Penn College teacher Tom Ask has written 15 books in a wide array of genres: poetry, short stories, industrial design, young-adult fiction, HVAC, marine surveying, advice for college students, Malaysian boat-building and faith-based meditations on nature.
Whew!
Ask, who teaches industrial design at Pennsylvania College of Technology, will sell and sign some of his titles from 5-7 p.m. Friday at Otto Bookstore in Williamsport.
A long-time Lycoming County resident, Ask has a background that is almost as wide-ranging as his bookshelf.
Born in Illinois in 1961, Ask lived in Norway during his youth. He has also done farming in Sweden and oil exploration in Venezuela — as well as a transatlantic voyage in a 38-foot sailboat. Initially settling in Central PA in 2001 to work for Ingersoll Rand, he has been on the Penn College teaching staff for more than two decades.
The affable, outgoing and other-centered Ask — one of those guys who can remember some small thing you told him 10 or 12 years ago — is a long-time friend; but I never quite understood his area of professorial expertise.
“Industrial design,” the author told me in a recent email, “is a unique mix of inventing, art, human factors and engineering. Penn College is the only industrial design program in the Penn State system. It is very interdisciplinary, which fits with my written work.”
That intersection certainly includes Ask’s latest volume: Finder Tetralogy, a collection of four short novels about a devoted father who travels around the world solving mysteries with his kids. He calls them “science and adventure stories for Christian youth.”
“I really felt there were no good middle-grade science and adventure stories that elevated a father’s relationship with his children,” the author explained.
These four books were originally published individually; on the recommendation of a young friend in their target demographic, I just finished reading Mountain Finder.
This terrific page-turner narrates David Stencher’s far-flung exploits with his 13-year-old daughter as they track down mysterious radio waves that seem to be coming from a nearly inaccessible mountain in Nepal. First published in 2020, it’s a mix of travelogue, science, family love and spiritual insight.
The three companion novels involve other members of the family, other mysteries and other locales — including a sinking island in Antarctica, a linguistic puzzle in Southeast Asia and a tunnel under a pyramid in Guatemala.
Asked how he got started on his writing career, Ask told me, “I wrote my first book when I started an engineering and design consulting business and tried to work myself to death. I saw there was only one title on boat inspections, which is something I had worked in, so I decided to write a rigorous book about this discipline. Three decades and three editions later, it is still around.”
Indeed, sailing looms large as a plot-strand in Mountain Finder — and Ask knows whereof he writes:
“I’ve enjoyed sailing all of my adult life and have been chartering sailboats with friends and family since the 1980s.”
He especially enjoys Rose Valley Lake and the state of Florida, from which he has sailed to the Bahamas, Dry Tortugas and Key West. His 1987 transatlantic trip involved delivering a 38-foot sailboat from New Jersey to England.
“The old boat started leaking south of Greenland, and we turned back to the nearest land, which was St. Johns, Newfoundland. These were interesting days because our radio didn’t work and the only navigation we had was celestial navigation using a sextant to measure the sun or stars.”
Ask has many other interests as well — including, in younger years, training to be a pilot, plus a brief stint of skydiving.
“I sort of cycle through hobbies, and as I get older napping has to be counted as one of them,” the author jokes. “I like doing a lot of different outdoor things, but my favorite hobbies are walking and talking. I also enjoy sailing and rock climbing. I visit secret cliffs in the Rock Run area. It really gets me far away from everything normal and into a very peculiar environment.”
Ask is also a 15-year volunteer for Kairos Prison Ministry International. “We serve the Allenwood prison and strive to nurture the Christian community there. The inmates contend with many challenges, so it is nice to reach into their lives.
“My Christian faith is central to my life and defines my notion of truth,” Ask added. “I’ve tried to communicate personal reflections and understandings of my faith through art, poetry and fiction.”
Friday’s signing runs in conjunction with Williamsport’s final First Friday of 2024; it also includes local authors Phoebe Wagner and Alivia Tagliaferri.
For more information, visit the Otto Bookstore website.
