Lecard, Marc

PERSONAL:

Born in Mineola, NY; married; wife's name Jane.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Oakland, CA. Agent—Dan Hooker, Ashley Grayson Literary Agency, 1342 18th St., San Pedro, CA 90732. E-mail—marc.lecard@yahoo.com.

CAREER:

Author. Has previously worked in publishing for various magazines.

WRITINGS:

Vinnie's Head, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Marc Lecard spent a decade writing the sorts of books he himself enjoyed reading—crime fiction—but had no luck when he attempted to get his novels published. After moving to California, then returning to New York, he found himself looking at his work from a new perspective and attempted to inject humor into his crime novels. The result is Vinnie's Head, his first published book. The story revolves around Johnnie, a small-time crook with no particularly impressive ties in the crime community who accidentally pulls a severed head out of Great South Bay off of Long Island. It turns out to belong to his best friend, Vinnie. Lecard explained his inspiration for the book in an interview for Spinetingler magazine online: "The image of a severed head on the end of a fishing line kept surfacing where it wasn't wanted, that is, in another novel I was working on that should have been a serious, even grim account of corruption, betrayal, death and redemption. The image was crazy, over the top. It belonged in a comic novel, not a tragic noir epic." While Lecard attempted to ignore the idea, it began to take over his writing, until he set aside his original project and went to work on Vinnie's Head. Susan Clifford Braun observed in Library Journal that "Lecard has great comic timing, truly twisted characters, and a plot just bizarre enough to keep the pages turning." A Publishers Weekly reviewer predicted: "This first novel augurs a long and successful career for its author."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2007, Keir Graff, review of Vinnie's Head, p. 63.

Library Journal, November 15, 2006, Susan Clifford Braun, review of Vinnie's Head, p. 64.

Publishers Weekly, December 18, 2006, review of Vinnie's Head, p. 38.

ONLINE

Armchair Interviews,http://reviews.armchairinterviews.com/ (August 28, 2007), Sharon Broom, review of Vinnie's Head.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 28, 2007), Joe Hartlaub, review of Vinnie's Head.

January Magazine,http://www.januarymagazine.com/ (August 28, 2007), James R. Winter, "Head Games."

Killer Year,http://www.killeryear.com/ (August 28, 2007), brief biography of Marc Lecard.

Marc Lecard Home Page,http://www.marclecard.com (August 28, 2007).

Reviewing the Evidence,http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (August 28, 2007), J.B. Thompson, review of Vinnie's Head.

Spinetingler,http://www.spinetinglermag.com/ (August 28, 2007), C.J. Lyons, profile of Marc Lecard.