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This Week’s Survey: What’s Your Preferred Way to Travel?
What is your preferred way to travel?
- By plane — I love getting there fast and going far
- By car — I enjoy the freedom of the open road
- By train — I prefer a scenic, relaxed journey
- By cruise ship — I like the destination to be part of the experience
- I don’t enjoy travel and prefer to stay close to home
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April eBook and Audiobook Giveaway: One Thing Or Another – Life, Aging, and the Absurdities of It All (Second Edition)
Welcome to the Second Edition of One Thing or Another, a collection of humor columns that takes a look at life, aging, and the absurdities of it all. It’s been a few years since the first edition, and even more since they were written. The Big Six-Oh is now the Big Six-Seven, and life is just as absurd as it was the first go-round.
From our culture’s refusal to use the word ‘old,’ to the sometimes comical consequences of aging in body and mind, if not always in spirit, you’re sure to enjoy this skewed look at life’s foibles for the ages. Collected from the author’s personal columns, these short essays will make you chuckle, recognize yourself, and sometimes grimace at the not-always-funny price we pay for simply staying alive.
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One Thing or Another: Life, Aging, and the Absurdities Of It All Now A Free Audiobook
OR LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE HERE
Getting older was supposed to come with wisdom. Nobody mentioned the absurdity.
In One Thing or Another: Life, Aging and the Absurdities of It All, Mark McNease takes a clear-eyed, warmly funny look at the indignities, surprises, and occasional revelations of growing older. With the timing of a seasoned storyteller and the honesty of someone who has lived enough to laugh about it, McNease finds humor in the everyday moments most of us are too busy — or too embarrassed — to examine closely.
From the small humiliations of a body that no longer cooperates to the baffling speed of a world that keeps changing without asking permission, these columns remind us that aging is something we’re all doing together. We might as well laugh.
One Thing or Another is the perfect companion for anyone who has ever caught their reflection and thought, when did that happen?
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New Home, Same Great Content
In case you’re wondering, I’m leaving Bluehost after more than 15 years using them to host my websites. To make a long story brief, the sites became so slow I couldn’t take it anymore. No advice or suggestions needed: I tried everything. Coupled with the price tag, I said let’s move.
I like Hostinger, where you’re reading this, and I’m ready to make a move. All my sites will be on here, as dedicated pages (Your Write Path, MadeMark Publishing, and Vivid Press.)
This may take a little while, but not too long – I’m among the more tech-savvy people I know, and moving everything over here shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks, if that. There’s a lot of work to do “behind the curtain,” so to speak, with redirects, emails and all that, but it will get done seamlessly and quickly. So welcome to where “all things are of the substance of dreams.”
Mark
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Lost in Time, Found Again: Vivid Press Brings Three Forgotten Classics Back to Life
FROM THE VIVID PRESS CATALOG
Lost in Time, Found Again: Vivid Press Brings Three Forgotten Classics Back to Life
A Marriage Below Zero, The Willows, and Carmilla — newly available in Vivid Press Editions
Some books were ahead of their time. Some were buried by it. And some were simply waiting for readers who were ready for them. At Vivid Press, we believe certain stories deserve a second life — not as museum pieces, but as living texts that speak directly to who we are now. That conviction is behind our newest Vivid Press Editions: three works of extraordinary power that have been overlooked, undervalued, or quietly allowed to slip into obscurity.
We are proud to announce that A Marriage Below Zero, The Willows, and Carmilla are now available in Vivid Press Editions — beautifully republished and ready to find the audiences they always deserved.
Alan Dale’s 1889 novel was scandalous when it appeared — and then it largely vanished. Written by a woman under a male pen name, A Marriage Below Zero is a sharp, darkly comic indictment of a marriage between a woman and a closeted gay man, told from the wife’s increasingly desperate point of view. It is a story about denial, social performance, and the loneliness of being the person in the room who sees clearly what everyone else refuses to acknowledge.
What makes this novel remarkable is not just its subject matter — which was virtually unspoken in mainstream fiction of the era — but its voice. The narrator is observant, wry, and wounded in equal measure. She is not a victim so much as a woman trapped by the conventions of a world that offers her no honest language for what she’s experiencing. Over a century later, the novel reads with startling freshness. The Vivid Press Edition presents the full original text with a new introduction placing the work in its literary and cultural context.
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The Twist Podcast 322: Annual Spring Issue, New Letters from Jo, and Rick Interviews Courtney Bryan (Part 1)
Welcome to The Twist Podcast, Episode 322. Spring has officially arrived, and Mark and Rick are celebrating the season with a jam-packed episode. We kick things off with some springtime conversation — what’s blooming, what’s buzzing, and what’s got us looking forward to warmer days ahead.
Then it’s time for the Twist Hit List, our own humble ‘must’ list, covering TV, films, books, food, and culture. Listener favorite Jo is back with a new Letter from Jo, with her trademark wisdom and humor. And in this week’s featured interview Rick talks with Courtney Bryan for Part One of a wide-ranging conversation about artificial intelligence.
All that and more on this week’s The Twist. Subscribe, share, and join the conversation.
THIS WEEK’S SURVEY
Another spring is here. What to you want to do first?
Get more active without the sweaters and thermals
Garden, plant, walk in the grass, open the windows
Clean out and start fresh (figuratively if not literally)
Nothing — I like my routine as it is
Wait impatiently for summer
Something else (please say what in the comments) -
Flemington Book Fest Headed This Way Again – Memorial Day Weekend
I’ll be at the MadeMark Publishing table this year at Act2Book’s annual Flemington Summer Book Fest & Collossal Book Sale.
