The new novel · Spring 2027
Heredity
Sixteen-year-old Paige Austin has always known she is different. Brilliant, and wary of her father’s violent temper, she learns the truth about her conception and tracks down the sperm donor her mother chose: Asher Salzman, a geneticist driven by his own troubled childhood to study whether science can alter violent traits. Their meeting draws two households into a tangle of old secrets.
Sharp, funny, and unsettling, Heredity is a novel about nature, nurture, and the resilience that helps families survive.
From Atmosphere Press.
About Tom
Tom Baum began his writing career as an NBC copywriter and speechwriter. After his first short story was published in the Transatlantic Review, he was given a blind deal by E.L. Doctorow, then an editor at Dial, to write a novel (Counterparts). He went on to publish several more books, including Carny (based on his produced screenplay); the young-adult It Looks Alive to Me!; the children’s book Hugo the Hippo; a crime novel, Out of Body (a People magazine “Beach Book of the Week”); the young-adult novel We Remember Everything; and The Sender (based on his produced screenplay).
While in New York he published several short stories, in Playboy and Playgirl, and wrote three ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked as a feature and TV writer, alone (Carny, The Sender); with Marshall Brickman (Simon, The Manhattan Project); and with Wes Craven, as co-creator of the NBC series Nightmare Cafe. His TV credits also include Witness to the Execution (Writers Guild Best TV Movie award); seven other TV movies; the miniseries Journey to the Center of the Earth; and six episodes of HBO’s The Hitchhiker, one of which, “Made for Each Other,” he directed.
His produced plays include the full-length plays Human Services, Front Door Open, Breach, Endangered Species, and Shock Therapy, and more than a dozen one-acts.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the producer Carol Baum. His new novel, Heredity, comes out in spring 2027.
Books
Stories & Interviews
Short fiction
| “The Farabi Connection” | Playgirl, 1975 |
| “Lost and Found” | Playboy, 1974 |
| “Backward, Turn Backward” | Playboy, 1972 |
| “The Big Pieces” | Playboy, 1971 |
| “On Location” | Playboy, 1970 |
| “The Rebirth of Yost” | Playboy, 1970 |
| “A Friend in Need” | Transatlantic Review, 1968 |
Interviews
| Legends of Film podcast | Nashville Public Library, 2019 · Listen |
Film & TV
Feature films
| The Manhattan Project | 20th Century Fox, 1986 |
| The Sender | Paramount, 1982 |
| Carny | United Artists, 1980 |
| Simon | Warner Bros., 1980 |
Television
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | USA Network, 1999 |
| Shattered Mind | NBC, 1996 |
| Witness to the Execution | NBC, 1994 |
| Nightmare Cafe | NBC, 1992 |
| The Hitchhiker | HBO, 1985–87 |
| Secret Weapons | NBC, 1985 |
| ABC Afterschool Special | ABC, 1976–77 |
Produced full-length plays
| Human Services | Northern Kentucky University, 2017 |
| Front Door Open | Greenway Court Theatre, Los Angeles, 2015 |
| Breach | Elite Theatre, Oxnard, 2015 |
| Endangered Species | Detroit Repertory Theatre, 2014 |
| Shock Therapy | Lilian Theatre, Los Angeles, 2008 |
Newsletter
She Said/He Said · A Substack newsletter by Carol & Tom Baum
SHE SAID/HE SAID: A Hollywood Producer and her Writer husband talk shop.
SHE SAID/HE SAID are the conversations a Hollywood Producer and her Writer husband have behind closed doors: What we love, what we hate, and the secrets to success in Hollywood.
Recent Posts
- Carol and Tom talk about his writing process.
- Carol and Tom talk about Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye
- Carol discusses a few of her own.
Contact
For production rights to the plays, interviews, or anything else, send Tom a note here.