Biography
Finn got his start in the early 1990s when he wrote and drew several comic book 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.
Read more about this topic: Mark Finn
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“The best part of a writer’s biography is not the record of his adventures but the story of his style.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West [Cicily Isabel Fairfield] (1892–1983)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)