Latest News:June 20, 2021: Website updated and revised.   
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The inspiration for this came from Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations for Wilde’s play, Salome, specifically the Dance of the Seven Veils drawing. I even copped Beardsley’s icon signature. Any resemblance between this character and Gene Simmons from Kiss is entirely coincidental. And to any boomers out there wondering, yes, he is indeed playing a scorching, white hot version of Smoke On The Water.
 I got a new fine point pen and went somewhat nuts with it last night. Unfortunately the image is just slightly too big for the scanner.
 Clad in the invulnerable Nemean lion skin, Herakles closes with his foe to deliver a killing blow. Another tip of the old Corinthian war helmet to Eric Lundquist for providing the model.
 Also known as the Bird-Monster of Nineveh (a distant ancestor of the Birdman of Alcatraz). Note, true believers, how Melkart the Mighty approaches the fearsome, glad handing beast with his usual cool, calm, and collected manner. A big tip of the hat to Mr. E. Lundquist for providing the model for the Phoenician Powerhouse. ‘Nuff said.
For purposes of comparison, this is the model that I used for the drawing:
Or Happy Lunar New Year!
Good news! Swamp Rat, my bleak, dystopian tale of a future Florida where convicts are forced to hunt giant, mutated, savage crocodiles has been accepted by Editor Nicole e. Castle for publication in the Spring ’22 issue of Ghostlight, an annual magazine published by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers.
Ghostlight specializes in horror in all its guises, particularly for adult audiences and is open to most settings and themes, from historical, modern, supernatural, and even the future. Swamp Rat definitely fits within the science fiction horror slot. Like much of my fiction, my SF does tend toward the dismal side.
I’ll post a further update when the issue’s out. In the meantime, fear the future since you can’t avoid it!
http://glahw.com/ghostlight-the-magazine-of-terror/
https://www.facebook.com/ghostlightmagazine/
https://www.amazon.com/Ghostlight-Magazine-Terror-Association-Writers/dp/1539616282
So we went to Baltimore after Xmas and before NYE and guess what? The town was dead. Dullsville. No action. So what else could we do except go to the cemetery?
This is the memorial obelisk of Junius Brutus Booth, a renowned Shakespearean actor in his day, more well known now as the father of John Wilkes Booth.
 The nearby low headstone is supposed to mark the grave of the traitor and assassin John Wilkes Booth. Both graves can be found in Greenmount Cemetery, well outside downtown, the first garden cemetery to be built in the US.
 The tomb of Edgar Allan Poe, a fellow UVA alumnus and a great literary inspiration to me. Poe’s buried in the yard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Baltimore, very close to the Poe Museum. Other members of the Poe family are buried there as well.
Dig it, true believers! The latest tale of the Towering Tyrian, Melkart And The Mithras Miracle, is out in Book 6 of Savage Realms Monthly. This is especially apt since it’s in time for the Immortal Sun’s birthday (25 DEC).
Savage Realms is a fresh new magazine publishing old school hack n’ slash stories that harken back to the masters of the sword and sorcery genre. If you long to return to the days of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, look no further. This is the magazine you’ve waited for. In this story, Melkart intervenes to protect nomadic herders from a giant bull’s ravages, inflicted upon the tribespeople by an evil god.
Reader reviews have been favorable:
“Melkart displays humility and bravery in fighting a creature from Hades.”
“Lehman and Mellon both told memorable, sword wielding tales with characters I wouldn’t mind reappearances from. Good stuff.”
“Melkart and the Mithras Miracle” by Mark Mellon 5/5”
Just the sort of encouragement I can use. Ask yourself, true believer, can anything stop Melkart the Mighty? I sure hope not for my own sake.
http://www.literaryrebel.com/savage-submissions/
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Realms-Monthly-collection-adventure-ebook/dp/B09FFLVJ5G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58939384-savage-realms-monthly?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=y05uzSHUKC&rank=11
I’m getting into the holiday spirit (some holiday, take your pick) with my portrait of Ahura Mazda, the old god of light himself. In other words, at the risk of seeming sentimental and a little in advance of the date, I just want to wish you all a Hairy Mithras AND an Ahura Mazda!
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