Hello. My name is Thomas Gladysz, and you've come across my homestead (my bit of real estate) in cyberspace. I live in San Francisco, California and have been online since 1991. This personal website explores my vocation and avocations, documents my work as a bookseller, writer, researcher, and cultural protagonist, and highlights my interests and obsessions. You can find-out more by exploring this digital web of digital information.

By day, I am a bookseller: From 1987 to January, 2009 , I worked at The Booksmith in San Francisco. The Booksmith is an independent bookstore located in the city's historic Haight Ashbury. I've worked at the store in different capacities, and for the last ten plus years served as store events coordinator and publicist. What's an events coordinator? Basically, I ran the speaker series at The Booksmith, arranging author readings, booksignings, and other events. I hosted nearly 1000 events with various novelists, poets, politicians, biographers, historians, scientists, cartoonists, actors, musicians, science fiction & fantasy writers, celebrities, and assorted Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and National Book Award winners. Over the years, I had the honor of hosting the Nobel Prize winning Polish author Czeslaw Milosz and the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (his last ever reading). I've also hosted everyone from bestselling writers like Neil Gaiman and Chuck Palahniuk to rock legends Patti Smith and Neil Young. It's a fun job, and it's given me the chance to meet many people I like and admire.

By night, I am a writer and journalist: Since 1984, I've had approximately 500 articles published in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, alternative monthlies, 'zines, and on the web. I write about the arts - in particular books, authors, film, and the visual arts (painting and photography). I have penned numerous reviews and feature articles - and have published interviews with a handful of well known figures in the arts. For a while, I was a columnist for a couple of publications, and was the art critic for a regional wire service.

Pieces of mine have also been published in various books including the Contentville Reader (contentville.com, 2000) and the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (University of Nebraska Press, 2001). My interview with Allen Ginsberg can be found in Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews, 1958-1996 (HarperCollins, 2001). And my interview with acclaimed photographer Harry Callahan is excerpted in Harry Callahan New Color (Hallmark Cards, 1988). I also wrote the catalog essay to Marco Sassone: New Paintings (Diane Nelson Gallery, 1989).

I am the director of the Louise Brooks Society. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society (LBS) is the largest and most comprehensive website in the world devoted to any silent film star. In case you don't know, Louise Brooks (1906 - 1985) was an American actress of the 1920's and 1930's best known for her role as Lulu in the classic German film, Pandora's Box (1929). More than just a fan site, the LBS is also an online archive related to this legendary star. The site is home to the Louise Brooks Society - the world's first "virtual fan club in cyberspace." The LBS has more than 1500 members in 50 countries around the world.

I have spent a lot of time researching Louise Brooks, and am working on book or two about her. As well, I am the author a long running blog about the actress hosted at LiveJournal. The Louise Brooks Society also has its own online radio station, RadioLulu.

I like to read, research topics of interest, and love music of all kinds. Needless to say, I own a good number of books and records. On a personal note: when not working or following my interests, my days are spent with my partner Christy (love of my life), and our two dogs, Sinbad and Tula.