Mark McNease

All things are of the substance of dreams

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
  • MADEMARK PUBLISHING
  • AUDIOBOOKS
    • FATAL MISTAKE AUDIO EDITION
    • THE LISTEN LOUNGE
    • MEET THE NARRATORS
  • THE TWIST PODCAST
  • New

    Extended Audiobook Sample of ‘Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller’ Now Available for Listening!

    November 10, 2020 /

    You can now enjoy a four chapter sample of the audiobook edition of ‘Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller,’ directly from Book Funnel. Just CLICK HERE to listen or download. And if you’d like to hear the rest, it’s available at Audible and Amazon. Fasten your headphones!

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    Mark
  • New

    Why, Look! It’s a New Mark McNease Mystery!

    November 4, 2020 /

    The paperback has arrived and it looks fabulous! Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery is now available.

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  • New

    ‘Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery’ Now Available Everywhere!

    October 31, 2020 /

    Just in time, and in my favorite month! It’s my birth month, it’s Halloween, and it’s the wide release of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. It’s been five years since the last Kyle Callahan book, and it was so much fun meeting the characters again and riding the mystery train with them. The eBook edition is out now on Amazon and Apple Books, and will be out very soon on Barnes & Noble and Kobo (those are pending review, which can take a few days). And look for the paperback edition in the next few weeks.

    About Reservation for Murder: 

    It’s been several years since Kyle Callahan sought the help of a New York City therapist to overcome the trauma of his encounter with a serial killer, and just as long since his investigation into a teenage girl’s murder brought down the Manhattan District Attorney. He and his husband Danny Durban have decided to move away, to start a new life in the idyllic river city of Lambertville, New Jersey. They have friends there. They’ll have peace and quiet. They can leave the hustle and bustle and stresses of America’s biggest metropolis behind.

    They open a bed and breakfast, and soon discover that murder and mayhem are waiting to check in. There’s a writers conference in town, with big names and big egos heading for a clash—and a killing—of titans. No sooner has the ink dried on the guest registry than Kyle finds himself pursuing another murderer, this one closer to home than they’ve ever come. He enlists the help of his old friend and local resident Linda Sikorsky, once a detective on the New Hope, Pennsylvania, police force. The two of them follow one lead after another in a race against time until the shocking truth is exposed.

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    Mark
  • New

    Book Review: TMI: My Life in Scandal, by Perez Hilton with Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson

    October 31, 2020 /

    By Terri Schlichenmeyer
    The Bookworm Sez

    “TMI: My Life in Scandal” by Perez Hilton with Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson
    c.2020, Chicago Review Press $26.99 / $35.99 Canada 229 pages

    You’re allowed to change your mind.

    You grow, get a few experiences under your belt, and things might look a bit different. You can have a change of heart then, and pivot your life in a different direction. You can take do-overs and take-backs, but carefully. And as in the new book “TMI” by Perez Hilton (with Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson), you can ask for forgiveness, too.

    If you knew Mario Armando Lavandiera Jr. when he was a child, you’d be surprised at the man he is today. He says he had a good childhood but he was a “different” kid then, and was often bullied: among other indignities, his classmates called him “the Fat Kid” because he loved to eat.

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    Mark
  • New,  Podcasts,  The Twist Podcast

    The Twist Podcast 5 Year Anniversary Giveaway!

    October 26, 2020 /

    Mark and Rick have been Twisting for five years this month! You heard that right. And to celebrate all those opinions, trends, news takes, and cultural observations – as well as to high-five our rapidly growing audience – we’re giving away three each of Twist coffee cups and sturdy Twist T-shirts. Just enter above or HERE and listen for an announcement on the first show in December. Six winners will be randomly selected from entrants on November 30 and contacted by email: you choose a T-shirt or cup). 

    We’ve had eye-popping growth in 2020 and we hope you’ll spread the word. Here’s to another five great years!

