FREDER is the pen name of Doug Thornsjo, who believes that it's hard to encourage word of mouth when no one can pronounce your name. The "nom de plume" is a shortening of his middle name and also the pivotal character in one of his favorite movies, Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS. He is a writer, cartoonist and graphic designer living in a big old house packed with folk art, toys, books and cats.His fiction has been published, among other places, in THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW and KINESIS, has been broadcast on National Public Radio and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.He is the creator of the online comic strips Quirk and Tinsel*Town, and has written about comics and movie serials for a wide range of trade journals; most recently, he penned an introductory piece on Universal's Flash Gordon movie serials for the second volume of The Library of American Comics' DEFINITIVE FLASH GORDON AND JUNGLE JIM.