s last novel was the aptly named Slipping into Shadow, published in 1999, which shifted from Cold War issues to drug trafficking in Burma.
Considered the father of the modern military techno-thriller, Thomas also recognized that his own novels were essentially a product of the Cold War. It was his belief that the Cold War was generally responsible for the popularity of the spy thriller in the last half of the twentieth century and was also responsible for its moral framework, which moved beyond realpolitik to a concern with loyalty and principle.