Bio

I (Marianne Hess aka Hary Mess) am a writer of humor, science-fiction and MG/YA. My humor has appeared on a number of websites, including McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Rumpus: Funny Women Section, The Big Jewel, Opium, and Defenestration. I’m currently revising a YA science-fiction manuscript, with the goal of publishing it and other novels.

My humor tends to have a dark edge (beheadings, plagues, lots of death). I also love to write farce and parody. My work usually falls somewhere between low and high-brow, with a mix of wordplay and slapstick. Aside from this bio, I rarely write about myself. I prefer to write fictional humor, based in other times and places. However, plot isn’t my goal; in comedy, I prefer nonsense over sense. I’ll ramble in any direction if there’s a chance it could be funny.

In my science-fiction, I like to take very realistic, flawed characters to fantastical places, especially outer space. I also can’t pass up (reading or writing) a good end-of-the-world story. I’m not a fan of blow-up action sequences, particularly if they’re not balanced by character. Internal struggles are the most interesting to me, even if the characters are dealing with serious external problems, like alien microbes eating their brains. I want to know what’s going on inside a person’s head while it’s being devoured, not watch from the outside. So, I guess my taste here can be summed up as follows: inner turmoil in outer space.

My MG and YA writing tends to fall into those two main categories: humor and science-fiction. I’m also experimenting with a MG western for fun.

If you wish to contact me, write to [myname]* at yahoo . com

Thank you for stopping by!

*My real name, not Hary Mess