A debut collection of sleepless poetic meditation marks a new direction for Stoke author and journalist, Mark Cantrell.

Deus Ex Insomnia, Poetry & A Little Prose, £5.95, published by Lulu, presents 80 of his poems, together with four creative essays ‘exploring the delights and mysteries of the literary process’.

He has self-published a couple of chapbooks in the past, but this perfect-bound publication is his first ‘leap of faith’ into the realms of full-blown poetry publishing.

Mark, no longer an insomniac writer himself, says that he has a reputation for dark writing among his friends and associates in the Bradford literary scene.

This is certainly reflected within Deus Ex Insomnia, but there’s plenty of scope in the book for fun and humour too.
He cut his poetic teeth with the Interchange (Bradford Writers’ Network), and regularly took part in the group’s open mic performance events.

It was listening to other poets that finally inspired him to expand his literary efforts from fiction to poetry.
Inevitably, this affects the way he puts his poems together.
‘My poetry is written to be read out loud, since this is how I came to it, listening to fellow poets reading, performing, their words out loud,’ he says.

‘So, Deus Ex Insomnia can be read in the privacy of your head, if you want, but really declaim the poems to yourself out loud if you dare.

‘For best effect, perform for yourself – these are not poems intended for silent contemplation.’

Mark has also written three novels, the first is available for free download as a PDF e-book from his website, www.tykewriter.supanet.com

His second novel Citizen Zero is to be published by up and coming publisher Writers of Worlds and he hopes that his third, Silas Morlock, will follow under the same label.