Tom Maddox (October 1945 – October 18, 2022) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

writer, known for his part in the early

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

movement. Maddox's only novel was ''Halo'' (), published in 1991 by Tor Books. His story "Snake Eyes" appeared in the 1986 collection ''

Mirrorshades ''Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology'' (1986) is a cyberpunk short story collection, edited by American writer Bruce Sterling. Contents * "The Gernsback Continuum" by William Gibson * "Snake-Eyes" by Tom Maddox * "Rock On" by Pat Cadigan * "T ...

'', edited by Bruce Sterling. He was perhaps best known as a friend and writing partner of

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...

. They wrote two episodes of ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'' together, "

Kill Switch A kill switch, also known as an emergency stop (E-stop), emergency off (EMO) and as an emergency power off (EPO), is a safety mechanism used to shut off machinery in an emergency, when it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal ...

" and " First Person Shooter". The term Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (or ICE) was conceived by Maddox. According to him, he coined the term in the manuscript of an unpublished story that he showed to Gibson at a science fiction convention in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Gibson asked permission to use the acronym, and Maddox agreed. The term was then used in Gibson's early short stories and eventually popularized in the novel ''

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Considered one of the earliest and best-known works in the cyberpunk genre, it is the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and ...

'', in which Maddox was properly acknowledged. Maddox licensed his work under a Creative Commons license, making a significant part of it available on his website
Tom Maddox Fiction and Nonfiction Archive
Maddox also served as a professor of literary studies at

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

in Olympia,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Maddox died from a stroke on October 18, 2022, at the age of 77.

Works

Novels

* ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' (1991)

Short stories

* "The Mind Like a Strange Balloon" (1985) * "Snake-Eyes" (1986) * "The Robot and the One You Love" (1988) * "Florida" (1989)—not really a short story but a very short broadside—a "bookmark"—contributed t
Magicon
* "Baby Strange" (1989) * "Gravity's Angel" (1992) * "Spirit of the Night" (2010)

Footnotes

External links

Tom Maddox reports on the Electronic Frontier
series of articles for

Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields ...

* * 1945 births 2022 deaths People from Beckley, West Virginia 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Cyberpunk writers American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Creative Commons-licensed authors Writers from West Virginia Evergreen State College faculty {{US-sf-writer-stub