Mark Haber: An Evening of Readings

Mark Haber hosts an evening of readings from his newly published book "Deathbed Conversions".

Summerfolk Press and The Studio@620 invite you to a literary celebration on April 25.  Join author Mark Haber for the debut of his newly published collection of short stories "Deathbed Conversions".  The evening reception begins at 7:00 pm with readings at 7:30 pm followed by a brief book signing opportunity with the author.

Deathbed Conversions

Deathbed Conversions is a collection of fifteen stories that differ in structure and geometry, but share a common approach to humanity’s dilemmas; mainly that they – the dilemmas - are manmade and, oftener than not, courted, invoked and acted upon with relish. Not from hedonism or masochism but because it is sheer human nature to do so. Although dark, these stories celebrate the absurdity of existence and, like Donald Barthelme, do not judge or ridicule, but find in existence the launching pad for invention.

  Like Camus, who famously entered literature “through worship” these stories pay homage to the act and history of writing itself. Faulkner, Kafka, Gabriel Marquez and close to a dozen more authors are invoked in various forms in this collection. The final story, Melville’s Beard, is a meditation on the sacrifice of a life of writing through the absurd (and fictional) crisis of Nathaniel Hawthorne owing Herman Melville fifty dollars. Gabo is a tale of reverence for Gabriel Marquez’s Latin American dictator-patriarch. Many of the stories are playful in a postmodern way but never at the sake of good narrative. Readability is essential and experimentation and playfulness are always approached with its heart on its sleeve.

  If it’s true, if humankind has truly fallen, we can at least laugh at ourselves; with this philosophy humor is truly a form of grace.

Summerfolk Press

Summerfolk Press is an independent publishing house located in Saint Petersburg, Florida.  Founded by Maureen McDole and Gabriel Garling in 2006, Summerfolk Press is home to many exceptionally diverse and prolific writers.