Hello, 4AM web surfers and everyone else. My name is Herb Guggenheim. I'm a novelist and poet. My new novel RESURRECTION 2020 (Ecclesiastes Press, 2022) is a hybrid: half postmodern satire, half sci-fi thriller. In truth, I think of it as an example of magic realism though purists might disagree. Anyway, it's available NOW in hardcover, trade paperback, and Kindle ebook formats. NEW THIS WEEK: The unabridged audiobook, narrated by Sam Rosenthal, is now available from Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.
When I'm not at home staring at my iMac or self-isolating on account of the covid-19 pandemic, I spend my time at coffee shops, pizza joints, and 24-hour diners. One of my favorite activities is kicking back at Starbuck's with a grande iced mocha and staring into space. Often, I'll listen to a recorded book. Currently, I'm listening to THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward P. Jones.
I was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. After stumbling through high school, I attended New College of Florida where my academic accomplishments were, shall we say, less than stellar. They gave me a BA in literature anyway. From there, I moved back to D.C. and attended American University where I again studied literature, this time with an emphasis in creative writing, and acquired an MA. My principal mentor was Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Henry Taylor. I then moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi where I studied with novelist and short story writer Frederick Barthelme. I was awarded a doctorate in English in 1983. A gift. After that troubled chapter of my life, I returned to D.C. and studied writing (in Baltimore) with novelist and National Book Award winner John Barth, earning another MA in creative writing.
Many years later, I studied social work at Catholic University, earning an MSW and subsequently practicing clinical social work at a number of venues. For decades, I hardly wrote a thing.
In 1998, I met Leslie Carroll. We married in 2007. That means we'll celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary later this year.
I used to hang around the poetry world in D.C. It's a twilight world with all sorts of monsters looking for their Big Break. You move up in the poetry world by publishing, schmoozing, and participating in open mike readings. In 2017, my poetry book "Strange Encounter at the Shakespeare Motel" was published by Finishing Line Press. Having an actual book out makes people notice you a bit more. Now, I'm of the opinion that poetry is dead.
I've written three novels: VIOLATIONS OF CAUSALITY (Ecclesiastes Press, 2015), THE NOTHINGNESS IMPERATIVE (Ecclesiastes, 2019), and, most recently, RESURRECTION 2020 (Ecclesiastes, 2022). If you'd like to read my work, start with RESURRECTION 2020 then go back and read the other two.
From all this, you should glean that my accomplishments have been unspectacular. I do think RESURRECTION 2020 is a good book and I'm pretty proud of it. If you like it, please post a review here on Amazon.
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