ABOUT

I’m Marcus Silcock, also known as Marcus Slease. I write surreal-absurd fiction across prose poetry, microfiction, and increasingly longer short stories and novels. My newer work moves into weird fiction, fantasy, and horror while staying rooted in the strange and uncanny.

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 constant writing. I’ve worked everything from construction and fast food to warehouse work, telemarketing, and door-to-door sales. For the past twenty 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 collection of surreal-absurd stories set in Sitges, Spain, blending fabulism, horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

Nab one of my books. Enjoy the ride. We are still alive.