Martin Hill Ortiz
Bewildering Stories biography
to Bewildering Stories bibliography
I was born cute but I never lived up to my potential. As to exactly how I got here, I have to blame my shoes. You see, after I lost half of my socks in the dryer, the bottom half, now my cold toes poke about my boots. A vampire from ankles on down, my toenails would peel off if they ever saw the sun. Which is why I hide here, standing in front of you.
And the critics agree, “Yes, it’s pretty, but is it madness? It’s like he’s never tasted night before.” So I hold out these words, my pre-shredded soul, for everyone to come see, to marvel, saying, “Oh, what a gorgeous bit of ruin.”
Martin Hill Ortiz, a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, received a doctorate in Pharmacology from George Washington University in 1990. He is a professor of Pharmacology at the Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where he lives with his wife and son.
He has won several awards for poetry. His short stories have appeared in print in Haunts Magazine and Miami Accent, several anthologies along with a half a dozen online journals.
He has a theatrical background, having run a comedy troupe in South Florida for several years. His comedy pieces have been performed in such diverse locations as New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Puerto Rico and Ireland. A Predatory Mind is his first novel.
Writing, stage and screen:- Staged Readings: The Backyard, Scenes For Two Actors, and Village Idiots
- Plays produced: Morse and Jeannie; Tildy; The Acting Lesson
- “Cruel and Usual,” screenplay
- Short Story: “Alternative Endings,” Haunts Magazine
- 2nd and 3d place, Poetry Competition, NWA, South Florida Chapter. 1993
- 2nd place prize,National Federation of State Poetry Society Contest, 1997
- Miami National Poetry Slam Representative, August 1997
- 1st place, NWA 1st Novel Competition, South Florida Chapter, 1998
- Representative L.A. Poetry Festival, 1999.
- Essay: “Greatest Sentence,” Slow Trains Literary Journal, 2005.
- Short Story, “Hanger Nade,” Miami Accent Magazine, 2005.
- Poetry published in Crescendo magazine, Exquisite Corpse; others.
- “The Ballad of Preacher Paul,” somos en escrito, 2011
Websites:
- jivepuppi - Murders in West Memphis
- someone exactly like me - The Great Campaign Blog
Copyright © 2011, 2013 by Martin Hill Ortiz
