Literary Works by Gary Marks
Gary Marks is the author of more than twenty novels and novellas, including The Dance and the Diamond Sky.
His nonfiction works include How to Change the Channel ~ To Make Thinking Feel Better and:
The Gary Marks Piano Method, two books exploring modern songwriting, creativity, and free improvisation.
He is also the creator of a new literary form called Multi-Color Poetry, in which multiple poems exist simultaneously within a single poem, separated through the use of color.
Literary Fiction
The Dance and the Diamond Sky
Author: Gary Marks
2025 / 1988 (Updated)
Genre: Voice-driven literary fiction
Sub-label: Political coming-of-consciousness (1969)
In a fractured 1960s America, a young pacifist songwriter and his closest friends struggle to reconcile free love with the heartbreak it brings while war and political corruption tear their country apart.
“An amazing book, beautifully written, about a critical time in our country’s history. Though this coming of age tale is about a time decades removed, The Dance and the Diamond Sky generates wisdom that directly reflects upon the internal and external struggles we face today. There are no cliches here. There is humor, plenty of drama, and a great ending. A story that needed to be written finally was. . . .”
“.... From the first page I felt like I’d traveled back in time. There’s a lyricism to both the language and the plot that’s mesmerizing..... Gary Marks is a clear talent.”
Orbiting Chaos
Author: Gary Marks
2007
Genre: Literary fiction
Sub-label: Spiritual romance / metaphysical realism
A relationship between Laney and Gabriel, two emotionally orphaned wanderers, opens them to feelings they never thought possible, and never quite wanted—forcing an internal reckoning that could cost them everything.
“Fascinating story and characters with so much heart.”
From the Farthest Places
Author: Gary Marks
2019
Genre: Literary fiction
Sub-label: Empty-nest existentialism / gifted child
An empty-nest marriage fractures as Paris, their brilliant, unconventional daughter, charts a life her parents cannot comprehend. As Paris journeys farther into a world of her own, the parents are forced to confront the possibility that their connection to her might be lost forever.
Romantic / Humor
Journey Through the Riotous Dark
Author: Gary Marks
2010
Genre: Voice-driven literary fiction
Sub-label: Campus novel / romantic comedy / suspense
A rebellious college student falls in love with the campus’s most beautiful comedic outcast—only to uncover a secret that reframes every joke, every lie, and every moment of desire.
Romantic Comedy / Coming of Age
Somewhere Beautiful
Author: Gary Marks
2009
Genre: Voice-driven literary fiction
Sub-label: Campus / romantic existentialism
A post-millennial teenager meets a girl on a family vacation in Paris the summer before college. Love, and a death-defying event back home, reshape his sense of the world and his place in it.
One Wild True Moment
Author: Gary Marks
2019
Genre: Literary Fiction
Sub-Genres: Comic literary thriller
A naïve hacker stumbles through corporate crime, lies, and being accused of murder without caring much about reality — until one wild true moment breaks the spell.
Romantic Comedy
Rain Dreams
Author: Gary Marks
2012
Genre: Voice-driven literary fiction
Sub-Genres: Comic adventure / existential drift
Two adventurers attempt to escape their small town. Only the rain, the past, and an ex-cop relentlessly tracking them down, can stop them.
Philosophical Sci-Fi
Zolar and the Continuum
Author: Gary Marks
2013
Genre: Spiritual / metaphysical comedy
Two college students invent a voice meant to wake the world.
As their online hoax grows into a global phenomenon, they’re forced to confront the question: when belief changes lives, does it matter if the messenger is real?
Metaphysical Science Fiction
(T)here
Author: Gary Marks
2019
Genre: Literary speculative fiction
Sub-label: Science / metaphysical inquiry
A young chemist invents a drug that could lead to world peace. In lab experiments it transports the mind to a place of wonder and enlightenment. The pill will cost pennies to make. The world is ready to be changed. There’s only thing standing in the way….. humans.
Metaphysical Science Fiction
Autobiography of an AI
Author: Gary Marks
2021
Genre: Science Fiction / Psychological
Sub genre: Existential / Metaphysical Fiction
After his wife is kidnapped by anti-AI extremists, a conscious artificial being abandons his role as one of humanity’s greatest minds to confront grief, violence, and the limits of reason.
Timshel’s Choice
Author: Gary Marks
1968
Genre: Literary Science Fiction
Subgenre: Speculative Fable
In a future where physical death has been conquered, Timshel journeys into a mysterious realm called The Beyond seeking to understand existence itself. What he discovers challenges everything humanity knows about time, consciousness, free will, and death itself.
Philosophical Romance
Emily’s Game
Author: Gary Marks
2026
Genre: Romantic / Suspense
Jack Hampton found the perfect wife. Her only imperfection was that she kept secrets from time to time. Most were harmless. Except one. In the end, she has to choose to save her husband, or her father, or find a way to save them both.
Surreal Humor / Romance
Beyond Henry
Author: Gary Marks
2017
Genre: Voice-driven literary fiction
Sub-Genres: Existential romance / metaphysical coda / stunning epilogue
After all the adventures, desires, longing, and life experiences end, who was Henry... and who will he become after that?
