Never Mind the Beasts novel
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Mercurius Magazine
I am super happy to have an excerpt from my novel Never Mind the Beasts in Mercurius Magazine (out of Barcelona and the world). The excerpt is from the immigration… Read more.
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Down the Shankill
Before moving to Spain, I visited my birth country. Portadown, N. Ireland and then Belfast, to see my biological father. He was a gardener. His wife died. I got an… Read more.
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Doom Drone
In 2016, when I lived in London, I went on many journeys. I was trying to align my mind with my body. Lunch room tongue assessments. Spine alignment. A doom… Read more.
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Post Punk
Terrific review of Never Mind the Beasts in Idler magazine by Robert Greer. “Stylewise it would appeal to fans of both abrupt American Lydia Davis and Soviet absurdist Daniil Kharms… Read more.
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Squirrels and Ooglers
Have you squirreled away yr nuts? Are you a hidden oogler? Winter is upon us. Here is a short reading. Read more.
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Travels from Never Mind the Beasts (Part One)
When I lived in London, I visited Poland twice a year with my partner. The Polish mountains in the summer. The Manhattan Estate in Katowice for Christmas. For a few… Read more.
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Pink Gums
When I lived in the Docklands of East London, next to Commercial Road, it was a battle to keep my gums pink. Here is a short reading, from my novel… Read more.
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The Future is in the Wind
When I lived in East London, we walked along the canal near Christmas and ate the Christmas cake. I thought about my family, especially my brother Aaron, gone now 8… Read more.
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LOVE IS TO SPOON AS ROCK IS TO CHIP
After Turkey, and a stint of dog walking in Italy, he moves to London, falls in love, lands a gig as an adjunct professor at an American style university in… Read more.
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SOUTH KOREA 2006
Doraji doraji doraji! I walk over the pass where balloon flowers bloom. Hey-ya, hey! An ya hey say yo! I walk over the pass where balloon flowers bloom. Hey-ha hey!… Read more.
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THE DOCKLANDS
Don Whiskers and Pineapple live in the Docklands, East London, in a council flat. They visit the river for ancient histories. They take the Mega Bus in the Mega City… Read more.
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BORA
While working in Trieste as a dog walker, and trying to become a writer, he imagines James Joyce, middle class or higher, like almost all artists and writers. He does… Read more.
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YOUNG LOVE
He took a long time to do it, or at least a long time for some. After the mission, at age 20, he went back to N.Ireland and England, tried… Read more.
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THE TRIAL
After returning home early from the mission, I had my first sexual experience, it was called docking. I took off my secret garments and attended the trial, in a big… Read more.
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THE HOLY MISSION
My debut novel, Never Mind the Beasts, has many movements, from many lifetimes and many countries. When I lived in North America, I lived in many states, both physically and… Read more.
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COFFEE HALL
Worzel Gummidge is on the telly. The father has a new calling in the new church to convert more converts, and also a job in London, driving a train in… Read more.
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NEVER MIND THE BEASTS OPENING
Never Mind the Beasts, an experimental working class novel, begins in Portadown, N. Ireland, with my biological father, The Troubles, in one way or another, and then the move to… Read more.
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Class consciousness
There is so much of it, and from an early age it was all about the work, working hard to climb a ladder, and we are all climbing ladders, of… Read more.
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VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Art can help us see and hear and smell and taste and touch with a more attentive mind. And there is so much to explore. Art can help us have… Read more.
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HOT OFF THE PRESS
Super grateful. My debut novel, Never Mind the Beasts, 10 years in the making from many countries, is now available for ordering. You can choose Blackwell’s or Amazon. Waterstone’s, Foyles,… Read more.
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MILTON KEYNES 2
Here is an another excerpt from Part One of my novel, Never Mind the Beasts, coming this month (May 2020) from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Religious conversion, E.T., a used Chopper, the… Read more.
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MILTON KEYNES 1
Field Day, the magic of bathtubs & Milton Keynes roundabouts, a pet gerbil, Copperfield Middle School lunch room, a popped football, peer pressures, Bletchley swimming pool, hot chocolate from a… Read more.
