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Mark Leidner

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://markleidner.substack.com

Twitter

markleidner

Genre

Fiction, Poetry, Literature

Member Since

December 2009

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Mark Leidner is a Georgia-born writer of books and movies. He currently lives in California.

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Popular Answered Questions

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Mark Leidner I guess the best thing is the illusion of your imaginative life mattering that it gives you. But like all illusions it eventually shatters and you're …moreI guess the best thing is the illusion of your imaginative life mattering that it gives you. But like all illusions it eventually shatters and you're left with the wreckage of a belief system instead of beliefs. But in that way it's no different than any other profession, occupation, art, or task. You might as well ask "What's the best thing about being?" The best thing about being is the pleasure the illusion of being gives, which is also the worst thing about being, since the withdrawal symptoms once the illusion of being is gone are quite harsh. But if you survive those symptoms, the pleasure of accepting your own insignificance is fairly expansive.(less)

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Mark Leidner "Under the Sea," forthcoming 6/26/18, is a book of short stories, so each story was conceived differently. I got the idea for the first story "Bad-Ass…more"Under the Sea," forthcoming 6/26/18, is a book of short stories, so each story was conceived differently. I got the idea for the first story "Bad-Asses" when at Thanksgiving last year, my father-in-law was telling everyone about growing up in a town where there were "two bad-asses" and they would always be fighting each other. I got the idea for the second story "21 Extremely Bad Breakups" when I was lost and confused and couldn't seem to write any good stories, so I decided to try to write "the worst story possible," i.e., throwing any consideration of coherent plot or character out the window and just having fun with a bunch of absurd breakup scenarios. I got the idea for the third story "Avern-Y6" when I tried to write a novel from an insect's point of view, like "A Bug's Life," but didn't know what I was doing in terms of novel-structure, so I took the best part and made it into a self-contained story. Anyway, there are like 5 more stories, and it would be tedious to describe how they were all inspired, but it's all stuff like that. (less)

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Mark Leidner’s books

Average rating: 4.46 · 1,086 ratings · 159 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Beauty Was the Case That They Gave Me 4.42 avg rating — 371 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Under the Sea 4.30 avg rating — 209 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Returning the Sword to the Stone 4.62 avg rating — 185 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Angel in the Dream of Our Hangover 4.61 avg rating — 131 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night Of 1,000 Murders 4.78 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	21 Extremely Bad Breakups 4.24 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empire 3.90 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2009	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Romantic Comedies 4.73 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Willie 4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Salad on the Wind 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Mark Leidner's Blog

hello mark leidner I do not know if you ever look at this blog but firstly thank you for being a writer and secondly your poem having having a coke with you with you is the reason I memorised having a coke with you because well maybe I want to be loved so

thank you so much for saying this. I'm honored that that poem means so much to you. you are very very very kind

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Mark’s Recent Updates

Mark Leidner answered Alder's question: How are you Mark? I’m doing ok Alder. I haven’t been on Goodreads in a while. It’s strange to be back here, but not unpleasant. Thank you for the question.
Jun 04, 2025 09:25AM · 1 like · like

More of Mark's books…

Quotes by Mark Leidner (?)

“Writing is beautiful, like putting on a gold suit and going to sleep in it.”
― Mark Leidner, The Angel in the Dream of Our Hangover

tags: aphorisms, writing

6 likes

“sometimes there is too much irony all piled up in the barn, and you have to / pitchfork another steaming pile of irony on top of it all, and you have to / pitchfork another, and another, and another / when the world is shit-streaked with irony that is when beauty will emerge / love is irony / purists sure hate farce / but pushing against things is the only possible way to live”
― Mark Leidner

tags: irony, pitchforks, sincerity

5 likes

“Lovers are the coolest their hearts beat the best & they kiss magic as hell”
― Mark Leidner

tags: beat, best, cool, heart, hell, kiss, love, lover, magic

5 likes

See all Mark Leidner's quotes »

Mark’s Quotes

“Writing is beautiful, like putting on a gold suit and going to sleep in it.”
― Mark Leidner, The Angel in the Dream of Our Hangover

tags: aphorisms, writing

6 likes

“Love is the same as being lost,' says Jacques to the dark. 'Except you don't care that you're lost.”
― Jedediah Berry, The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales

16 likes

“The world is unkind to the shoeless and frolicsome.”
― Jedediah Berry, The Manual of Detection

14 likes