Originally from Troy, New York, M. Thomas Apple spent part of his childhood in a tiny hamlet in the Helderbergs and his teenage years in a slightly larger village in the Adirondacks. He studied languages and literature at Bard College and creative writing at the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote a controversial, award-winning opinion column for the student-run daily newspaper, The Observer.

He lives in rural Japan, in a house co-designed with his wife and partially decorated by his two daughters, nestled in the foothills of the mountains and surrounded by lots and lots of cedar and cicada. A holder of a 4th dan in Shorinji Kempo, he also enjoys hiking and running, as long as his asthma behaves itself.

His first novel, Approaching Twi-Night, received positive reviews from Self-Publishing Review and Kirkus Reviews, among others. A non-fiction book of essays (Taking Leave: An American on Paternity Leave in Japan, Perceptia Press) was published in October 2015, and a collection of his short fiction and poetry (Notes from the Nineties) was released in March 2016.

His award-winning novelette/novella Adam’s Stepsons is a preview of the futuristic dystopian world of the trilogy Children of Pella. The first book of the trilogy (Bringer of Light) will be released in mid-March 2024.