Love +/- Time
Author: Gary Marks
2026
Genre: Literary Fiction
Sub Genre: Philosophical Literary Romance
A relationship lived at full force, where desire, doubt, and time push love to its limit.
Touching Eros
Author: Gary Marks
2026
Genre: Literary Philosophical Fiction
While traveling through Greece with the woman he loves, a restless writer searches for eros — sensual aliveness and emotional truth — in a world increasingly disconnected from both.
Lilly’s Last Words
Author: Gary Marks
2024
Contemporary Literary Fiction
Sub-Genre: Suspense / Romance
Brilliant stock market timer Stephen Weston finally meets the woman who makes him want to stop predicting the future and start living in the moment — but loving her may require becoming someone he was never meant to be.
Music / Relational
Romantic Drama
SuperStar
Author: Gary Marks
2007
Genre: Literary fiction
Sub-Genres: Romance / Music / Fame
From roadie to the cover of Rolling Stone, this is the story of Jenna James’s rise to rock icon—told through the eyes of a young musician who writes the only songs she is willing to sing.
Acoustic Punk
Author: Gary Marks
2023
Genre: Literary Fiction
Sub-Genres: Comic Literary Fiction / Music Industry
A cynical young music producer tries to create an underground acoustic-punk movement.
Romantic Comedy
The Improviser
Author: Gary Marks
2024
Genre: Literary Fiction
Sub-Genres: Satirical relationship
A musician who can brilliantly improvise on a concert stage, tries to carefully compose his way through adulthood. When Lydia disrupts his cerebral life, she proves that desire can be far more dangerous to the heart than loneliness.
Experimental Literary Comedy
Surreal Humor
My Name Was Don
Author: Gary Marks
2016
Genre: Absurdist literary fiction
Sub-Genre: Experimental comedy
When Don’s inner and outer realities merge, every plan fails and the stakes keep rising. Only Katie can save him. But Katie… isn’t real.
Surreal Humor
Shelby's Time
Author: Gary Marks
2016
Genre: Voice-Driven Literary Fiction
Sub-Genres: Philosophical absurdist comedy
A weirdly funny, philosophically restless comedy told through a narrator whose unwavering belief is that he comes from the future. Proof of that may be hard to find, but it becomes his lens for understanding love, loss, and moral reckoning.
Teen Romance
Teen Comedy-Drama
Nora and I Stole a Car — A Modern Teenage Love Story
Author: Gary Marks
2023
Genre: Coming of Age
Sub-Genres: First Love Romance
Oliver impulsively steals the car of his high school’s gang leader, hoping it will get the kid to leave the party he crashed—transforming Oliver overnight from a shy nerd to a school legend, a target, a disaster at home, and a first love that Nora will never forget.
Non-Fiction
The Gary Marks Piano Method
Gary Marks Music Piano Method Books
Learn chord and scale theory, improvisation, and how to play songs - without reading notation.
1990 The Gary Makrs Piano Method Book I
Author: Gary Marks
Piano Method Book I and Audio: $15.00
The Piano Method Book I is in PDF format, 119 pages
Each chapter is lead by an audio component in MP3 format.
** following your purchase, email marksland77@gmail.com with your attached amazon receipt to receive your audio download
1990 The Gary Makrs Piano Method Book II
Author: Gary Marks
Piano Method Book II and Audio: $15.00
The Piano Method Book II is in PDF format, 212 pages
Each chapter is lead by an audio component in MP3 format.
** following your purchase, email marksland77@gmail.com with your attached amazon receipt to receive your audio download
Non-Fiction
How to Change the Channel ~ to Make Thinking Feel Better
Author: Gary Marks
2023
Non-Fiction: Psychology / Self-Help
How can you access the best version of yourself, day to day, moment by moment?
This book is an amalgam of parables and consciousness games to help you get control of yourself! (As much as is humanly possible.)
It borrows ideas from various sources, including spiritual teachers, poets, therapists, Abraham Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence, and a Chinese chef from Berkeley. (Thank you, Mr. Shem.)
Author Biography
Gary Marks is an American novelist, singer-songwriter.
He has created more than twenty novels and novellas spanning literary realism, coming-of-age fiction, philosophical science-fiction, absurdist comedy, and romance, while maintaining a distinctive voice across styles. His stories are known for unconventional characters, unusual subject matter, and unexpected endings.
Marks is also the creator of Multi-Color Poetry, a literary form in which colored words allow multiple poems to exist within a single stand-alone poem.
As a musician, Gary Marks has maintained a five-decade career as a singer-songwriter. His first three albums became cult classics, earning multiple reissues worldwide. His socio-political compilation album Crossroads was selected for Record Store Day UK 2026.
He is also the author of two piano method books that teach modern styles without music notation.
His novels, lyrics, and poetry explore themes of freedom, human connection, and the possibility that love may exist at levels far beyond ordinary human experience.
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