marc simon

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I began my literary career at an early age, as I was first published—on my first submission, no less—when I was eight years old. I was a TV fanatic and I always read the television section of The Pittsburgh Press to find out what was going to be on that night. One day in the “Best Bets” section the editor recommended a pirate movie called Swords of the Seven Seas. I loved pirate movies—what kid didn’t?  The description went on to say it was “nothing but sea-going swill, with more swash than buckle.” 

I was confused. So I wrote to the editor, saying, how could a movie that was nothing but seagoing swill—and I knew what the word swill meant, I looked it up—be a “best bet”? (At the time, I didn’t get the implication of the “more swash than buckle” comment.) Two days later the TV editor published my letter with a response, saying, “Marc, I guess Swords of the Seven Seas was the best sea-going swill they had on that night.” 

I wasn’t published again until forty years later.

Since then, my short fiction has appeared in several literary magazines, including The Wilderness House Review, Flashquake, Poetica Magazine, The Writing Disorder, Jewish Fiction.net, Slush Pile Magazine, Everyday Fiction, The Adelaide Literary Review, Burningword Literary Magazine, Microfiction Monday Magazine and most recently, Ginosko Literary Journal. My one-act plays have been winners in New Works competitions in the Etc. Readers Theater, Naples Florida, The Hand -to-Mouth Players Playwrights/Directors Workshop in Westchester, New York, and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. My debut novel, The Leap Year Boy was published in December, 2012.

I invite you to explore my website, and I would love to hear from you.

Marc

“I’ve been a fan of Marc Simon for years.  His vision is always unique, clever and refreshing.”
--Michael Shiavone, author, Call Me When You Land

“The true beauty of The Leap Year Boy is its ability to reawaken our better sense of wonder, of possibility. This is why Marc Simon is such an epic storyteller.”
--Stace Budzko, Professor/Writer, University of California/Berkeley