Mark Fleming

Mark Fleming was born in 1962 and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. His debut novel, BrainBomb, was published in 2009 and a short-story anthology, Bedlam, in 2010 (both chipmunka publishing). His website also contains blogs and reviews (www.markfleming.weebly.com).

He has previously been published in The Big Issue, The Leither, Shorts, pulp.net, laurahird.com and the Picador Book of Contemporary Scottish Fiction.

"In BrainBomb the bipolar protagonist ends up in psychiatric hospital. It's semi-autobiographical but it's not just about illness. It's as much a coming of age tale. There are graphic descriptions of casual sex, binge-drinking, pogoing to The Clash and chilling out to The Stone Roses! There are also fantasy sequences with historic settings. Medieval combat. The Spanish Civil War. These reflect the severe insomnia I suffered during episodes of depression - my vivid imagination did its share of bizarre wandering! BrainBomb covers many bases, despair to hope.

Bedlam features a cross-section of the people behind that statistic (25% of the population will experience mental ill-health at some point). The 13 stories have diverse settings, from care homes to clubs. But, again, the main focus is the characters, not any medical condition. Bedlam is about normal people trying to cope". Mark Fleming