• New

    ‘God’s Teeth’ Places Third In Hunterdon Main Library Short Story Contest – Read Them All

    November 19, 2025 /

    How much more could I love our local libraries? The main branch of the Hunterdon County Library, where I also conduct workshops, recently held a short story contest. All of the stories are posted online, and you can read my own ‘God’s Teeth’ at the library’s website. LINK HERE.

    UPDATE: My story placed third! From the Hunterdon Co. Library organizers:

    “Hello Mark,
    Congratulations! Your story “God’s Teeth” got third place in the Adults Category of the Hunterdon County Short Story Contest. Pick up your prize at the North County Branch Library in Clinton.
    Thank you so much for participating! It was a pleasure to read your work!
    Best,
    Tess Furnari”

     

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  • New

    Coming in January! Weekly Autobiographical Journaling Workshop In-Person in Lambertville

    November 14, 2025 /

    Coming up in January: A weekly journaling workshop in Lambertville, NJ

    REGISTER HERE

    I’ll be conducting a weekly autiobigraphical journaling workshop every Monday, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm (eastern) at Bucks on Bridge Coffee Shop/Soupcon art space. It’s a great location for intimate workshops and it’s also a terrific way to support and be part of the community.

    It will be $10 weeklyk ‘at the door’ or $30 for a month (4 or 5 weeks, excluding absences for vacation or travel).

    Autobiographical journaling centers on thematic writing, with participants writing each week on a selected theme. Wokshops include handouts, thought- and conversation-generating ideas and suggestions, ice breakers, flash writing each week, and the pleasures of bonding with the group members while we all travel this path together.

    Every life is a story, and each of us is the storyteller. Participants will join in journaling exercises, various weekly pre-workshop assignments (such as bringing in photos or objects of meaning) and a weekly theme-based writing assignment. Pen and pad are strongly suggested! In -person participants will receive the workshop outline (PowerPoint), complimentary folder, yellow writing pad, and pen.

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  • Books,  Featured Authors

    Featured Book: Bruce Conord’s ‘Come and Get Her: A Suspense Thriller

    November 12, 2025 /

    I had the pleasure of meeting the author at the Mytery Writers of America-New York chapter holiday party last night in Manhattan. As a big fan of thillers myself, I’m always happy to recommend a new one. Check out Bruce Conord’s ‘Come  and Get Her,’ released just in time to make a great holiday gift for yourself or someone you know!

    About ‘Come and Get Her’

    Former Special Forces soldier Jesse Arroyo believes his days of danger are behind him. But a desperate late-night phone call that his teenage daughter is missing drags him back into a world of violence, where he realizes his past may never fully leave him. As he navigates the treacherous Mexican cartel territory to rescue his daughter, he encounters ruthless killers who show little regard for innocent lives, and Arroyo must use all of his skills and instincts to survive and bring his daughter home.

    With help from a widowed journalist seeking her own revenge, he races the clock to track down the woman who lured his daughter to Mexico and the evil cartel boss holding her captive. When he digs deeper into their cruel underworld, the lines between hunter and hunted become blurred. Arroyo discovers that this is much more than a kidnapping—it’s a conspiracy far more deadly than he could have ever imagined. If you enjoy books by Don Winslow, Robert Ludlum, Brad Thor, or Lee Child, then you won’t want to miss “Come and Get Her,” a heart-pounding thriller filled with action, suspense, and a father’s unwavering determination to save his child.

     

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  • One Thing or Another Column,  One Thing or Another Columns

    One Thing Or Another Column: Why November?

    November 11, 2025 /

    By Mark McNeease

    Temperatures have plummeted, leaves have fallen, the gray days have taken on a certain despondency, depending on your mood. It must be November. I don’t have anything against it, and I always enjoy Thanksgiving, but there will always be something misplaced about the month, which I describe in further detail in this column from a few years ago. It still rings true.