    Mark and Rick

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    Mark
  • New

    Free Sample from ‘Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery’

    October 20, 2020 /

    Enjoy a complimentary pre-release sample from ‘Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery.’ The book is releasing October 30. You can download the excerpt directly from Book Funnel (ePub, MOBI, or PDF) and get an early glimpse of murder and mayhem in a Delaware River town. Life seems perfect for Kyle and Danny in their new life away from Manhattan … until death checks in. The book is available on Amazon for pre-order at a discounted $2.99 (regular $4.99). AND I’m giving away 15 Kindle editions in a new release raffle. Just check out the links below.
    Sample:
    https://dl.bookfunnel.com/9ariqr59t2
    Amazon:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LDFK7GL/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1…
    Raffle:
    https://markmcnease.com/reservationformurder
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    Mark
  • New

    Cover Reveal and a Kindle Edition Giveaway for ‘Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery’

    October 13, 2020 /

    I’ll be releasing the new Kyle Callahan Mystery, Reservation for Murder, later this month. I’ll also be giving away 15 Kindle editions of the book once it launches, for lucky email subscribers chosen at random on October 30 (announced on Halloween, of course!). Just enter with your email in the Raffle Press giveaway above and look for an announcement at the end of the month. Please note that Kindle limits redemption to accounts in the U.S.

    Here’s a synopsis, and I have to say it’s been great to see Kyle and Danny again as they head off into a new home and a new adventure … if only murder will leave them alone!

    About Reservation for Murder

    It’s been several years since Kyle Callahan sought the help of a New York City therapist to overcome the trauma of his encounter with a serial killer, and just as long since his investigation into a teenage girl’s murder brought down the Manhattan District Attorney. He and his husband Danny Durban have decided to move away, to start a new life in the idyllic river city of Lambertville, New Jersey. They have friends there. They’ll have peace and quiet. They can leave the hustle and bustle and stresses of America’s biggest metropolis behind.

    They open a bed and breakfast, and soon discover that murder and mayhem have come along for the ride. There’s a writers conference in town, with big names and big egos checking in for a clash—and a murder—of titans. No sooner has the ink dried on the guest registry than Kyle finds himself pursuing another killer, this one closer to home than they’ve ever come. He enlists the help of his old friend and local resident Linda Sikorsky, once a detective on the New Hope, Pennsylvania, police force. The two of them follow one lead after another in a race against time until the the shocking truth is exposed.

     

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    Mark
  • New,  Podcasts

    Author Garrett Hutson Talks Historical Fiction and His New Novel ‘Gray Paree’

    October 12, 2020 /
    https://markmcnease.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FINAL-Garret-Hutson-MIX.mp3

    Join me today as I chat with fellow Hoosier and author Garrett Hutson. Garrett joins the podcast from his home near Indianapolis where he lives with his veterinarian husband David and a menagerie of pets. We talk about a passion for writing he’s had since childhood, fiction choices, and his love for historical detail that infuses his novels. His newest, Gray Paree, releases October 25.

    About Gray Paree

    American Oliver Carmichael loves his life in Paris, playing in a night club jazz band, and enjoying the freedom and intellectual stimulation of his bohemian set of friends. His happiness is tempered by unresolved feelings for his ex-fiancée, Lisette, especially after he sees her with another man in his club-but he tends those wounds with an affair with an older woman…and also with the boy next door.

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    Mark
  • New

    The End, One Way or Another

    October 7, 2020 /
    October 6, 2020 (Tuesday)
    In the past three years, it has so often felt like things were reaching the breaking point. But the image of Trump on the balcony of the White House last night, defiantly taking off his mask as he gasped for breath, truly looked to me like the beginning of the final chapter. – Heather Cox Richardson

    Heather Cox Richardson offers among the most astute and sober analysis available. Reading it agitates me, but I know I have to stay awake to everything that’s happening. We really are at a precipice in America and, frankly, I want to say I was there when it happened, not pretending it wasn’t.

    There is no word in the English language (“fury” comes closest but is still far too mild) to express how I feel about Republicans and Trump steamrolling Americans to put a religious extremist on the Supreme Court. But note that the real pressure to do this is not from gullible pro-lifers. It’s from corporations and mega-rich donors who could not care less about abortion, a service they will always be able to avail themselves of. They want entrenched oligarchy and corporate minority rule over the United States. Hard stop. Overturning Roe is just the meat they’ve thrown to Christians. They really don’t care about that. A 6-3 majority will help ensure that “we the people” have almost nothing to say about those who govern us. Jesus has nothing to do with it.

