Biography

It would be a fiction-ready anecdote to say I was born fighting my way into this life. There’s inherent drama—the stuff of memoirs—in an against-the-odds comeback, the underdog defying his fate, the counted out battling back to find the impossible means to claw his way into life.

My birth was less dramatic, though. I resisted my entry into this world, holding on and holding back until my tiny, pain-addled mother told me, “Marvin Conley Brown, it’s time to face life.”

Who knows why some of us are born charging out the gate, while others, we introverts, hang back, tentative in most ways, not quite ready to use our voices.

I was born in Akron, Ohio, on April 22, 1968. My parents are John and Thressa Brown. My brother John Jr. was born three years later. I attended Ellet High School in Akron, and went on the graduate from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. I received degrees in journalism and English.

After school I worked briefly at the Akron Beacon Journal and later at the Medina Gazette in Medina, Ohio, where I ultimately became city editor. Later, I was a copy editor and videographer at Crain’s Plastics News. In addition to fiction writing, I am a associate editor/designer for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing in Independence, Ohio. Along the way I’ve been involved in every aspect of writing: as a freelancer, a technical writer, a newspaper intern, a reporter, a copy editor, an editor and a fiction writer with self-published and traditionally published works. I have been honored for various writings, including news stories, features and fiction.

I published my novel Covet in 2002, and my second, Jigsaw Man, in 2012. My first nonfiction work, The House the Lord Built, was published in 2015. I contribute essays and short stories to literary magazine Insomnia & Obsession, and my film reviews are available through the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) as well as collected on this website. A collection of short stories and a new novel are on the way.

Marvin at a book signing (Photo courtesy of Melinda Brown)

In 2005, I married the beautiful Melinda Haynes, and today we have two exceptional daughters.

My personal aim as an author is to live up to the standards of writing I long ago set for myself. I’ve always had a vivid imagination in terms of storytelling, but thankfully I learned early on that imagination can be stifled or enhanced by one’s writing ability—what I call word work. My goal from then on was to make sure my writing skills were up to speed with my imagination.

Some of us start out slow, enter this race reluctantly and unsteadily, but we all find our footing after awhile. I found my voice when I began to read, and raised it when I began to write.

It’s my hope you get a sense of my life and my writing through this website. Also, stop by the Bloghouse to see what I’m up to and feel free to comment.

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