Marcus Speh

                I like Marcus Speh. Marcus Speh is a genius. Besides writing flash fiction, he is a particle-physicist. How he combines those two is beyond me. My mind can’t comprehend it. Probably Speh could create a giant equation to map out exactly how I could potentially comprehend it. Happy that Alt Lit Gossip brought attention to this founder of alt lit. Marcus is so alt lit he (literally) doesn’t know it. Somebody had to tell him. Before he wrote under his own name he had an anonymous online presence. So this guy literally embodies everything I’d like to be: old, wise, German, and respected published writer (unfortunately my ‘e-book’ isn’t in a respectable enough format).

                His website looks amazing. It has these lovely pictures. Europe welcomes him. He travels everywhere. I think he has been published everywhere. He used to edit Metazen. Now I guess he hangs around cafes in Berlin, being hip as fuck. When I grow old, I’d like to be that alt and that relevant. Since I’m 37 now, I better start working on it, working hard on it. 

                One thing caught my eye.  Marcus Speh stated‘Kaffe in Katmandu’. Here’s a German, from Berlin, who I have never met and will never meet, and he’s affected my life. I used to be one of the Tumblrs featured in ‘Kaffe in Katmandu’. Apparently I was considered ‘good enough’ to be a member of the ‘Kaffe in Katmandu’ clique. That makes me really happy. Sometimes I wonder if I’m a writer, if I’m doing a good job. If some coffee-drinking published German particle physicist thinks I’m a writer than I guess I am. 

                I joined Kaffe in Katmandu randomly. Somebody asked me to join and I did. Actually I remember reading a lot of the fellow blogs on there, seeing what other people were writing. Feel bad the experiment ended but all good things must come to an end. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on Tumblr. I barely understood the concept of a Tumblr blog ring but Marcus Speh understood. To a particle physicist, Tumblr is a piece of cake. Apparently (and this I also did not know) most of my writing can quality as ‘flash fiction’ meaning under 1,000 words, though the stricter definition seems to mean 300 words. Using the strict definition my music reviews count as flash fiction.I am happy either way.

                This is sort of thing I love about alt lit. It encompasses all cities, states, countries and continents. For someone from so far away to give me a little boost of encouragement makes me really happy. When things like this happen I’m reminded why I continue this grand experiment, this never-ending writing exercise. Hopefully someday I can be half as good a writer as Marcus Speh. I’m not going to touch that ‘particle physics’ thing.