I’m Marcus Silcock, also known as Marcus Slease. I write surreal-absurd fiction and prose poetry — microfictions, longer stories, and now a novel-length project — all moving through the uncanny, the dreamlike, and the quietly strange.
I was born Silcock and later adopted the name Slease when my family immigrated to the United States when I was twelve. I’ve since lived in the United States, the United Kingdom, and several countries in Europe, including Spain, Turkey, Poland, and Italy. That experience of moving around has shaped the worlds I write.
My background is a mix of migration, odd jobs, teaching, and stories that refuse to behave. I’ve worked everything from construction and fast food to warehouse work, telemarketing, and door-to-door sales. For the past twenty or so years, I’ve taught English at colleges, universities, high schools, and language institutes. I currently teach English literature at a high school in Barcelona.
I’ve performed my work at festivals and venues including Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, Soundeye in Cork, The Prague Microfestival, the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, and Café OTO, the British Library, the Southbank Centre, and the Horse Hospital in London. My writing has been collected by the National Poetry Library, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction, and featured in Best British Poetry 2015. It has been translated into Polish, Turkish, Slovak, and Danish and has appeared in journals and anthologies across several countries.
I’m the co-editor of Surreal-Absurd at Mercurius Magazine. I’m currently working on a novel-length collection of surreal-absurd stories set in Sitges, Spain — fabulist at its core, with flashes of horror and the fantastic.
Nab one of my books. Enjoy the ride. We are still alive.
Never Mind the Beasts 