Mark Leyner 2000

December 2001

"Three years ago in Hempstead, N.Y. where I was doing research in low-temperature physics, I had an experience with survey-takers. A couple appeared at my door one evening, with sheafs of questions. The second I let them in, the gentleman flew to the metallic globe I kept on my coffee table. The young lady was sweet and self-effacing and beguiling. But it was ridiculously beautiful the way he brandished the globe above his head as if to whack himself with a how-would-you-like-a-punch-in-the-nose attitude -- his cerebral hemispheres parting like red seas, like masses yearning to be free, revealing down the center of his head, a black-top shuffleboard court with miniature retired people on it."

—From I Smell Esther Williams

This is Mark Leyner 2000, the unofficial Mark Leyner information resource page. Here you will find a canned biography, a bibliography, links to interviews and book reviews, and some other odd things.

Personal note: As a technical writer, I often find myself writing about technological minutiae which only geeks will read and appreciate. Therefore, it's important that my recreational reading include things other than technical documentation and software development references. I always return to Mark Leyner because there's something about his books that just resonates with me. When I read Mark's writing, I often think to myself: "hey, this is something I could do! It's like he wrote this just for me. Mark and I, we are as brethren." Unfortunately, it's when I actually start writing that I realize that I could never do it like Mark does in a million years. And that's okay. I do have other gifts. As a matter of fact I gotz tha mad stoopid skillz, so step the hell back. Word.

Canned bio: Mark Leyner has written two collections of stories, I Smell Esther Williams, and My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist, a novel, Et Tu Babe, a collection of fiction, plays and journalism, Tooth Imprints On A Corn Dog, and a novel/screenplay/film review entitled The Tetherballs of Bougainville (just published in trade paperback by Vintage Contemporaries). Currently a columnist for Esquire and George magazines, Leyner's work has appeared in numerous publications including, The New Yorker, Elle, Spin, The New Republic and Esquire Gentleman. He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey with his wife and daughter.

Here is a list of books by Mark Leyner:

Leyner on the Web:

Check out Wiretap, an original Internet theatre series by Mark Leyner (creator, producer, lead writer, and performer), featuring a tremendously talented cast of players.

Mark's most recent books are published by Vintage Contemporaries, a division of Random House, Inc. Order them directly from Random House.

Real Audio of Mark on NPR's Talk of the Nation program. (You need to have RealPlayer installed on your system. There is a free version available, I recommend that one.)

Interview with Salon Magazine

Wired Transcript. A particularly flippant interview.

Interview with Benjamin Bratton for Speed.

World Historic Rant (introducing Mark Leyner)

Review of Tooth Imprints in Skew

Interview by Alexander Laurence, 1994

Interview with Mark in Mondo 2000

The unofficial Team Leyner site. Another fan site. But hey, any fan of ML is my friend, too!

Mark Leyner parodies Jenny Jones (reprinted without permission)

Reviews of Tetherballs:

  • Boston Phoenix

  • Weeklywire.com

    "Leyner, Mark" search on:   All the Web - AltaVista - Deja - Google - HotBot - Lycos - Northern Light - Yahoo

    Some other crazy links:

    Famous people from Hoboken, NJ

    Muscle Media 2000. Click here to bulk up!

    Steraloids, supplier of over 3,000 steroids and hormones to the scientific community. "If we don't have it in stock, we'll synthesize it!"

    3-D Virtual Colonoscopy

    Dinosaur eggs that hatch in your oatmeal. There's got to be some kind of story in that.

    Bergdorf Goodman, where gentiles with imperfect credit are kidnapped and turned into action figures by rabbis and aliens.

    Triquint: for all your Microwave Gallium Arsenide product needs

    Note to the dedicated: If you want to participate in a wonderful world of absurdity, point your newsreader to alt.non.sequitur. Here, you will be able to peruse the cream of the crop in absolute weirdity, and you will of course have the chance to add your own creations. It's like puttin BBs in yer cherry dumpcake.

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