LibraryThing Author:
Mark A. Rayner

Mark A. Rayner is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

See Mark A. Rayner's author page.

Random books from markarayner's library

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

The Sirens of Titan (S.F.Masterworks) by Kurt Vonnegut

Henry V by William Shakespeare

Mother Night: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut

Theodore Rex (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Edmund Morris

Members with markarayner's books

Member connections

Friends: Alenthony, apash, DavidLouisEdelman, ENCPress, psybre, pyrocow, robkroese, schlimmbesserung, ShelfMonkey, squeakjones

LibraryThing authors: Corey Redekop (ShelfMonkey), Mark A. Rayner (markarayner)

RSS feeds

Recently-added books

markarayner's reviews

Reviews of markarayner's books, not including markarayner's

Member: markarayner

CollectionsYour library (682)

Reviews23 reviews

Tagshumor (3), David B. Lurie (1), speculationist (1), victorian spoof (1), Malcolm Ruddock (1), DNA (1), regression (1), chaos theory (1), John Sloan (1), Freudian mythology (1) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsHumor

About meMark acquired his super-powers on the day he was bitten by a radioactive baboon.

His grandfather had taken him to a petting zoo near Mark's home town of London (the other one, in Canada) and the ten-year old had been delighted to discover that there were monkeys. The only thing that would have made him happier was the presence of pirates, but the pirate petting zoo had been forced out of business earlier that year because of all the hook-related litigation.

Shortly after his mauling by the red-assed, Old World monkey, Mark began to exhibit his new super-powers. First mimicry, then copious hair growth, and finally, the storytelling. All three powers drove his family crazy.

Despite these gifts, he survived the 70s and 80s. (In fact, he is still pleasantly surprised that he was not vaporized in the mid-80s, though he never took the threat of global thermonuclear war personally, despite his encounter with the irradiated primate.)

Since then Mark has explored many storytelling media; the theatre, radio, print, and of course, the web. He's had several plays produced, more than two dozen short stories published, and he has written two novels: THE AMADEUS NET (ENC Press, 2005), and MARVELLOUS HAIRY (Crossing Chaos Enigmatic Ink, 2009).
His own tale is currently set in his hometown of London, Ontario (Canada). He shares a home in Old South with his partner, Heather, and their two furry faux-progeny: Mr. Magoo (handsome heavyweight cat) and Ceilidh (goofy giant white dog). He also works as a freelance writer and web consultant, and he teaches at The University of Western Ontario, in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

Notable Facts:

*Has had at least five different nicknames:

* Little Tank
* Wally Woodcraft
* Destruc-tor!
* EFH (Ewok from Hel)
* The Squire

*Holds a Master's degree (in journalism) from The University of Western Ontario (UWO) and refuses to return it

*Is a typical Gen-Xer; he even lived in Prague for a year

*Kotter-like, has returned to UWO to teach digital imaging, web design and information architecture

*Co-founder and "acting" secretary of The Emily Chesley Reading Circle, dedicated to literary scholarship and Guinness: emilychesley.com

*Member of London, Ontario's "blogging mafia" and proprietor of The Skwib: Skwib.com.