[Spotlight Post] Mark Finn – Birthday Reprise
Hello, spotlight post day… there’s been a lot going on this week. Mostly housekeeping writing work, there’s a novel that’s in process but is still mostly handwritten (because I love pen and ink) that I’ve been typing up. That’s coming along nicely (I hope). So, there’s been some distraction – but a good distraction. And then Facebook told me something fun, yesterday was Mark Finn’s birthday. And apparently this is what I did last year around his birthday. SO hey look, a rerun that isn’t?
Mark Finn is one of my writing partners. We’ve been working on a novel for a while now in a “Texas Weird” motif. It’s one of those things where I said, “hey, we should do something together” and then a list of options came about. And the day I was silly on household cleaners in preparation for a birthday party in my home, I joked about a random selection of said options. Mark’s reply was, “THAT’S FANTASTIC.” Which followed a major series of “Dear Lord, what have I done moments.” But it’s going to be a fabulous project when it’s done.
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Mark, if you don’t know him is a fascinating character. He’s a noted authority on Robert E. Howard. He knows his monkey literature. He’s written and performed in radio plays in Austin. He owns a movie theater in Vernon, TX. He’s the one who pushed me to write a story for Rayguns Over Texas as well as a story for Joe Lansdale challenge that I’m still trying to sell (but really, if Joe Lansdale says, “Hey you should write a story for this challenge.” The response is “Yes, sir, how long should it be and when is it due?”).
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Mark’s also been writing comic books and other things for money – which is why our novel keeps getting shunted a bit. He’s a natural showman. If this were “Olden Days” he probably would’ve been a traveling snake oil salesman or a ringmaster for a traveling carnival. He wore fezzes before Matt Smith made them Cool.
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He’s pushed me out of my comfort zone on a number of occasions. Which is both awesome and frightening, but it means I have some new skills and new ways of looking at some things – which is what you look for in a good collaboration. I can’t wait to see how this novel comes out, and I can’t wait to see what other “ne’er-do-well” things Mark ends up concocting in the future. Whatever that is, it’s going to be bold, brash, and altogether Mark-like.