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13 Facts About Thomas Steinbeck

1.

Thomas Myles Steinbeck was an American screenwriter, photographer, and journalist.

2.

Thomas Steinbeck published numerous works of fiction, including short stories and novels.

3.

Thomas Steinbeck was the elder son of American novelist John Steinbeck.

4.

Thomas Steinbeck was born in Manhattan, New York City, to American novelist John Steinbeck and his second wife, singer-composer Gwyndolyn Conger on August 2,1944.

5.

Thomas Steinbeck's younger brother John Steinbeck IV was born two years later.

6.

Thomas Steinbeck's parents' marriage dissolved four years after he was born, and subsequently Thom spent a great deal of time with his father, whom he credited for instilling in him not only a passion for the world's great writers, but a recognition of how language and poetic rhythms affect individuals and society in general.

7.

Thomas Steinbeck had a good relationship with his famous father, saying that he would rate him "an eight-and-a-half or a nine" on a ten-point scale.

8.

In 1961, the family spent a year traveling the world with a young teacher named Terrence McNally, whom the elder Steinbeck hired as a tutor for his sons.

9.

Thomas Steinbeck trained to serve with Armed Forces Radio and Television at Fort Knox, but arrived in Vietnam on the second day of the 1968 Tet Offensive and was immediately reassigned as a helicopter door gunner.

10.

At age 58, Thomas Steinbeck published his first book, Down to a Soundless Sea, a series of short stories based upon the original settlers of Big Sur, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

11.

Thomas Steinbeck contributed to the My California Project, a collection of short stories by 27 California authors.

12.

Thomas Steinbeck served as a board member of both the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California and The Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

13.

At the time of his death, Thomas Steinbeck lived with his wife Gail in Santa Barbara, California.