Maurice Thomas is an emeritus professor of Wingate University, Wingate, NC, where he taught English and creative writing for many years. He is the author of NEW RIVER AND OTHER POEMS, a collection of poems about people and place with vivid photoshopped images of the Appalachians. His new book is Blue Ridge in Starlight, a collection of 54 vivid color images with short poems that reflect his fascination with the near and far--the changing colors and patterns of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the colors and patterns of distant galaxies and nebulae as seen in NASA's Hubble Telescope photographs. He is married to English professor Pamela Thomas. Their children are Colin, who died in 2010, and Lauren, a costume designer in Los Angeles. The collection is dedicated to his son who lives on in the memory of time on New River and mountain trails still fierce with life.