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WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
Your surname is supposed to tell you all about your lineage and heritage and prestige. Authors, who want to be prestige, have prestige surnames, some even use initials for their… Read more.
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COVER FOR NEVER MIND THE BEASTS
Feeling joy, excitement, gratefulness. Proofs finalized. My novel, Never Mind the Beasts, over 10 years in the making, coming out this month from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. The cover. A 1 dollar… Read more.
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READING FROM NEVER MIND THE BEASTS PART ONE
The first part of Never Mind the Beasts begins in Portadown, N. Ireland, in 1974, during the height of The Troubles, and then moves to Milton Keynes, England in 1980s.… Read more.
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Mutation
Two more days till the Stay at Home Fringe Lit Fest, out of Glasgow, and everywhere, and I am thinking about what to read at the Dostoyevsky Wannabe event, from… Read more.
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Stay at Home Glasgow Fringe Festival
A week from today, on May 8th, 6PM UK time, I am reading from my first novel, Never Mind the Beasts, coming this month from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Along with some… Read more.
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Zion
In my final year of high school, I moved to a small town in Utah, it was much different than Vegas. Here is a microfiction about small town America, in… Read more.
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A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
Battlestar Galactica is partly Mormon. Sci-fi is a big part of Mormon. Do you know the planet Kolob? When we immigrated to America, and my family converted to Mormonism, I… Read more.
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Fruit Flies
What did you do in biology? Frogs? Baby pigs? Did you colour the muscles. Identify bones? We had a special project with fruit flies. We had to make them mate.… Read more.
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WHAT IS A BATHTUB?
When I lived in Milton Keynes, before immigrating to the States, I wanted to take a bath with my 8 year old girlfriend. It was very exciting: the bathtub. What… Read more.
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DESTROYER AND PRESERVER
John Prine died yesterday, and I keep listening to “Hello in There.” I’ve been thinking also of a microfiction, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe next… Read more.
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WET N’WILD
In Vegas there was a water park. An exciting adventure, for the whole family. I was hitting puberty and my accent had changed, from Northern Irish to working class British… Read more.
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The Strip
When we immigrated to America, first it was Vallejo, a trailer park, and then later Las Vegas, where I attended middle school and high school. My mum kept saying the… Read more.
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SKULL
When the virus came to Spain, it gathered momentum quickly. The fear. Death is hanging over us, always, but it is here even closer, disrupting our usual distractions. Fear and… Read more.
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SQUIRRELS
Spain is in strict lock down, stricter than Italy, no exercise outside, only outside for groceries, pharmacy. But still the numbers are spiking. Following the trend of Italy, soon the… Read more.
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ROME
Here is microfiction, a kind of postcard, or vignette, from Rome, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May 2020. Read more.
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COLONY
You need the good ones, and not too much of the bad ones, but sometimes in killing the bad ones, you also kill the good ones. You need enough of… Read more.
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RABBIT HAT
It is hard to find a good hat. Back then, more than now, I was searching for a good hat. Although a good hat is always a good hat. Here… Read more.
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920
Shame. Too much or too little. I have it too much. Before leaving London for Madrid, I was gifted a free massage, via Groupon, in the fancy part of London,… Read more.
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HUNK
Did you know the hunks? I was never a hunk, but I learned to love the word. Hunk. It feels chunky. I love chunky. I like my chocolate chunky, and… Read more.
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MEAT HELPER
When we immigrated to America, in the 1980s, we started off in a trailer park, in Vallejo, California. We sat on a sofa and watched the telly. There were so… Read more.
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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
In the 1980s I lived in Coffee Hall, in Milton Keynes. Near coffee Hall, there was Bean Hill. The underpass between Beanhill and Coffee Hall was painted with a Wizard… Read more.
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WANKER
The crowd is dangerous, and also liberating, but mostly dangerous. A mob. When you’re younger: peer pressure. When I lived in Milton Keynes, Coffee Hall housing estate, there was a… Read more.
