SULLIVAN, Mark J., III

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two sons.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Akashic Books, P.O. Box 1456, New York, NY 10009.

CAREER:

Writer and musician.

WRITINGS:

Jonah Sees Ghosts (novel), Akashic Books (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A second novel, Angel, Fallen from Heaven.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark J. Sullivan III's first novel, Jonah Sees Ghosts, is the story of Jonah Hart, a fifteen year old who is haunted by ghostly visions following the death of his alcoholic father in a car crash. Sometimes these visions interrupt Jonah's everyday life, appearing unexpectedly while he is at the movies with his girlfriend or when he is trying to get to class at school. While sleeping at night, Jonah finds that he can also leave his body and travel in other dimensions, visiting strange worlds and learning the future lives of his high school friends. As his classmates ridicule him for his strange behavior during the day, Jonah increasingly turns to his nightly out-of-body travel, until his connection with reality becomes tenuous. Reviewing the novel for Library Journal, David A. Berona called Jonah Sees Ghosts "a stunning look at the addictive personality of an adolescent boy in an alcoholic family." "When the novel keeps its feet firmly planted on the ground," added Stephen M. Deusner in an online appraisal of Sullivan's debut for PopMatters.com, "when it confronts this life instead of what comes after, it feels remarkably alive."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 1, 2003, David A. Berona, review of Jonah Sees Ghosts, p. 132.

ONLINE

PopMatters.com,http://www.popmatters.com/ (September 17, 2003), Stephen M. Deusner, review of Jonah Sees Ghosts.*