Author Mark Dawidziak

About the author:

Mark Dawidziak is author or editor of about 25 books, including three studies of landmark television series: The Columbo Phile: A Casebook , The Night Stalker Companion , and Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone , his lighthearted 2017 tribute to Rod Serling's classic anthology series. His latest book, the Edgar Allan Poe biography A Mystery of Mysteries , has been nominated for numerous awards, including an Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Ohioana Award. He also is an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar, and five of his books are about the iconic American writer. He spent 43 years as a television, film and theater critic at such newspapers as the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer . His work on the horror side of the street also includes the novel Grave Secrets , The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula , short stories, and comic book scripts. He lives in Ohio.

Provocative, poignant, at times heartbreaking, and often hilarious, The Lightning-Bug and the Lightning will shatter the myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes that have surrounded Twain once and for all.

Mark Twain warned us of the many problems we find ourselves facing today. He cautioned us, often in ferociously humorous ways, about the things that would be used to divide us: politics, religion, prejudice, ignorance, bigotry, financial disparity, class warfare, envy, greed, and more. At a time that has seen him gradually dropped out of curriculum in public and private schools, The Lightning-Bug and the Lightning explores why we need to be listening to Mark Twain's words, now more than ever.

In the style of his bestselling Edgar Allan Poe biography A Mystery of Mysteries , Mark Dawidziak draws not only on his decades of research as an internationally recognized Twain scholar, but also his 45 years of playing Twain on stage, which has given him first-hand familiarity with the effect Mark Twain's words have on an audience, and why Mark Twain does indeed matter.

Along the way, Dawidziak will also draw on the many discussions he has had over the decades with such winners of the Mark Twain Prize as Carl Reiner, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Bob Newhart, Neil Simon, and Carol Burnett, as well as Twain scholars, biographers, documentarians (Ken Burns, most prominent among them) and fans, including many actors who played him (Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, James Garner).

Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry.