by Timothy Pike

This month, please join me in welcoming Mark Leslie back to Books & Buzz Magazine! Mark was featured on our cover back in October 2022, and we learned a lot about this award-winning writer and veteran of the book industry, including what inspired his story about a man who wakes up naked in a New York City park.

Fast forward to now, and Mark has just re-released his 2004 short story collection, One Hand Screaming. In our interview, we learn what makes this new, twentieth-anniversary edition so special.

Mark also talks about what draws him so strongly to the macabre, some of his favorite craft beers, and his absolutely brilliant plan to promote his latest release.

Welcome back, Mark! We’re all looking forward to your new book, One Hand Screaming, which is actually a re-release of an old book. What made you decide to bring out a new edition?

When I realized that I was coming up upon the twentieth anniversary of the release of my first book, I knew I couldn’t just let it go by without some sort of acknowledgement. And, considering how significant that first book was to me, it was important that I make it extremely special.

Since the first 2004 edition of the book was a bit of a celebration of my years of having short stories published in various small press horror magazines, I wanted this updated and expanded edition to contain even more reflections on the past twenty years for me as a writer.

What does this new edition offer that the original didn’t?

This new and expanded edition contains twenty-six additional stories and poems that don’t appear in the original version. In addition, eleven of those pieces have never been published before.

The updated edition also contains new and revised author’s behind-the-story details along with a special short introductory note to preface each piece.

You’re even launching a new beer! You’ve partnered with a craft brewery to create “One Hop Screaming,” a limited-edition IPA, to commemorate the release of your book. How did this partnership come about?

I’ve long been a fan of craft beer. And one of my long-term dreams has been to have my very own beer. I looked at the various breweries whose beers I’ve enjoyed over the years and wanted to select a brewery that I not only enjoyed, but who had a history of community-based collaborations. Counterpoint Brewing in Kitchener was one of those breweries on my list.

Earlier in 2024, I sat down with Graeme, the owner and brewmaster at Counterpoint, to discuss the idea. He liked the idea, and so we discussed some of my favorite beers that Counterpoint has created over the years. One of the conditions was, given the name (a riff on my book’s title), it needed to be a single-hop beer. And it also needed to offer a strong and powerful flavor. Both of those elements would align with the idea of “One Hop Screaming.”

We landed on a recipe, and then began planning this collaboration beer in order to sync up with the book’s release on October 1, 2024.

I’ve always been afraid of the dark, of the monster under my bed, and curious about the things that go bump in the night. My writing tends to constantly peek into those dark corners.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I think I’ve known of my desire to be a writer from about the time I was thirteen years old. I’d long been fascinated with the idea of telling stories, and wanting to share my own tales with the rest of the world. At first I thought it might be via cartoons—or, more accurately, the stick-figure cartoons I was capable of drawing. But I quickly realized that I loved words and was writing out my stories in longhand, and also typing them up. From that point forward, I never looked back.

What is it that draws you to the macabre?

I’ve always loved to explore the darker side of “what if.” But more than that, I’ve always been afraid of the dark, of the monster under my bed, and curious about the things that go bump in the night. My writing tends to constantly peek into those dark corners, to speculate not only about what might be hiding or lurking in those shadows, but also to explore how different characters might react to facing the darkness that steps out of those murky shadows and into their lives. Others might suggest that writing about the scary things is a type of therapy to help me with my own fears and anxieties about the world.

You’ve been in the book industry for decades. What are your current roles?

I’m currently writing part-time and also working part-time as a book industry consultant for my company, Stark Publishing. I consult for Draft2Digital, the world’s largest and most successful digital publishing platform that offers free tools to authors for use in their own self-publishing goals. In addition to consulting for them in the role of Director of Business Development, I work one-on-one with various authors and publishers to assist them in their writing and publishing goals. I also release a weekly podcast called Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing. I’m in the seventh year of this weekly podcast, and I am just under 400 episodes in this journey of trying to help writers understand the pros and cons of various options that lie before them on their own author journeys.

Okay, back to craft beer. What are a few of your favorites?

Ah, you see, that’s a bit of a trick question. Or, at least, a trick answer. I love trying different beers. I’ve been tracking the new beers I’ve had since about 2013 on the Untappd app. As of the writing of this answer, in mid-October 2024, I’ve checked in 7,156 unique beers. And while I tend to lean toward IPAs as a favorite style of beer (One Hop Screaming is a hazy bitter IPA, after all), my favorite beer is that next beer that I haven’t yet tried.

Mark Leslie is still afraid of the monster under his bed, and no amount of bright daylight reason is ever going to dispel those fears. But so long as he can draw upon those inner demons, he’ll likely always have something to write about. When not writing or involved in book industry adventures, Mark can be found with his nose stuck in a book, enjoying craft beer, sharing musical earworms and dad jokes, and wandering, awestruck, through bookstores and libraries.

Learn more about Mark at his website, and find his books here. Be sure to connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, and X.