Mark A. Rayner's Blog: Mark A. Rayner's Goodreads Blog

There I was, on stage, leading the entire audience and cast in a barn-burning, Christ-crunching rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. It…

The post What is dark comedy and why do we like it so much? appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Mark examines the ideas of perception theory from the perspective of a pirate

The post Pirate Epistemology: Kant fight this feeling appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Mark discusses the rebrand of his newsletter to "Pirate Ontology" and the aesthetic that Diogenes exemplifies for it.

The post Diogenes & the Pirate Ontology Aesthetic appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Just before Christmas, The Toronto Star published a list of their twenty favorite fiction reads of 2025. The Gates of Polished Horn was included! The…

The post Favorite reads of 2025 – my book is on the Toronto Star’s list! appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Let’s start by admitting I was never really any good in my acting class. At university I took an arts degree with a heavy dose…

The post How Acting Class Made Me a Better Writer appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Okay, strap yourself in for a harrowing tale of stage fright. Imagine, gentles, we are back in the author’s undergraduate days, and his required history…

The post Exeunt, Pursued By a Bear: When Stage Fright Bites appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Yay, it’s Victoria Day–a well-deserved long weekend holiday. For those of you who don’t live in Canada, in many provinces we celebrate the birthday of…

The post Ten spurious facts about Victoria Day and the Queen it’s named after appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Is the act of removing myself from Meta’s walled hellscape — deleting Facebook and Instagram — a kind of digital suicide? What will happen when…

The post Leaving Las Metas appeared first on mark a. rayner.

Review Roundup of The Gates of Polished Horn I’m not sure if “hitting people in the feels” was the goal for this collection of short…

The post Hitting People in the Feels appeared first on mark a. rayner.

My new book in the big leagues Well isn’t this lovely. The Toronto Star reviews The Gates of Polished Horn in its roundup of new…

The post The Toronto Star Reviews The Gates of Polished Horn! appeared first on mark a. rayner.