Mark Binmore

Mark divides his time between his homes in London, Paris and Beziers, France where he owns and co-runs Maison De L’Orb. 

In 2010 Mark released his first short story collection, Even When Tonight Is Over, with the follow up, The Hair Of The Hound, released in 2011. Both editions are available via Amazon Kindle and paperback.

In 2013 Mark completed his semi-fictional biography novel, In Search Of The Fabulous People, which was a strictly limited edition. He also signed an exclusive publishing contract with Kindlight.

A second collection of poems, Hounds Of Winter, was also released via Amazon Kindle and paperback in September 2013. A visual and spoken version will be available later in 2014. February 2014 saw the publication of Jig Of Life which was published the following month in USA and Canada retitled as The J.
In April 2014 Mark released Soon Before The Sun as a free download via ISSUU as a thank you for the response he has received from his publications. Mark's first full length novel, Now Is Not The Time For Trumpets will be published September 2014, with a fictional memoir, A Life Of Parties, set for publication in 2015. 

November 2014 will see the second part to his winter collection, Ember Asleep, which is a follow on from last year's Hounds Of Winter book. There will be a spoken word and instrumental music CD as well as special winter art prints to accompany this limited release. 

Even When Tonight Is Over

Short Stories, Non-Fiction

Originally published in 2010 with a second reprint in 2013, this new 2014 edition comes with a brand new artwork but the same original stories.

Even When Tonight Is Over is a collection of short stories written over the years.  The stories deal with life, death, love and passion but each with their own hidden meaning which may mean something different for the individual reader. The energy of lust is described in L’Amour Looks Something, while passion hidden behind a mask is discovered in Lord Of The Reedy River. The book starts with Another Day, the birth of love and completes its journey with Nocturne, a time to let go.

The lake is frozen and the landscape is covered in snow.  Church bells peel in the distance.  Tress once covered in blossom and leaves now stand bare, desolate, and fragile.  Their naked braches reaching out for a glimpse of the sun, winter sun, hoping and dreaming of days when the sun climbs high into sky with his warmth and light beaming down.  The air is still, there is silence.  It is December.  

The Hair Of The Hound 

Prose

Originally published in 2011 with a second reprint in 2013, this new 2014 edition comes with a brand new artwork but the same original prose

The Hair Of The Hound is a collection of poetry written through the years.  There is no general theme although shades of spring and summer shimmer through some of the selected pieces.  

Crisp white linen bed sheets are the canvas for my dreams
I'd lay awake and wonder what tomorrow brings
The sweet-oil lanterns flickered painting dancers on the wall
The darker shades of evening are some things that I recall
Wafting from the kitchen was the smell of sassafras
It mingled with the redolence of fresh-mown dew soaked grass
I know those days are over, but the memory is so clear
The love and the hair of the hound are things I hold dear

Hounds Of Winter

Prose

Originally published in 2013, this new 2014 edition comes with a brand new artwork but the same original prose. 

Hounds Of Winter was intended as a follow up to The Hair Of The Hound, a collection of poetry written through the years with a general theme of winter.  Some of the pieces were written with music in mind and set to an imaginary score of falling snow. There is a sense of autumn, fog, Christmas, witches, footprints in the snow and the return of a drowned mother – a darker side to winter.

The night falls, and it is there
It reigns over the whole sky
It will watch us with kindness illuminating the evening
It will watch us with its brightness illuminating the dark sky
The moon will not be awake
It will flee
The moon will vanish
Darkness goes, already day is made
Night whispers goodbye

Jig Of Life

Short Stories, Non-Fiction 

Originally published in early 2014 with an American edition published as The J, this new edition comes with a brand new artwork but the same original stories.  Jig Of Life is a collection of short tales, which could, given time, be expanded into longer stories.  These are tales of love, of life, of death and sacrifice…but most of all, love. This book is for the living yet has been inspired by friends from the past.

I walked around the now empty hospital room proclaiming repeatedly in my head, "do not lose control do not lose control do not lose control." Even in the death of another, one cannot help but think of himself. It hurt and I vowed to never hurt again. The psychiatrist provided more gossip for the nurses of the hospital as he made his third visit in two days.  This visit was a little less social as he focused his eyes on a Styrofoam cup, "the second attempt," he mumbled, "was a success."

Soon Before The Sun

Prose

Originally published in 2014 as a digital only edition, this new edition comes with a brand new artwork but the same original prose.  It was published as a thank you to the response to previous books.  There is a general theme of summer seen through the eyes of a child, a man and a lover.

A shimmer of classical dread
Bearing the pressure of the sunlight’s dew.
Every slender ray of light makes the tears shed
Every horizon and every raindrop is new
A dressing of morning clouds

Slides a hand over the soul
Created paintings among the golden ground
Cast value throughout the land

Breaking the toll
The sky is drowning in a haze of bliss

Now Is Not The Time For Trumpets

Full length debut novel, a fictionalized retrospective, part interview, part biographical about unreal people set in a real world.

Stephen Wallingford died intestate in 1990, aged 86, and has in recent times become a cult figure. He appears in numerous biographies about the 1920s and 1930s and was the model and inspiration for the 1938 dramatic novel by George Headland Those Beautiful, Beautiful People. In his early youth he entertained his friends at his family home of Arches and it was here he lived for many years until his death. He was photographed by many of the greatest artistes of his time and become one of the typical images of 1920s and 1930s "beautiful" young people. He would be seen with painted lips, powder on his face and gold dust sprinkled through his hair. But putting aside all the endless parties and various love affairs, Stephen was actually a very lonely man. Disowned later in life by his two sisters he survived on the friendships of few people including his mother and socialite and fellow writer Agatha Dewsbury. He sought freedom and expression in his writings and published works which are all still in print today. Later in life he became a former shadow of himself, a recluse, obese, redecorating Arches with fishnets, pink satin and golden conch shells. His hair was long and dyed mauve, he wore kaftans and many gilded bangles. He became an embarrassment to the few surviving friends he had left and was cut off from his remaining family, so in retaliation and defiance, he decided to shut himself away from the real world and write his memoirs, which were never published in his lifetime. But there is one small problem. Stephen Wallingford did not exist, nor did any of his contemporaries featured in this book, for the brutal reason that he was never born. The stories are fake and the news never happened...

TBR - 1 September 2014 
Please share