You are browsing archives for
Marty’s photo of the day #4874: I named Nellie after the “Holy Smokin’ Hot Nellie,” in my first novel, Time Is Irreverent. The real Nellie was so excited about playing in the Bitterroot River yesterday that she outdid the fictional Nellie. She walked on water! And look at those stunning fall colors.
Day #8 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days, featured in order of publication. Yeah, the math doesn’t make sense, but I feel it’s pushing it to call Time Is Irreverent: Ooh, It’s a Trilogy! my “eighth book.” Instead, it’s the entire hilarious three-volume Time Is Irreverent trilogy in one convenient, specially priced Kindle […]
Day #4 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days, featured in order of publication. We continue with Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again! This is the second novel in what would become the Time Is Irreverent Trilogy. Unfortunately, the advertising departments at Amazon and Facebook refused to allow me to use this […]
Day #3 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days, featured in order of publication. After writing two nonfiction books, I switched to fiction. Time Is Irreverent is both hilarious and irreverent, and it introduced me to the concept of “review bombing.” Despite open-minded people loving the novel, conservative Christians (many who never even read […]
Signed books make great holiday gifts! Beginning today, I am offering a signed book special. Here are the prices: Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: $19.95 Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico: $19.95 Time Is Irreverent: $14.95 Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not […]
I published Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents in 2007, Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico in 2016, Time Is Irreverent in 2018, Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again! in 2019, Time Is Irreverent 3: Gone for 16 Seconds in 2020, and […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3683: You are looking at the Weber Music Hall, in the University of Minnesota Duluth. This excerpt from my latest book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer, explains the shot: My two favorite performances—so far—have been homecoming shows. The closest college to me is the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3616: If you’ve read either Time Is Irreverent or Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer, you know a little about Fitger’s. The historic Duluth landmark used to be the Fitger Brewing Company, but now it is a boutique hotel, a bookstore, and a collection of […]
The Electoral College certification process is going to make January 6th a wild day. Cosplay right-wingers will descend on Washington like flies descend on Mike Pence’s head. And inside the United States Capitol, at the joint session of Congress, roughly 140 Republicans will attempt to toss aside the presidential election and turn America in to […]
In Time Is Irreverent, my Trump-like character, President Handley, manipulates the system to turn America into a theocracy and become Supreme Leader for Life. In real life, the attorney general of Texas (joined by 17 red states) has filed a Supreme Court lawsuit to overturn Biden’s victories in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The chances […]
Avoid the Black Friday Crowds. Signed books make special gifts! For a limited time, I’m offering free U.S. shipping on all signed books and will also include a free signed copy of Endangered Edens with every purchase of two or more books. All books are Amazon #1 best-sellers in their respective categories. Here are the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3442: This morning I quite literally woke up thinking about alligators. Well, that and where the hell I’m going to go with the story in Time Is Irreverent 4, which I started writing yesterday. Anyway, alligators always seem to be getting the raw end of videos on Facebook and Twitter, […]
I love writing the Time Is Irreverent series of novels, because the characters allow me to demonstrate how things would be different with a single change to history. For instance, in the first novel time-traveling protagonists Marty Mann and Nellie Dixon show how life today would be different if Christianity hadn’t taken hold, and in […]
Republicans frequently state that they don’t care about Donald Trump’s behavior; they only care about his results. That sounds innocent enough—until you realize that people made similar claims during the reigns of the worst autocrats in history. Even Robert Mugabe had his fans. Where Trump will ultimately rank among the world’s authoritarian rulers is yet […]
Yay! I just sent Time Is Irreverent 3: Gone for Sixteen Seconds off to my editor. After I wrote my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents (published in 2007), it took me nine years to publish Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico. […]
When I published Time Is Irreverent, conservative Christian Republicans were furious with how I depicted them. Hell, I even suggested that the theocracy coming out of the reign of “President Handley” would advocate shooting brown people crossing the border from Mexico. Then, last night, while Donald Trump was whining at a rally about brown people […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2871: I dedicate today’s photo to Wanda LaCroix. She lives in Grecia, Costa Rica, and on February 1st I mailed her a copy of my new novel, “Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again!” According to USPS tracking, the book traveled from Victor, Montana to Missoula to San Francisco […]
Yesterday I posted a couple 1-star reviews to demonstrate the difficulties of writing liberal books when conservatives, who haven’t even read the story, try to bring them down—as if they were doing a favor for Trump. Today, I’d like to post some of the shorter 5-star reviews for my latest novel Time Is Irreverent 2: […]
Since I have placed multiple liberal-political-content warnings on the Amazon pages for Time Is Irreverent and Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again! I have slowed down the negative reviews from right-wingers. Still some, who have obviously not read the novels, trash them anyway: This one was posted today for Time Is Irreverent: “Seriously. […]
Last night the stars aligned, and Time Is Irreverent and Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again! were #10 and #11 on Amazon in Political Humor. Now, of course, I have the new goal of hitting #1 and #2 at the same time. When the reviews and the magazine articles start coming in for […]
