Can a person be transformed by the power of love - even if they come from another planet? Jack Teufel arrives in a flash of light in the middle of a bitter Midwest winter. He comes, he insists, from "the Skein," a intelligent network that cobwebs the universe. Jack prepares for his role on earth by studying cable TV, the Internet, and other media so he can broadcast interactions with humans to a vast pan-galactic audience for whom "humans are the funniest species in the universe ... and the sexiest." Populated by a host of memorable characters, FOAM is wildly satirical as well as deeply touching. This unusual book may shock you, will make you laugh, and may challenge your reality - but you will never forget it. Before it was fashionable, Richard Thieme wrote about technology in his online column, "Islands in the Clickstream, reaching thousands in sixty countries. He has spoken around the world for hundreds of audiences, including the NSA, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Pentagon, Microsoft, Johnson Controls, Medtronic, and GE. When a friend at NSA warned that, "The only way you can tell the truth is through fiction," he returned to writing stories, 19 of which are collected in "Mind Games." He was a contributing author to the critically extolled "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry," a research project hailed as "a triumph of sober, conscientious scholarship unlikely to be equaled for years to come." He has lived in diverse cultures and altered states while creating personas on the page and stage and off. He lives in Milwaukee WI with his wife Shirley.
About the Author: Richard Thieme is an author and professional speaker focused on challenges posed by new technologies and the future, how to redesign ourselves to meet them, and creativity in response to radical change. His voice, his perspective, his far-ranging insight into how dots connect into the future, are unique . Thieme has keynoted conferences around the world for 22 years on five continents. His work has been taught at many universities and he has lectured at others, including Purdue (CERIAS), the Technology, Literacy and Culture Distinguished Speakers Series of the U of Texas, and the "Design Matters" series at the U of Calgary. He keynoted a conference on metadata for U Texas-San Antonio, addressed the reinvention of "Europe" as a "cognitive artifact" for curators and artists at Museum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland and keynoted "The Real Truth: A World's Fair" at Raven Row Gallery, London. He recently addressed counterintelligence and "social media" issues for InfoWarCon and CONFidence in Krakow, Poland, creativity for Haxpo in Amsterdam, and the future of the hacking mindset in Malaysia and Belgium. He spoke at Def Con - the hacker/security conference in Las Vegas - in 2015 for the 20th straight year. As a speaker, he has been compared (favorably) to Buckminster Fuller a number of times and as a writer, he has been told by colleagues such as John Updike that his work "is right up there." He continues to live up to his motto - "Have Mouth, Will Travel."