My name is Marcus Slease. Some people say sleeze. I am used to that. But really it is s+lease. Like leasing a car and adding an s. I was born in Portadown, N. Ireland. I went to England at age 7 to escape the troubles in N. Ireland. We lived in a homeless shelter for a while in London. Then we lived on a council estate in Milton Keynes. Then we escaped to America under the reign of Thatcher. We moved into a trailer park in Vallejo, CA. We became Mormon. We moved to Las Vegas. I went to high school. I graduated. I went on a Mormon mission. I left the Mormon church halfway through my mission. I came home to a small town in Utah. I had to run away from Utah. I got married. I was 20 and she was 19. I was looking for someplace like Ireland but in America. My newly minted wife and I ran to the northwest. The northwest was green and had rain. I became a hippy. My wife did not. I smoked very good weed. My wife did not. We went to Joe's farm. Joe's farm was organic. I went to graduate school and studied literature. I wrote. I published. It was too rainy. I wanted more oak trees. My wife and I ran away to North Carolina. I was looking for someplace like Ireland but in America. North Carolina had music from N. Ireland. From a long time ago. The people that came a long time were called Ulster Scots. My wife and I listened to the old time music. We discovered whiskey. And rocking chairs. We both spoke more slowly. We liked speaking slowly. We ate ribs. We liked ribs. I grew a very big beard. My wife did not. I got a handcrafted Danish pipe in an attempt to stop smoking cigarettes and smell better. My wife did not. I smoked the pipe. I liked the pipe. But I have smoking fetish. Smoking turns me on. I smoked cigarettes too. My wife got a handcrafted flask with her name on it. She loved whiskey. I did an MFA. The MFA was an ok MFA. It was mainly about community. I liked community. I did lots and lots of writing. I didn't want a big house. My wife wanted a different life. My wife wanted children and a real house. My wife wanted a home but I was nomadic. My wife and I became more and more different. We respected each other. We got a divorce. We were married for ten years. I wanted to travel and write. I didn't want to get stuck in an ivory tower. I wanted more experience. I forgot I already had a ton of experience. I needed more. I traveled the world for seven years. I lived in South Korea, Poland, and Turkey. I traveled to many other places. I wrote and published a few books of poetry. I moved to London. I published more books of poetry. I got a kick ass girlfriend. My kick ass girlfriend is from Poland. We eat Polish food. We hang out in Poland at Christmas. I have been living with my kick ass girlfriend for over two years. I love my kick ass girlfriend.

I recently decided to focus more on fiction. I am working on three books of fiction. Maybe more than three.

One of the books is a fairy tale/ myth. Part of it is being published as a chapbook in March 2013. It is called The House of Zabka. It's a novella set in Zakopane (Poland) with gorale and Carrie and elves. It's not really sci fi though. If it's sci fi it's sci fi like Vonnegut. I like Vonnegut. But it's not really Vonnegut. It's a novella/chapbook. The House of Zabka is both fairy tale and bizarro.

The other is a novel. It takes place in N. Ireland, England, Las Vegas, Ankara (Turkey), Trieste (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), and Katowice (Poland). The main character is called Henry. Henry is a little like me. But also not.

The other is a short story collection. There are many kinds of short stories.

A lot of the fiction is looking for love. I want you to love the fiction. I want to be loved too. I hope someday you will read my fiction. And my poetry too.