Brad Whittington wasn’t named 'Fred' but he might as well have been. He has been known as 'Fred' to many since 1974 when he set out to explore the possibilities the world had to offer outside of Fred, Texas. In 2003 he returned the favor with the publication of his novel, 'Welcome to Fred.' While the novel is not autobiographical, much of it is based on Brad’s experiences growing up in Fred, Texas.

Brad began writing in 1980, with the purchase of his first home computer. Previously he had done a bit of writing, starting his own underground paper in high school (2 whole issues!) and serving as editor of The Compass, the college newspaper at East Texas Baptist University. But the PC ushered in a new era – writing fiction.

"I have always been interested in writing fiction, but was too lazy to write by hand or with a typewriter. The computer changed that."

During the next 20 years, while pursuing jobs as teacher, computer programmer, consultant, IT Director, and product manager in such diverse locations as Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, and Hawaii, Brad continued to write, primarily for his own entertainment. He made occasional attempts to get published, but discovered that it was very time-consuming and took his attention away from writing.

"I concluded that my chances of getting published were about as good as my chances of winning the lottery. When faced with the choice of spending my spare time trying to get published, which I hated, or spending it writing, which I loved, there was no contest." He set aside his Writer’s Market and mailing lists and spent the time writing.

Consequently, Brad was as surprised as everyone else when he ended up actually getting published. It was the final event in a decade-long series of fortuitous events. The first step was a series of informal sketches he wrote for fun in the late 1980s, which he called 'The Boring Stories.' He circulated them among friends and family. His sister gave them to a friend of hers, Robin Hardy, a published author. She reluctantly took the manuscript but her misgivings turned to excitement when she started reading it.

Robin made an offer to Brad: if he would re-write the sketches into something publishable, she would pitch them to her editor. He did and she did. The manuscript, which was titled 'Strange in a Stranger Land,' disappeared into a black hole. Eventually both Brad and Robin quit inquiring as to their status.

Ten years later, Robin tracked Brad down in Hawaii. She had changed publishers and was still dragging the manuscript around. She connected Brad with a very interested editor and two years later 'Welcome to Fred' hit the shelves. A sequel is already under construction.

But Fred, Texas and 'Welcome to Fred' are not the only Fred connections for Brad. In college, Brad’s roommate was named Fred Smith. As they got better acquainted, they discovered that they had much in common.

“It was scary. Our birthdays were four days apart. We grew up 60 miles from each other, listened to the same radio stations, read the same books, and even had scars in the same locations from childhood adventures.”

Fred and Brad became close friends and spent most of their time together. Other students called them both 'Fred' because Brad was from Fred and Fred, well he was Fred. Their post-college lives took them different directions but the bond remained. In the summer of 2000, Fred, his daughter Alyson and two others died in a private plane crash. See the memorial website at: http://www.alysonsmith.com "I don’t know if Fred ever saw the Fred Society web page, but I think he would have enjoyed it. He deserves a spot on the Featured Freds page. No one ever had a truer friend."

The first chapter of 'Welcome to Fred' and other Fred stuff is available at www.fredtexas.com.