Arthur, Thomas: - THOMAS ARTHUR was born in Poland in 1946, during the aftermath of World War II. After growing up in extreme poverty, Thomas and his uncle, a cobbler, escaped to Brooklyn NY in 1961 where they both worked at a shoe repair shop. At an early age, his talent for writing was seen and Thomas took opportunities from local reporters and writers, ghost writing to make extra money and eventually helped his uncle open a shop of his own. After many years of notable work as a ghostwriter, Thomas became frustrated for not being acknowledged for his talent. Thomas applied for various writing jobs and was denied due to his lack of educational merits. At a late age of 34, Thomas decided to change that and went to pursue his education, eventually receiving a Masters in English from Brooklyn College in 1988, and gaining acceptance into the acclaimed John Hopkins University Ph.D. Writing Program. But after the sudden death of his uncle, mounting expenses, and the unrewarding obscurity of ghostwriting, which he continued to do to pay for college, Thomas decided to take over his uncle's shoe repair shop instead and stopped writing altogether. Being retired now, and with much push from his long-time writing friend, Professor Ron Lovell, gave Thomas a unique chance to return to his long lost passion. The Book of Vlad: The Impaler is his thirteenth novel, but first under his own name, as well as the first work he has written in over twenty-five years.