Local author’s bone‑chilling experience becomes first book

Local author TC Williams’ first book “Resident Stalker” is available through Amazon’s Kindle Books.

By Dan Rolph

It’s a story with the makings of a nightmare, but local author TC Williams said what he put onto the pages of his first book is truly what he lived though.

“Resident Stalker” is the first volume of Williams’ “The Superintendent Chronicles.”

Due to the sensitive nature of the book, Williams writes under a pseudonym.

In his first book, which released at the end of 2024, Williams goes into detail about his experience as a superintendent of a condominium complex in a large city, where he became the target of a resident who began to harass and stalk him for nearly a decade.

“It was a really lonely journey,” said Williams of the experience. “It tried every aspect of my sanity along the way.

“It was literally terrifying for almost 10 years. I thought for sure I was losing my mind.”

In his book, Williams writes of an indifferent condominium board that failed to act as he dealt with the stalker, eventually leading to an attack that left him with a permanent elbow injury.

In response, Williams was terminated by that condominium board, though other residents of the complex created a group to oppose the board and its power.

The story unfolds with moments of repeated institutional failures and persistent inaction, resulting in hardship for Williams. Yet, it also reveals resilience and the enduring strength of the human spirit as he confronts a traumatic and harrowing ordeal, supported by other residents at the complex.

Williams said the process of putting words onto the pages was challenging, often feeling as if he was reliving the experience.

“While I was writing it and going back through the story, it was like I was actually there,” said Williams. “I was actually sweaty, feeling the same feeling, my heart skipping beats like it used to every day on the job. It was difficult writing some of the passages. It really affects you, because you’re going back through it again. It’s almost like you’re being traumatized twice.

“When I had completed it, I was so happy because I was free of it. The story was told.”

It’s been several years since Williams left the city for a quieter life, and he said the move has left him “as solid as a rock” and in a much better place.

“Since the day I came out to the country, there’s not a heartbeat out of whack,” he said. “I’m not stressed.”

As a first-time writer, Williams said ensuring the “essence” of his experience remained without sacrificing the strength of his story was difficult, particularly as he worked to ensure he wasn’t identifying places or individuals.

“You can tell the truth, but you’ve got to be careful not to give away too much,” he said. “You only want to give enough that it can’t be identifiable to anybody or anything. It was difficult. A lot of times I’d have to re-write something four or five times, because there was too much in it.

“But it’s hard to get the true feeling across to the reader if you don’t include as much as you can.”

Williams said he hadn’t planned to put pen to paper and become a writer, but the urging of residents from the condominium complex who watched him live through the ordeal gave him the push to share his story with the public. He first started working on “Resident Stalker” in 2021, gathering his notes as he continued to work at the complex.

Once he’d begun the writing process proper, it took Williams about a year and a half to finish his first book.

“I didn’t even know I could write,” he said. “I just started writing. It worked out great.”

Once he’d finished “Resident Stalker,” it was another eight months for him to learn how to create a cover, lay out a book and self-publish his work.

“Everything matters, from font to page numbers to page counts,” he said. “It was a lot of fine tuning at the end to get it right. Now, I know what to do.

“It’s a lot of work.”

The process has left Williams in a stronger place as he tackles his second book, “The Cooperative,” which will be the second volume of “The Superintendent Chronicles.”

His next book will dig into his experiences as a superintendent dealing with three gangs vying for the drug sales in his building, where he said there were as much as $30,000 in sales each month.

“I really want to get that one out,” he said. “It’s a really good story.”

Williams aims to release his second book by early 2027.

“Resident Stalker” is available both as a book and an e-book through Amazon’s Kindle Books.