I’m a writer. If you’d enjoy a great LGBTQ+ sci-fi (with romantic comic elements), you’ll enjoy my novel Parallel Lines. (Click here for details and sample chapters.) I’ve written about a dozen non-fiction books, on topics like creative uses for Tarot cards, divination with the I-Ching, and lucid dreaming. I’ve also designed about a dozen Tarot decks published by Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo. Oh — and I’m also the writer of about 300 corporate video scripts produced between 1990 and 2020. My whole life’s work revolves around telling great stories!
I spend a lot of time making notes. Two pieces of software have revolutionized the way I research, think, and write: Obsidian (an application that connects and finds relationships among the notes you take) and Ulysses (which is, hands-down, the best tool for writing novels). I’m a well-known presence in online communities where people discuss what we can achieve using these powerful tools, and I like sharing what I discover while using them.
Fun Facts: I’m a former minister who escaped evangelical fundamentalism. I love science fiction (especially Kim Stanley Robinson, James S.A. Corey, Lu Cixin, and Haruki Murakami). I’m a world traveler (46 countries, 39 of the United States). I love hearing from readers. I enjoy meeting for coffee. I miss living in a big city. I could eat pizza every meal.
About Me
After escaping my home town of Anniston, Alabama, in a rainbow-hued balloon, I was kidnapped by post-modern minimalists at the prestigious Center for Writers (University of Southern Mississippi), where I earned an MA in creative writing. During that time, I designed and taught in the nation’s first computer-aided collaborative writing classroom, earned my first writer’s paycheck with a wince-worthy comic book script, and began coming to terms with the fact that, despite having been groomed as a fundamentalist minister, I was definitely gay.
Since then, I’ve authored more than a dozen non-fiction books on subjects from Apple Computers (101 Reasons to Switch to the Mac, from Que Books) to lucid dreaming (Lucid Dreaming for Beginners, for Llewellyn Publications). I’ve also designed and scripted more than a dozen Tarot decks for publishers in the US (Llewellyn) and Italy (Lo Scarabeo).
Back in 2000, I was the first NaNoWriMo novelist to draft a novel live, online while the world watched. Over the past three decades, to keep the lights on and feed my hungry babies, I worked for big organizations (SkyTel/WorldCom and the Federal Reserve Bank) writing more than 300 corporate video scripts designed to explain complex ideas (like “benefits cliffs” and “red lining”) to people would rather spend weekends in the park than study text messaging protocols or debate the merits of quantitative easing.
I live a quiet and happy life with Clyde (my husband for thirty-one years) and our two rescue dogs, Sunny Day and Windy Day. We’re an openly gay couple in rural Mississippi — which can be, depending on the day, challenging or charming. We’re lucky to have found a church focused on serving its community, sharing God’s grace, and truly welcoming all at New Albany United Methodist Church.
My conscience and ethics led me to abandon X/Twitter. But I post often on Mastodon: @markmcelroy@pkm.social and you can see my personal photo stream on Instagram. I love it when readers drop me a line at mark@markmcelroy.com!
Mastodon