Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Perlman has spent his adult life out West in California, Colorado, and now Washington. Influences on his psyche include repeated viewings of Rocky and Bullwinkle, repeated listenings to Tom Lehrer and Firesign Theatre, and repeated readings of the collected works of James Thurber, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Flann O’Brien (Brian O’Nolan).
In an age of specialists, he considers himself to be one of the last of the generalists.
Along the Way, he has been a pipe and tobacco salesclerk, a ski lift operator, a dishwasher at an Italian vegetarian restaurant, a bay leaf harvester, bookstore clerk, freshman English instructor, proofreader and stock boy for an independent publisher, harmonica player for a rock band, the only dues-paying member of an improv group, freelance writer, staffer for a weekly news and entertainment magazine, short story and humor writer, a web content writer for a high-tech start-up that floundered during the dot com-collapse, a director of communications at a health foundation, and a communications specialist at a university.
He lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Lane. Their daughter, Lila, is in NYC pursuing an acting and writing career.
Stories
“In the Presence of Angels” is in the December 2024 edition of Flora Fiction—a dad awaits the fate of his daughter undergoing heart surgery as an unexpected visitation takes place.
“Among the Weeds” is included in the December 2023 issue of The Ravens Perch, in which a bicyclist wonders about the errant lifestyle of the guys living above him.
“Final Cut” is in the digital magazine CafeLit, February 2024, where a last haircut takes on a deeper significance.
“Bookworm’s Desire” is in the print Winter 2023 issue of Catamaran Literary Reader in which a narrator describes what is was like to try and find a book in a brick and mortar store.
“Garden Party” is included in the digital Sortes Magazine 13, Spring 2023, with three wanderers cozying up to an introverted reader in a secluded park.
“Beyond the Trees” is both in print and digital in 34th Parallel Magazine, where an ignored grandfather is asked to umpire a kids’ sandlot game.
“Alligator Observed” in included in the print issue of Catamaran Literary Reader Summer 2023, a tale of a grad student attempting to befriend an alligator.
“Looking for the Rabbi” is reprinted in the Red Noise Collective 2023 Anthology, Tide, as a guilty-feeling dad writes a letter of apology to a rabbi he hasn’t seen for forty year
“Tree Cutter” appears in the summer 2023 edition of Men Matters Journal, and has a crusty middle-aged landscaper matching wits with the lady of an upper-class household.
