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Wm. Mark Simmons

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.wmmsimmons.com/

Genre

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror

Member Since

April 2019

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William (Wm.) Mark Simmons was born in 1953 and spent his formative years in Independence, Missouri, the hometown of President Harry S. Truman and fantasy author Jim Butcher.

He has had a varied career as an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, musician, and entertainer.

His first novel, In the Net of Dreams, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award and made Locus Magazine’s “Best List” in 1991. To date he has published seven novels and one novella in the United States with translations in Russia and the Czech Republic. His unique blend of humor and plots that unfold "like an origami sculpture designed by M.C. Escher" have won him the title of “master of twisted humorous fantasy and horror.”

Mark currently resides in the town of Hutchinso ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?

Wm. Mark Simmons Nothing original.

Here's a golden oldie from 1948:

"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door."

It's a short-short story b…moreNothing original.

Here's a golden oldie from 1948:

"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door."

It's a short-short story by Frederick Brown who then goes on to use it as the first two sentences of a short story entitled "Knock." The two sentences are actually boiled down from an extended three-sentence concept by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

There was actually an anthology of stories generated by this two-sentence masterpiece--I believe it was back in 1982 under the title of...The Last Man on Earth. SF and Horror writers were given these two sentences as a springboard to complete the story and the results were quite compelling. However, the original still remains the best.

If you think about it.

The other two-sentence story that I know is not a horror story but a poem by Strickland Gillilam, entitled: "Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes" and goes:

Adam
Had 'em.(less)

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What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Wm. Mark Simmons Well, better late than never...

My late summer reading consisted of slam-dancing through C.T. Phipps' "Supervillainy" series via Audible.

A lot of my r…moreWell, better late than never...

My late summer reading consisted of slam-dancing through C.T. Phipps' "Supervillainy" series via Audible.

A lot of my recent fiction (and non-fiction) is consumed through the Audible app as I'm working on various projects.

I actually went back and restarted a couple of the books as they are deceptively light reads with subtle complexities that you can miss if you're skimming along the surface.

I especially admired the way Phipps creatively mirrored the whole comic book mythos (DC, Marvel, and beyond) within his own worldbuilding and lovingly sent them all up, tropes and all. And, hey: I'm a sucker for giant robots, Nazi scientists, Amazons riding dinosaurs and old sci-fi/fantasy movie serials dropped in a literary blender with a snarky protagonist and lots of self-aware, genre-related introspection.

Aside from all the stuff to love, ya gotta hand it to a man who can come up with alternate names and costumes for nearly a hundred (if not more) copyrighted superheroes (and villains) of every stripe, cape, tights, spandex, and mask! If you haven't read a comic book, don't worry; you'll not be lost. If you are a fan of the genre, prepare to be gobsmacked (in a good way)! (less)

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Wm. Mark Simmons’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 1,440 ratings · 95 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	One Foot in the Grave (The Halflife Chronicles, #1) by Wm. Mark Simmons (Goodreads Author), Bob Eggleton (Illustrator) 3.87 avg rating — 479 ratings — published 1996 — 9 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
	Dead on My Feet (The Halflife Chronicles, Book 2) 3.84 avg rating — 293 ratings — published 2003 — 7 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
	Habeas Corpses (The Halflife Chronicles, Book 3) 3.83 avg rating — 252 ratings — published 2005 — 8 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
	Dead Easy (The Halflife Chronicles, #4) 3.79 avg rating — 204 ratings — published 2007 — 10 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 Dreamland Chronicles 4.21 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2002 — 4 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
	A Witch in Time (5) (Halflife Chronicles) 3.59 avg rating — 49 ratings — 7 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 Woman of His Dreams (The Dreamland Chronicles Book 3) 3.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2002 — 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
	Pathfinder I it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2007	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
	Extracurricular really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2019	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
	Dreamlands 0.00 avg rating — 0 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

More books by Wm. Mark Simmons…

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Wm. Mark Simmons's Blog

per: Simmons

I'm currently working to bring order out of chaos.

For example, I've been without an actual website since SFF.Net closed its doors. But the new website is now up though incomplete and a work still in progress. Bear with me.

Likewise, my Goodreads Author's Page. Another work in progress.

Other projects have me going in multiple directions at the moment and I'm packing (as I write this) to hit the roa Read more of this blog post »

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Published on May 23, 2019 17:30

Series by Wm. Mark Simmons

Halflife Chronicles (4 books)
by

Wm. Mark Simmons (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 1,228 ratings

Quotes by Wm. Mark Simmons (?)

“And do you know what that goal is?"
I went for the most obvious choice: "Creating microburst hypnotropic flash-spam on a global scale?"
"Immortality, Mr. Cséjthe!" he exclaimed.
Oh, too bad . . .
Tell me that you've invented the next big marketing technology of the twenty-first century and you've got my attention. But "Immortality"? Why not throw "World Domination" in and cackle like a demented madman?
Demented madman—now there was a nice redundancy . . .”
― Wm. Mark Simmons, Habeas Corpses

tags: humor

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