Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a beige cubical as the communications director for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies, and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds, TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles, and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Holmes began writing screenplays after working with an advertising client who he thought had a story that should be a movie. Deciding if he could write 60-second commercials, he was stubborn enough to tackle a 120-minute movie script. His original screenplay became the feature film Edge of the World released in 2018.

While not his first novel, Thunder Road is the first to reach publication, a feat that occurred six months after his 60th birthday. As a multi-genre story, many agents passed, not knowing quite how to package the novel. The book was discovered by CamCat Editor, Helga Sheir as a tweet Holmes posted during the #PitchMadness Twitter pitch fest.