Mark Finn
Encyclopedia
Mark Finn is the pseudonym
of Mark Farr-Nash, a science fiction
and fantasy
writer, essayist, and playwright. In 2007 he was nominated for World Fantasy Special Award: Professional
.
stories for Absolute Comics, notably the “Punk” series he created with William Traxtle and Shane Campos. He left comics in the mid-90’s to concentrate on fiction writing. Ironically, he wrote a number of essays and articles for Playboy
’s online website before establishing his own weekly self-distributed column, “Finn’s Wake.”
After a brief stint in California
, Finn returned to Texas and in the late 1990s formed Clockwork Storybook
with fellow writers Chris Roberson
, Matthew Sturges
, and Bill Willingham
. Their monthly shared world anthology of urban fantasy
centered around the fictitious city of San Cibola, California, and the magical inhabitants that lived side-by-side with the normal citizens. From this collective, Finn published the novels Gods New & Used and Year of the Hare, the first collection of stories revolving around Sam Bowen. Finn later became a contributing editor for RevolutionSF.com and wrote a number of articles and reviews to the website.
Finn is the creative director for the Violet Crown Radio Players, an audio theater troupe based in Austin, Texas
. He has written several original scripts to critical acclaim and also adapted novels and short stories to an old time radio format, most notably “The Adventures of Sailor Steve Costigan
” and “King Kong
”.
Most recently, Finn has turned his attention to Robert E. Howard
studies and is now considered to be a scholar in the field. His biography of Howard, Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard
(Monkeybrain, Inc.
), was released in November 2006 at the World Fantasy Convention
and was a finalist for the 2007 Locus
Awards for Best Non-Fiction. For his work on Blood & Thunder, Finn was nominated for the 2007 World Fantasy Award
in the Special Award Professional
category. Finn won the 2005 Cimmerian Awards for Outstanding Achievement, Best Essay (for “Fists of Robert E. Howard” from The Barbaric Triumph), and the Emerging Scholar plus the 2007 Awards for Outstanding Achievement, Book By A Single Author (for Blood & Thunder) and Outstanding Achievement, Website (along with Leo Grin, Rob Roehm and Steve Tompkins
for The Cimmerian blog). He currently lives in Vernon
, Texas
with his wife, Cathy Day, where they manage the Vernon Plaza Theatre
where he is occasionally seen running around in an ape mask.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Mark Farr-Nash, a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer, essayist, and playwright. In 2007 he was nominated for World Fantasy Special Award: Professional
World Fantasy Special Award: Professional
This World Fantasy Award is presented to individuals for their outstanding professional work in the fantasy field, and voted by a panel of judges at the World Fantasy Convention....
.
Biography
Finn got his start in the early 1990s when he wrote and drew several comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
stories for Absolute Comics, notably the “Punk” series he created with William Traxtle and Shane Campos. He left comics in the mid-90’s to concentrate on fiction writing. Ironically, he wrote a number of essays and articles for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
’s online website before establishing his own weekly self-distributed column, “Finn’s Wake.”
After a brief stint in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Finn returned to Texas and in the late 1990s formed Clockwork Storybook
Clockwork Storybook
Clockwork Storybook was a writer's collective and independent book publisher based in Austin, Texas. It specialized in the fantasy, horror and adventure genres.-History:...
with fellow writers Chris Roberson
Chris Roberson (author)
Chris Roberson is a science fiction author, tromboner, and publisher based in Austin, Texas, best known for alternate history novels and short stories.-Biography:Chris Roberson grew up near Dallas, Texas, and attended the University of Texas, Austin...
, Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels.-Biography:Sturges is best known for the Eisner-award nominated Jack of Fables from DC/Vertigo...
, and Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
. Their monthly shared world anthology of urban fantasy
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
centered around the fictitious city of San Cibola, California, and the magical inhabitants that lived side-by-side with the normal citizens. From this collective, Finn published the novels Gods New & Used and Year of the Hare, the first collection of stories revolving around Sam Bowen. Finn later became a contributing editor for RevolutionSF.com and wrote a number of articles and reviews to the website.
Finn is the creative director for the Violet Crown Radio Players, an audio theater troupe based in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. He has written several original scripts to critical acclaim and also adapted novels and short stories to an old time radio format, most notably “The Adventures of Sailor Steve Costigan
Sailor Steve Costigan
Sailor Steve Costigan is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. He is a merchant sailor on the Sea Girl and is also its champion boxer...
” and “King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
”.
Most recently, Finn has turned his attention to Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
studies and is now considered to be a scholar in the field. His biography of Howard, Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard
Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard
Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard is a biography of the writer Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn, first published in November 2006 by MonkeyBrain Books. It includes an introduction by suspense writer Joe R...
(Monkeybrain, Inc.