    I’m going to be 62 this month. Never in my darkest fantasies, even though I remember the 60s somewhat and lived through the AIDS years, did I imagine I would see a cartoonish authoritarian with a spray tan line around his face, gasping for air on a balcony like some high-school production of Evita, bringing the United States to the brink of ruin. But that is where we are. Millions of businesses can go under, tens of millions of Americans can go hungry, untold jobs lost, over a thousand people dying every day from a virus that doesn’t care about tough guys, real or fake, and all that matters is a court packed with judges who serve the rich and the rabid. Wow.

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    Mark
  • New

    Two October Promos: Books with a Halloween Twist, and Paranormal Roundup

    October 1, 2020 /

    It’s my favorite time of year, when ghosts and black cats roam the land. I’m participating it two fabulous deep-discount promotions this month with dozens of fellow authors at Book Funnel. Just click on the links below and browse to your heart’s horror … er, content. You’ll find lots of books to choose from at killer prices.

    My two books, both reduced to .99 cents for this promo, are Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, and my supernatural chiller, A House in the Woods.

    Books with a Halloween Twist CLICK HERE

    Paranormal Round-Up CLICK HERE

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    Mark
  • New

    Book Review: My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams

    September 19, 2020 /

    By Terri Schlichenmeyer
    The Bookworm

    “My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams
    c.2016, Simon & Schuster
    $30.00 / $39.99 Canada 374 pages

    Please and Thank You.

    Those were The Magic Words you learned at your mother’s knee, the ones that opened doors and gained favors. That was also when you learned something important, as you’ll see in “My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams): letters, when properly collected, can move mountains. 

    Born in working-class Brooklyn in 1933, Joan Ruth Bader was her parents’ second daughter; sadly, their eldest died of meningitis just fourteen months later.

    Theirs was a close-knit neighborhood, and the family had many of the luxuries of the day. Bader attended public school a block from her home; there, because of other girls in her class who shared her first name, she started using her middle name “for more official purposes.” She was raised to be independent and was an avid reader, a notably talented storyteller, and she loved gymnastics but “was not… especially fond of math.” And since she grew up in the shadow of World War II and was Jewish, she was fully aware of anti-Semitism.

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    Mark
  • New

    ‘Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller’ Audiobook Now Available!

    September 12, 2020 /

    Fasten your headphones! The audiobook edition of Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller is now available. Narrated by the terrific Sean Rhead, Beautiful Corpse is the second book in the Marshall James series, to be concluded in 2021 with a final installment. It’s 1984. Marshall survived the perils of Murder at the Paisley Parrot and believes he’s living happily ever after with his detective boyfriend, Mac McElroy. Life seems perfect, until everything goes wrong …

    About Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller

    It’s been over a year since Marshall James first became intimately familiar with murder. He’s six months sober now and happily living with the love of his life, LAPD Detective Mac McElroy. Despite the coming storm of AIDS and its devastating toll on the world Marshall knows, his dark days seem to be behind him. Then one night he says the wrong thing, storms out in anger, and walks straight into a nightmare. Someone is setting him up to take the fall for a beautiful corpse. But who would do something so evil, and so planned? Within hours he finds himself running from the police and the mob, and running toward a killer he must apprehend before the only chance left is no chance at all.

    Listen to a sample here:

    MadeMark Publishing · Audiobook Sample for ‘Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller’
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    Mark
  • New

    Fee Audiobook Codes Available for All Titles!

    September 12, 2020 /

    Are you listening? I have a limited number of complimentary audiobook codes available for all of my audiobooks, including the brand new Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller, narrated by Sean Rhead! Just click the image or HERE to email your request for a code. Please specify the title(s), and a US or UK code. You can read about them all at my Audible author’s page. So enjoy … and fasten your headphones!

    Available Titles:

    Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller
    A House in the Woods
    Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Thriller
    Murder at the Paisley Parrot: A Marshall James Thriller
    Last Room at the Cliff’s Edge
    Death by Pride: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
    Pride and Perilous: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
    Murder at Pride Lodge: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
    Stop the Car: A Kindle Single
    Strange Company: Nature Essays by Jean Ryan

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    Mark
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