Mark Speed

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Mark Speed

Goodreads Author


Born
in Scotland, The United Kingdom
Website

Twitter

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Member Since
August 2013

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Mark Speed has been writing novels since he was fifteen. His comedy writing has appeared in newspapers as diverse as the London Evening Standard and The Sun, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. He performed his solo comedy, The End of the World Show, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011 and 2012. He is currently working on the five-volume Doctor How parody.

Amongst other postgraduate and professional qualifications, he has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from City University, London. In 1995 a chiropractor told him he’d never run again. Sensibly he chose to give up chiropractors, and has since completed several marathons and a couple of Olympic-length triathlons.

NLP founder Dr Richard Bandler publicly called him a ‘polarity responder’.

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Popular Answered Questions

Mark Speed Very soon! Hopefully next month! :-D

I finished writing book three - Doctor How and the Alien Invasion - in July 2015, but I've been waiting to get the…more
Very soon! Hopefully next month! :-D

I finished writing book three - Doctor How and the Alien Invasion - in July 2015, but I've been waiting to get the covers for the whole series redesigned.

As you might have seen, I released the new edition of book one - Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens last week. I'm just trying to get book two - Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones - released with its new cover now, but I'm having a few teething problems with book one on Amazon right now and need to clear these first.(less)
Mark Speed Hi Jane. It's about 45 years since I read it*, but it might be that Trillions has a scene like that near the opening.

*which I find really hard to beli…more
Hi Jane. It's about 45 years since I read it*, but it might be that Trillions has a scene like that near the opening.

*which I find really hard to believe!(less)
Average rating: 4.16 · 306 ratings · 84 reviews · 18 distinct works
Doctor How and the Illegal ...

4.01 avg rating — 171 ratings — published 2014 — 6 editions
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Doctor How and the Deadly A...

4.53 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions
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Doctor How and the Rings of...

4.26 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions
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Apocalypse Later: A guide t...

4.33 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions
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Doctor How and the Alien In...

4.12 avg rating — 17 ratings4 editions
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Doctor How and the Dragons:...

4.33 avg rating — 15 ratings2 editions
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Doctor How and the Big Fini...

4.90 avg rating — 10 ratings2 editions
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Doctor How ebook boxed set:...

4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings2 editions
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Doctor How and the Kennedy ...

4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions
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Doctor How and the Big Fini...

4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings2 editions
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More books by Mark Speed…
Doctor How and the Kennedy ... Doctor How and the Rings of... Doctor How and the Illegal ... Doctor How and the Deadly A... Doctor How and the Alien In... Doctor How ebook boxed set:...
(6 books)
by
4.11 avg rating — 256 ratings

Children of Ruin
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by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Goodreads Author)
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How to Be The Gre...
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by Will Hines (Goodreads Author)
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Battle Scars: A S...
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Mark’s Recent Updates

Mark Speed rated a book liked it
Eleven Numbers by Lee Child
Eleven Numbers
by Lee Child (Goodreads Author)
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A short story from an author who usually writes doorstops. It was okay. Trademark short sentences. Long moments. A twist. Another twist. The protagonist turns the tables. Walks away.
Mark Speed rated a book it was amazing
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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A lot of work went into researching and writing this. It's a big book and needs a fair bit of work to read it, but it's worth it. A really clever world-building and two societies pitched perfectly against each other. A similar ending to one of his ot ...more
Mark Speed rated a book really liked it
The Last Days of Johnny Nunn by Nick Triplow
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As some of the blurb says: a thriller with a social conscience. The author seems to acknowledge that the cast of characters is way too large because there's a dramatis personae at the start of the novel. I'm not sure I'd have read it if I'd read a sa ...more
Mark Speed is currently reading
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Mark Speed rated a book it was ok
Stolen Thoughts by Tim Tigner
Stolen Thoughts
by Tim Tigner (Goodreads Author)
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Given the purported background of the author, I was expecting more. In the end it comes down to writing craft, and I found it lacking. The characters were 2D and it just wasn't well-written. I came close to just throwing in the towel. A shame, becaus ...more
Mark Speed is currently reading
The Last Days of Johnny Nunn by Nick Triplow
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Stolen Thoughts by Tim Tigner
Stolen Thoughts
by Tim Tigner (Goodreads Author)
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Stolen Thoughts by Tim Tigner
Stolen Thoughts
by Tim Tigner (Goodreads Author)
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Archangel by Robert   Harris
Archangel
by Robert Harris (Goodreads Author)
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Extremely well researched, but maybe just a little too far-fetched. A novel of its era.
Mark Speed rated a book really liked it
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
Clock Dance
by Anne Tyler (Goodreads Author)
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Not her greatest work. Some lovely, quirky characters and an ineresting setup, which is why we love the author's stories. Perhaps a litle unbelieveable and maybe one too many characters? ...more
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Quotes by Mark Speed  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“But Time Lords always travel in the T – in their Spectrels, don't they?"
"Only if absolutely necessary."
"You what?"
"It's another myth put about by those scoundrels. Dramatic effect and all that. It's all his fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Who's fault."
"No, I asked you first."
"No, you clot. It's Who's fault – Dr bloody Who. That's who!"
"Why?"
"No, not Why. I said it's Who's fault."
"Whose fault?"
"Yes. Who."
"What?"
"No! Listen, damn you. Don't bring Why or What into it. It's nothing to do with them. It's Who's fault."
"That's what I'm trying to establish, Doctor. Whose fault is it?"
"Yes. It's Who's fault; now, can we just bloody get on with it and stop arguing the toss and bringing the others into it?”
Mark Speed, Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens

“You said these guys are your cousins? Is that, like, for real? It's, like, not a turn of phrase?"
"What on earth do you mean?"
"Well, I refer to my bluds as cuz, sometimes. Is it like that, or is they real blood relatives?"
"Yes, four of them are cousins. One of them is my twin brother. I'm sure you can guess who."
"Who?"
"Yes."
"No, who?"
"Exactly." The Doctor's gaze was in some far-off place, his voice low and monotone. "He was always the troublesome one. He instigated the rift, cemented the separation. Blabbed to the Beeb. I can never forgive him for that. Never.”
Mark Speed, Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens

“Then after a while I realised that if there’s one person I’d arrest, it would be Miss Marple herself.” Bunce paused for effect. “She’s a one-woman crime wave, if you think about it. Everywhere this interfering old bag goes, people get murdered.”
Mark Speed, Doctor How and the Big Finish: Book 5

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”
Wole Soyinka

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
Albert Einstein

“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
Yann Martel, Life of Pi

“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.”
Yann Martel, Life of Pi

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Comments (showing 1-2)    post a comment »
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message 2: by Mark

Mark Speed David wrote: "Not sure if I thank you for being a friend, Mark. No copy of my message came up. Thank you.
David"


I didn't get a message from you - just a friend request. You're up in Durham, I seem to recall. I lived in Newcastle for many years. It's actually quite good that the rest of the UK doesn't realise how gorgeous the NE of England is, or it'd be spoilt!


message 1: by David

David Dennington Not sure if I thank you for being a friend, Mark. No copy of my message came up. Thank you.
David


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