Patrick Marcus

As an Ithaca High School student, it was only natural to have friends with Cornell professors for parents. My father taught English Literature (actually mostly Irish), and my girlfriend's father was an Entomologist. Perhaps, if he'd been an Etymologist, they'd have bugged us to meet. In the Finnegans Wake of my refusal to read any books without the word "Gor," in the title, I was politely left off my father's classroom guest list.

Left on the spindle like so much sheep fur, Mr. Thibodeaux, my highschool creative writing teacher, was the one to weave a future for me: "At Marlboro College, surrounded by the Green Mountains of Vermont, I can see you sipping sherry and talking about great books around a well stoked fire." At the time, I was pretty sure he had the wrong guy. I thought sherry was made by Shasta Cola. And mountains were meant for skiing, where discourse is measured in hoots and hollers. And fire...don't get me started on fire.

As it turns out, my journey into classic literature was finally kicked off - even as I was kicked off campus - and forced to make the slow trek to The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. There, in the company of a wonderful poet, Helen the fetching Lebanese girl, I found a great mentor in Professor John Erikson. He liked black leather jackets and screaming at classrooms of students uniformly disengaged from, "To the Lighthouse." More importantly, he liked me. When he wasn't uttering "mea culpas," over some draft of endless drafts, I was given to push his way, he was a friend to my insights.

I miss you, John. I wouldn't have finished my BA in English Lit. without you. And I wouldn't have learned to care.

As my children got older, and I encouraged them to be brave creatives, I found myself writing more and more. I started with the book version of Little Red War Gods. Then I progressed to screenplays. Because I enjoy collaborating, I brought in industry writers to help with my stories and formatting. It's easy for me to share credit, even preferable. And so, my writing grew in quality. Quality, coupled with my creative process, leads me to write unique stories which remain accessible to broad audiences. If you work with me, you'll find someone who is kind, generous, and responsive.