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God is Watching You
Here is a small excerpt, from my novel in Microfiction, Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming in May 2020 from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. This one takes place in Milton Keynes, England, after… Read more.
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HOWLING DOGS & CRINKLED WHISPERS
The first place we landed, upon immigrating to America, was Vallejo California, a trailer park. I had a funny accent. Part working class British and part Northern Irish. No one… Read more.
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Survival of the Fittest
Long ago, in another lifetime, I lived in Milton Keynes, England, on a government housing estate called Coffee Hall. Long ago, in another lifetime, I was knocked down by a… Read more.
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HAMMER AND PIGGY
Here is a story from Milton Keynes, England, in 1982, Coffee Hall Housing Estate. It is close to Christmas and after Guy Fawkes. Everything is shiny, especially the new 20P… Read more.
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All American
Newly married, working as telemarketers and cleaners, the midnight beam, in Utah, pulled them to a used car lot. This is their story. From Never Mind the Beasts, the first… Read more.
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Miniature Gorilla
I don’t like to sell. Perhaps you are a seller. I am not a good seller. Long ago, at Matrixx Marketing I was a seller, but I am no longer… Read more.
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Invisible Monsters
I have a flash fiction invisible monster in new issue of Plastic Cocktail. Plastic Cocktail is in Bushwick. Bushwick is in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is in New York City. Someday maybe… Read more.
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The Hacking Powders
An excerpt from my novel manuscript, The Autobiography of Don Whiskers, is over at #thesideshow. Partly based on experiences in Katowice, Poland, Cercedilla (Spain), Madrid (Spain), and Palermo (Sicily). It is… Read more.
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THE TIGERS
After my brother Aaron died I went on a road trip with my brothers and sisters. We traveled from Utah to the ocean of California. Along the way we stopped… Read more.
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THE POWER OF HERMITS
Do you want the magic back in your life? Me too. Also people. It is so noisy out there. Meaning in here. How about some peace. We are all competing… Read more.
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A RABBIT HAT ADVENTURE IN LONDON
Just before leaving London/Tower Hamlets to live in Madrid, I met up with my good friend and fellow artist Stephen Emmerson. We walked across Waterloo Bridge and wandered into… Read more.
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MR WHISKERS WITHOUT THE PICNIC BASKET
The only award I ever won, and didn’t even enter, was for a poem called “Mr Whiskers and the Picnic Basket.” It was published in Hayden’s Ferry Review as a… Read more.
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ON FATHERS
“My step father grew up in Warrington, he joined the British Army. A way out. Northern Ireland. He married my mother. In Bletchley, we went to the swimming pool. Hot… Read more.
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THE HOUSE OF ZABKA
Excerpt from my novel in progress The Autobiography of Don Whiskers A hybrid novel (in the form of an immigrant memoir, prose poetry, and interlocking surreal flash fictions). Some… Read more.
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THE HERMIT AND THE EMPEROR
From my novel The Autobiography of Don Whiskers. Finally hope to complete it after seven years by the end of this summer. Maybe. The novel is nomadic life writing plus… Read more.
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SAINT TOM
https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/saint-tom Setting: A government housing estate called Coffee Hall in Milton Keynes, UK. Characters: David Bowie, Neil Diamond, the Milton Keynes Bowl, hot air balloon, a mars bar,a rocket ship,… Read more.
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PUBLIC POOL
Have some wee London stories over at Public Pool with audio. “Snug” and “Dinosaurs.” From my novel in progress The Autobiography of Don Whiskers: Read more.
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A MEMOIR OF MAGICAL TRAVEL
FROM MY NOVEL IN PROGRESS THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DON WHISKERS. THE COLLEGE DAYS OF SEARCHING FOR MYSTICAL TREASURES . . A RECORDING/READING OVER AT SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/marcus-slease/from-never-mind-the-beasts Read more.
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MAPS (nomadic travel writing)
A very rough draft of some work for my ongoing nomadic travel novel: The Autobiography of Don Whiskers. It will undergo massive collaging and editing later. … Read more.
Never Mind the Beasts 