Tom Brown
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I have 273 stories published in
24 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 403454 times
and 18 of my stories have been cherry picked.
443 of my 3,042 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 446 votes
Born South-African, I went to a dual medium primary school and Afrikaans high school, NG Church mostly and sunday school Methodist. At school achieved top positions in science and mathematics olympiads, after as well completing two years of engineering studies with very good results but I did not graduate, I had to stop due to mental health problems.
Graduating under WK Bartoszek at Unisa, MSc (1997) and Pretoria University, Niko Sauer PhD (2006), formal interests were to be in abstract analysis and broadly in applied mathematics. All of my qualifications were with honours.
I had permanent teaching positions at Unisa and at Wits, however since not having been academically active, and as such absent from formal academic research for very long now, years. Advanced study and research was in Markov operators and stochastic processes; vector valued Laplace transforms applied to semigroups and families of evolution equations (Empathies).
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Unfortunately I have had a history of medical treatment for psychiatric illness with diagnosis of a bipolar mood disorder.
It was very fortunate in that my condition responded very well to medicine it helps if you cooperate and comply, if not, you don't have much of a chance. Also I am totally abstinent from alcohol and other mood altering substances for great many years, it did not accord with my constitution at all. As a chain smoker I also managed to kick the habit, more than a decade smoke-free now, by the Grace of God.
I have always been able to function completely normal and independently in society my isolation was not because of my own doing it was due to circumstances, and has just been getting stricter I seem to have almost no contact outside, save only for AbcTales. My saving grace.
I am totally isolated and financially barely getting by.
Although I am still studying mathematics and applications, more popular accessible kind of work, while interested and looking forward to hopefully be active in research or industry again.
God is in the details of the details. God is in the timing of the timing.
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Apart from studies in the natural sciences I am interested in languages and literature in general as well as religion. In high school I majored in German also, and Biology, in the meanwhile I have taught myself French, well enough to read (with a bit of difficulty).
Lately I have been writing more popular general interest essays and also trying for a bit of balance with mathematics and while keeping things understandable for most people.
Thus not involved at all with any social media, and having time for writing, leisure, watching movies, reading fiction, classics mostly, poetry and music. I miss my friends, and would really love getting outdoors and in nature more.
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Favourite authors are Jules Verne, HG Wells and Jack London, Shakespeare and poets William Blake and Dylan Thomas. I like adventure, science fiction and fantasy movies my all time greatest are the Narnia stories and the Lord of the Rings.
The meal best enjoyed is a breakfast of bacon eggs on toast fried chips with fresh orange juice, and for supper an ox-tail stew. I like eating out romantic. For recreation nature hikes, camping and fishing, listening to good music and reading, classics mostly, and good movies. I love dogs my best one was a Maltese poodle Freddy.
I love rain and lightning thunderstorms and rainbows. As well as writing and publishing here on AbcTales.
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These are my stories!
Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the Stars!




Lovit!
Posted on Sun, 24 Aug 2025
Lovit! " and I can't sleep right so I had a pillow fight" she knows what she's talking about!
- Tom
Read full commentPosted in Oh it's the middle night
Sorry Di I honestly did not mean
Posted on Sun, 06 Feb 2022
Sorry Di I honestly did not mean to criticise your work at all and I don't recall that I ever have. It is a great poem. But please keep in mind any good teacher knows one often learns more from your mistakes and by the way I'm also out of a job....
Read full commentPosted in February Rainbow
Those old magic photos
Posted on Mon, 07 Oct 2024
Those old magic photos Jenny! I think they call them kodak moments. Something like that. These days people have so many photos they're hard to find Hey? What strikes me how happy we are me & my brother on all of them there are hundreds codac...
Read full commentPosted in Magic Of Youth
enough
Posted on Tue, 27 Aug 2024
You never know what is enough, untill you know what is too much / The road excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
I read these in poems of William Blake, in the proverbs of hell.
Good luck! Tom
Read full commentPosted in Never Enough?
The elephant and ant
Posted on Tue, 25 Jun 2024
The elephant and ant were walking together over the bridge, the ant said "We make this bridge shake hey?!"
We usually say an elephant "trumpets" or such, but you can say "roar" if you like why not?
Keep well, greetings from Africa!...
Read full commentPosted in Extreme differences!
Yes
Posted on Tue, 14 Sep 2021
Yes. Beautiful ending, man's best friend. Heartbreaking sometimes we feel a duty for mourning. And indeed, it is much more noble to live for someone than to die for someone, sometimes living takes great courage.
Keep well Paul! Tom
Read full commentPosted in With or Without You
No doubt inspired
Posted on Mon, 16 Mar 2020
No doubt inspired by Jules Verne's classic scifi novel 20,000 leagues under the sea. Also makes one think of Jacques C. and the research ship the Calypso.
Good work, original too! We are in, looking out, man and fish roles reversed! Who's...
Read full commentPosted in Here Be Dragons
it's good to be young
Posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
It's good to be young and insane.
Read full commentPosted in Mental Illness
we all did
Posted on Mon, 15 Dec 2025
When I was in primary school we all did. They feed on leaves you put in the box - either lettuce or mulberry leaves but you have to stick to one. At first they are tiny but they grow quickly munching the leaf edges ravenously and we buy sell or...
Read full commentPosted in Perilous journey
The Rainbow Nation
Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 2025
The Rainbow Nation
South Africa
“There is always something new from Africa”.
~
https://www.abctales.com/collection/south-africa-0
Read full commentPosted in Out of Africa
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