Martone in Esquire

Fiction by Fort Wayne native Michael Martone has been published in the November edition of Esquire magazine. Mark Hughes Cobb reports in the Tuscaloosa News:

It’s quite a coup for Martone, professor of English and director of the creative writing program at the University of Alabama, whose books, while critically lauded, tend to draw readerships in the low thousands, to land at the heart and atop the masthead of a renowned magazine with a circulation of 100,000 and readership of more than 360,000.

Even more unusual, it came about as an assignment.

“They said, 'It’s 4,000 words and the title is 'The Death of Derek Jeter,’" Martone said. And could he finish it in four weeks?

“I immediately thought of something to do."

[ ... ]

Not an expert on baseball, the Big Apple or the Yanks, Martone was selected for his wit, style and ability to adapt.

[ ... ]

Describing Mr. Martone, the assigning Esquire editor, Tom Chiarella (who teaches at DePauw), said:

“He’s wickedly funny in the way that David Sedaris is funny, and his stories have something of that Mark Twain bite as well.

“One of the key parts of Esquire is that our prose is lucid and smart and beautiful, and his sentences are gleaming and tough, very clean."

Michael Martone often writes with reference to Fort Wayne and Indiana. His books include "Fort Wayne is Seventh on Hitler's List", "Pensees: The Thoughts of Dan Quayle", "The Blue Guide to Indiana", "Doublewide", and "Alive and Dead in Indiana".

His parents are Tony and Patty Martone.  His mother is retired from Fort Wayne Community Schools and frequently writes guest columns for the News-Sentinel.

Photo of Michael Martone courtesy of the University of Alabama - Birmingham.