    NOVEMBER SEEMS LIKE AN ORPHAN month, stuck between the festivities of Halloween and the extravagance of Christmas. It’s that month when we wave goodbye to moderate weather, and say hello to furnaces and fireplaces. We watch leaves fall helplessly, their spectacular colors melting to a dull compost brown. November has a way of confirming our suspicions that nothing lasts forever. We get the tires checked or replaced, knowing they’ll soon be slipping and sliding in winter weather. We twiddle our thumbs, waiting for sleigh bells and gift ideas. November is just there, like a stretch of time spent in a waiting room. Eventually the door will open and we’ll be invited to the party, but in the meantime we’ll be reading a magazine on dental hygiene and hoping for the best.

    November can be exciting if you celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or early retirement. But the month doesn’t offer much pizazz. It’s like February, that sad, short stretch of days sandwiched between the hopes of the new year and the tease of spring. November doesn’t announce itself with a confident, “I’m here, let’s have some fun!” It arrives with a sudden chill, reminding us to order new winter socks and get the space heater out.

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  • The Twist Podcast

    The Twist Podcast #307: Democrats Crush It, Rick Hearts Jennifer Lawrence, and the Nashville Tenors Deliver

    November 8, 2025 /

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we bask in electoral victory, say what bugs us, and recommend  Jennifer Lawrence’s new flick and the Nashville Tenors’ amazing vocals.

    NEW! You can treat your co-hosts to a cup of coffee … just $3 a brew!

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  • New

    Online Workshops in December: Fiction Writing, Self-Publishing, and Autobiographical Journaling

    November 2, 2025 /

    I’m excied to announce three online workshops coming up in December, with more online and in-person workshops planned for the new year. These will be held via Zoom from 2:00 – 4:00 pm eastern to accomodate participants in multiple time zones. (Workshops are limited to 8 participants each.) Just click on the links below to register. And now you can also purchase gift certificates for the writer in your life!

    Gift certificates are good for any workshop or project. 

    Fiction Writing Essentials: 2 Hour Online Workshop
    Join us on December 03 via Zoom – 2:00 – 4:00 PM eastern

    In these writing classes and workshops you’ll explore your own creativity as writers, learning what makes good characters, page-turning plots, and the illusion of conversation we call dialogue.

    Have you wondered where story ideas come from? Or how to take an idea and turn it into fiction? What do you do when you get stuck? How are some of the ways we can keep ourselves going from the whisper of an idea to a full-fledged short story or novel? Learn structure, outlining, narrative, point of view, and more, as you become what you want to be, or what you already are: a writer. Yes, you can!

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  • New

    ‘Pine Melody: A Memoir’ by Stacey Meadows Now Available

    October 12, 2025 /

    I knew when I first started helping Stacey Meadows publish her memoir about her son’s death in a car accident that this was something special. The writing is superb, and the emotions are as raw as they could possibly be. It’s both beautiful and devastating, with the promise of acceptance and healing as Stacey recounts her journey with grief. I’ll be giving this to my workshop participants as an example of an outstanding and well-written memoir.

    About Pine Melody

    Swerving to avoid a deer on a dark Wisconsin highway in early summer, 22-year old Gabe lost control of the car. His 29 year- old brother, Jonah, singing along with him as he drove, absorbed the full force of the impact with an oncoming pick-up truck driven by the Chief of a First Nation. The crash left Jonah with severe traumatic brain injury, Gabe with a broken femur, and soil samples, meticulously gathered for Jonah’s graduate research project on agroforestry, strewn across the highway.

    As general counsel for a Philadelphia medical center, I was competent enough to interact with my sons’ care teams, but lost all semblance of professionalism when neither my legal expertise, search for a medical miracle, nor tenacity of my love was able to bring benefit to Jonah, who lingered in a coma for three months, before dying in hospice. I was left to find a way to carry on for the sake of Jonah’s brothers while handling my own grief and helplessness.

    Immersing myself in Jonah’s journals, and memories of his extraordinary, spirit-filled life, my pillars materialized—meditation, yoga, prayer and sailing. With Jonah as my spirit guide, in the bardo and beyond, I navigated pathways between terror and beauty that Jonah had spent his life seeking. Pine Melody is the result of my journey.

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