Straight Talk from the Library: Mark Diehl, author of Seventeen

Mark Diehl has taken time out of his very busy life to visit with us at The Library. He's the author of the YA book Seventeen which is available now for free. Enter the drawing to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card in the Rafflecopter below.

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A day with Mark Diehl behind the scenes

When I’m not immersed in a writing project or busy with family responsibilities, I spend quite a bit of time on social media. What’s important to me is connection with other people, intellectual ferment and the search for better understanding. The novel is by far the best means I’ve seen for effectively communicating complex ideas, but unfortunately social media have become a kind of substitute for many people, a way of connecting intellectually with other cognizant beings, but at a frighteningly shallow level.

Many people think I like to fight, because they see me arguing on Facebook or G+ and assume I’m doing so because it’s something I enjoy. In truth, I only argue when I feel an issue is just too important to let it be misunderstood, and for the duration of the dispute I wish I was doing something else. Still, I find myself arguing constantly.

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Most of the world's seventeen billion people are unconscious, perpetually serving their employers as part of massive brain trusts. The ecosystem has collapsed, and corporations control all of the world's resources and governments. A bedraggled alcoholic known as the Prophet predicts nineteen year-old waitress Eadie will lead a revolution, but how can she prevail when hunted by a giant corporation and the Federal Angels it directs?

MEET THE AUTHOR

Mark D. Diehl writes novels about power dynamics and the way people and organizations influence each other. He believes that obedience and conformity are becoming humanity’s most important survival skills, and that we are thus evolving into a corporate species. Diehl has: been homeless in Japan, practiced law with a major multinational firm in Chicago, studied in Singapore, fled South Korea as a fugitive, and been stranded in Hong Kong.

After spending most of his youth running around with hoods and thugs, he eventually earned his doctorate in law at the University of Iowa and did graduate work in creative writing at the University of Chicago. He currently lives and writes in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Author’s Website: http://www.markddiehl.com
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