About the Author
Thomson Woods is the pen name of Cameron Philipp-Edmonds, a novelist and freelance writer based in Jacksonville, Florida. He has self-published four novels and is currently seeking homes for three unreleased manuscripts spanning multiple genres. A graduate of the University of Florida, he has worked as a content developer, public school teacher, data analyst, and football coach — all of which have shaped the perspective and humor found in his writing.
Influences
In his waking life, Thomson was nearly named after W. Somerset Maugham — a namesake that remained only a dream of his parents. Still, the influence of the British modernist lives on in his fiction, alongside literary titans like Terry Pratchett, Aldous Huxley, Albert Camus, and George Orwell.
While each of these authors helped shape Thomson’s appreciation for wit, irony, and existential inquiry, none left a deeper imprint on his worldview than Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut’s satirical brilliance and philosophical undertones burrowed deep into Thomson’s impressionable teenage mind, anchoring the absurd truths of life in something both unsettling and profound.
Tom Robbins also served as a formative influence — arguably the first author to completely captivate him. For most of high school, friends and family couldn’t get him to shut up about Jitterbug Perfume.
The Writing Life
Thomson always loved the freedom that comes from writing, often taking creative liberties with school essays whenever possible. His habit of testing the boundaries of class assignments while trying to channel the stylings of writers like Dave Barry, George Carlin, and Douglas Adams resulted in more than a few parent-teacher conferences. Despite his love for Language Arts classes and that semester he took a sitcom writing class at the University of Florida; it wasn’t until he left the safety net of academics and entered the harrowing reality of adulthood that he returned to his childhood ambition with earnestness.
His novels often wrestle with the ideas he’s still trying to figure out himself: existential dread, technology’s effect on identity, societal obligation, and the search for purpose. Writing is both a means of processing the absurdity of modern life and a way of wrestling with its biggest questions.
Personal Background
Cameron Philipp-Edmonds was born in the winter of 1990 to two loving parents who, against their better judgment, decided to keep him—despite his relentless cries for attention and approval throughout infancy.
He grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and graduated from one of the nation’s top preparatory schools with an International Baccalaureate diploma. In 2009, the University of Florida took a leap of faith and admitted him to their prestigious Gainesville campus. There, he focused on sharpening key life skills such as video gaming, intramural sports, and sleeping in—yet somehow still managed to graduate with a 3.8 GPA and earn multiple academic honors.
After college, and despite job offers from several internet-based Fortune 500 companies, Cameron chose instead to work at a local software education firm, where he wrote and developed tech-centric content. It was there he began to truly appreciate the unsettling accuracy of Dilbert cartoons.
Seeking a little more chaos and a lot more caffeine, he left the comforts of the cubicle for the wild world of a start-up in Jacksonville Beach. Still not fully satisfied with life’s ironies, he returned to school—this time as a high school teacher and football coach.
Eventually, he convinced the district administration to let him work as a data analyst, applying skills from his previous careers to education systems. In this role, he has spent the last decade building dashboards, analyzing outcomes, and crafting thoroughly ignored—but entirely accurate—recommendations for school leadership. All the while, he has continued coaching football at various schools, proving that he’s nothing if not persistent.
To this day, Cameron is a writer who believes humor and social insight can be found in any situation. He continues to pursue creative work through novels, short stories, and freelance writing.