Authors, books, people, fun. We’re hoping for good weather, but if not, the rain date is Monday the 25th. – Mark
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Kim Cook and Mark McNease Book Event at Soupcon / Bucks on Bridge Sunday, May 3
Join authors Kim Cook and Mark McNease for an engaging afternoon of signing, reading and celebrating the power of story in all its forms.
Mark McNease, novelist, publisher, podcaster, and workshop instructor, writes across mystery, speculative fiction and humor, creating character-driven stories that explore identity, resilience, and the beautifully complicated ways we move through the world.
Kim Cook, author of I Am My Father’s Child: A True Story of Mystery, History, Betrayal, and Forgiveness, brings readers into a deeply personal memoir of family, memory, and belonging. Through reflections on her father’s quiet wisdom and the pivotal moments that shape a life, she invites us to consider our own histories, where laughter, loss, and forgiveness intertwine.
About ‘Blank Page to Bookshelf: From First Sentence to First Sale’
In Blank Page to Bookshelf: Fiction Writing, Character Creation, and Self-Publishing with KDP, author and workshop instructor Mark McNease distills years of experience into one clear, practical guide for writers ready to move from idea to finished book.
Designed for writers at any stage, this step-by-step handbook walks you through the entire process—from developing story ideas and creating compelling characters to revising with purpose and confidently publishing on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).
About ‘I Am My Father’s Child: A True Story of Mystery, History, Betrayal, and Forgiveness’
In every life, there are moments that shimmer just beneath the surface of memory—encounters, decisions, and turning points that, at the time, felt ordinary but would come to shape the very fabric of who we are. This book is a journey into such moments: the recollections of a daughter navigating the joys and sorrows of family, the unpredictability of change, and the search for belonging across places and decades.Woven through these pages are the voices of those I have loved and learned from, especially my father, whose gentle wisdom guided me through the tumult and beauty of growing up. As I open these doors to my past, I invite you to step inside, to witnessthe laughter and grief, the certainty and doubt, and perhaps find echoes of your own story along the way.
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Audiobook for ‘A Marriage Below Zero’ by Alan Dale Now Available!
Listen to a 20 minute sample – Narration provided by Wondervox
I’ve just released an audiobook edition of ‘A Marriage Below Zero’ by Alan Dale. You can listen to a 20 minute sample by clicking the audio file above OR HERE. It’s just $3.99 at my Payhip storefront storefront, and provides a Zip file with all individual chapters, AND a single MP3 with the entire audiobook.
More about the book …
This month I’ve released a very hidden gem: A Marriage Below Zero, by Alan Dale. It’s one of the earliest published novels to deal with same-sex attraction, narrated by a woman who married a man with a secret life.
A Marriage Below Zero (1889), written by Alan Dale, is a pioneering work of early gay fiction and one of the first English-language novels to center a homosexual male character in a serious, tragic narrative. The story is told from the perspective of Elsie Bouverie, a young woman who enters into what appears to be a promising marriage with the charming and refined Arthur Ravener. At first, their life together seems socially enviable—secure, respectable, and filled with the expectations of Victorian domestic happiness.
But beneath the surface, something is wrong.
Arthur grows emotionally distant, evasive, and restless. Elsie senses that she is not the true object of her husband’s affection. Gradually, she discovers the devastating truth: Arthur is romantically and physically involved with another man. In an era when homosexuality was not only taboo but criminalized, this revelation shatters her understanding of marriage, loyalty, and identity.
Rather than portraying Arthur as a villain, the novel presents him as a man trapped between societal expectations and his authentic self. The “marriage below zero” becomes a metaphor for a union devoid of warmth, passion, and truth—frozen by repression and secrecy. As scandal looms and emotional tensions escalate, the story moves toward a tragic conclusion that reflects the harsh realities faced by gay men in late 19th-century society.
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MadeMark Publishing to Offer Public Domain Works, Starting with ‘A Marriage Below Zero’ by Alan Dale
This is exciting. As a way to attracted subscribers to my long-running website, LGBTSr.com, I decided to offer free books of select public domain works. Fiction, nonfition, poetry, more will be revealed.
I’m also publishing them for the general public, as both ebooks and paperbacks.
This month I’ve released a very hidden gem: A Marriage Below Zero, by Alan Dale. It’s one of the earliest published novels to deal with same-sex attraction, narrated by a woman who married a man with a secret life.
A Marriage Below Zero (1889), written by Alan Dale, is a pioneering work of early gay fiction and one of the first English-language novels to center a homosexual male character in a serious, tragic narrative. The story is told from the perspective of Elsie Bouverie, a young woman who enters into what appears to be a promising marriage with the charming and refined Arthur Ravener. At first, their life together seems socially enviable—secure, respectable, and filled with the expectations of Victorian domestic happiness.
But beneath the surface, something is wrong.
Arthur grows emotionally distant, evasive, and restless. Elsie senses that she is not the true object of her husband’s affection. Gradually, she discovers the devastating truth: Arthur is romantically and physically involved with another man. In an era when homosexuality was not only taboo but criminalized, this revelation shatters her understanding of marriage, loyalty, and identity.
Rather than portraying Arthur as a villain, the novel presents him as a man trapped between societal expectations and his authentic self. The “marriage below zero” becomes a metaphor for a union devoid of warmth, passion, and truth—frozen by repression and secrecy. As scandal looms and emotional tensions escalate, the story moves toward a tragic conclusion that reflects the harsh realities faced by gay men in late 19th-century society.