MonkeyBrain Books
MonkeyBrain Books is an independent American publishing house based in Austin, Texas, specialising in books comprising both new content and reprinting online, international or out-of-print content, which show "an academic interest," but which "reach a popular audience as well."-A brief history of...
), was released in November 2006 at the World Fantasy Convention
World Fantasy Convention
The World Fantasy Convention is an annual convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy. It places emphasis on literature and art, while de-emphasizing dramatic presentation, gaming, masquerade, and the like. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the...
and was a finalist for the 2007 Locus
Locus (magazine)
Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...
Awards for Best Non-Fiction. For his work on Blood & Thunder, Finn was nominated for the 2007 World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
in the Special Award Professional
World Fantasy Special Award: Professional
This World Fantasy Award is presented to individuals for their outstanding professional work in the fantasy field, and voted by a panel of judges at the World Fantasy Convention....
category. Finn won the 2005 Cimmerian Awards for Outstanding Achievement, Best Essay (for “Fists of Robert E. Howard” from The Barbaric Triumph), and the Emerging Scholar plus the 2007 Awards for Outstanding Achievement, Book By A Single Author (for Blood & Thunder) and Outstanding Achievement, Website (along with Leo Grin, Rob Roehm and Steve Tompkins
Steve Tompkins
Steve Tompkins is an American television writer. He attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon; he graduated in 1988. He has worked on such television shows such as The Critic, In Living Color, Entourage, Bernie Mac and The Knights of Prosperity...
for The Cimmerian blog). He currently lives in Vernon
Vernon, Texas
Vernon is a city in Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 11,660; it was 11,077 in the 2005 census estimate. Vernon is the county seat of Wilbarger County....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
with his wife, Cathy Day, where they manage the Vernon Plaza Theatre
Vernon Plaza Theatre
The Vernon Plaza Theatre, located in Vernon, Texas, first opened in 1953 as a state-of-the-art fully, modern movie house and was the first theater in Texas built to show 3-D movies. Constructed atop the ruins of the Vernon Opera House, the movie house has had several owners and in recent years...
where he is occasionally seen running around in an ape mask.
Partial bibliography
- "HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
With a Dick" - RevolutionSF, 2001 - Gods New & Used - Clockwork Storybook, 2001 (ISBN 0-9704841-1-9)
- Year of the Hare - Clockwork Storybook, 2002 (ISBN 0-9704841-5-1)
- "Diary of a Dinopunk" - RevolutionSF, December 2002
- "The Transformation of Lawrence Croft" - RevolutionSF, (serialized) 2003
- "Fists of Robert E. Howard" (essay) - The Barbaric Triumph, Wildside PressWildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
, 2004 (ISBN 0-8095156-7-9) - “Bare Knuckles & Bulldogs”, (intro) - Waterfront Fists: The Complete Fight Stories of Robert E. Howard, Wildside Press, 2004. (ISBN 0-809511-24-X)
- "Something About Harry" - Projections: Science Fiction in Literature and Film , Monkeybrain, Inc., 2004 (ISBN 1-932265-12-0)
- "Robert E. Howard" (an interview with Rusty Burke) - Conversations with Texas Writers, - University of Texas PressUniversity of Texas PressThe University of Texas Press is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texana, anthropology, U.S...
, 2005. (ISBN 0-292-70614-6) - "Robert E. Howard: Lone Star Fantasist" - Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter and Other Stories, Dark Horse BooksDark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, 2005 (ISBN 1-59307-301-1) - "The Chronicler of ConanConan the BarbarianConan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
: Robert E. Howard On His Most Famous Creation" - Conan: The God In the Bowl and Other Stories, Dark Horse Books, 2005 (ISBN 1-59307-403-4) - "The Bridge of Teeth" - Adventure, Volume 1, Monkeybrain, Inc., 2005 (honorable mention in Gardner DozoisGardner DozoisGardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
’ Year’s Best Science Fiction) (ISBN 1-932265-13-9) - “A Whim of Circumstance” - Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard, Monkeybrain, Inc., 2006 (ISBN 1932265-22-8)
- Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. HowardBlood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. HowardBlood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard is a biography of the writer Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn, first published in November 2006 by MonkeyBrain Books. It includes an introduction by suspense writer Joe R...
, Monkeybrain, Inc., 2006 (ISBN 1-932265-21-X)
External links
- Finn's Wake blog
- Publisher's page for Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard
- Baker's Dozen with Mark Finn
- Violet Crown Radio Players
- "Hemingway With a Dick"
- "Diary of a Dinopunk"
- "The Transformation of Lawrence Croft"
- Vernon Plaza Theatre home page
- "Interview with Mark Finn"
- "Mark Finn as guest host on Chicken Fried Radio"