Tom Cladis: Wrestling Seven Alligators, Skydiving, and the Road to a Novel

Tom Cladis is a writer and provocateur, a certified alligator wrestler who keeps his sail permanently set for the far horizon. He has authored two books: “How To Lift Cars Off Your Face And Other Tips For Living Forever” (non-fiction) and his latest, “The Age of Serpents and Scorpions” (fiction). Tom Cladis Vroom Vroom Veer Summary Tom Cladis is the author of The Age of Serpents and Scorpions, a nearly 500-page coming-of-age fantasy about two Colorado teenagers who encounter a mysterious fortune teller and are launched on an adventure through time and parallel universes. Tom describes it as YA in genre but with broad adult appeal — think C.S. Lewis's Narnia, but with Doc Holliday, Don Quixote, and Captain Kirk as supporting characters. The book explores philosophy, faith, and the choices that define us, and Tom says readers keep telling him they can't put it down. The book took eight years to write, squeezed into early mornings around three daughters and a full-time career. Tom has spent 43 years in the investment and financial business — a path that started with a cold call to someone he'd met on a flight, who hired him on the spot. Before that, he spent five years as a United Airlines flight attendant, during which he won a local writing contest and realized writing was his calling. His first book, How to Lift Cars Off Your Face and Other Tips for Living Forever, was inspired by a news story about an 18-year-old who did exactly that — and the idea that our minds are often the only thing standing between us and what we're capable of. That philosophy clearly extends to his personal life. Tom has wrestled seven alligators at a farm near the Great Sand Dunes (with about an hour of training and zero footage to prove it), gone skydiving 30-plus times — including once while his wife thought he was at a meeting, six months into her second pregnancy — and rappelled down a 40-story building for a cancer fundraiser, raising around $15,000. He's also jumped off cliffs, done bungee jumps from hot air balloons at 500 feet, and performed handstands at the Eiffel Tower and on a castle wall in Salisbury (his daughter didn't speak to him for two hours after that one). His take on all of it: limits are mostly self-imposed. Once you push through one, the next one gets easier. Tom's book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and through bookstores. Connections Website Instagram @tomc_writes