Mark Oshiro Books In Order

Publication Order of Nico Di Angelo Adventures Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Mark Oshiro is a renowned author of young adult, gay & lesbian, and contemporary novels, and a reputed editor and reviewer from America. He is particularly famous for creating an online fictional universe known as Mark Does Stuff. The books of the series are divided into two categories, Mark Watches and Mark Reads. In each of this series, Oshiro analyzes television and book series in unspoiled ways. Oshiro has received a Hugo nomination for this work, he was a finalist for this award in the category of Fan Writer. Author Oshiro has served as the Queers Destroy Sci-Fi’s nonfiction editor and has also collaborated with Foz Meadows as Speculative Fiction’s co-editor in 2015. He wrote his first full-length novel in 2018 and named it Anger is a Gift. This young adult & contemporary novel of Oshiro is based on queer friendship, fighting against police brutality, and love. The book garnered a lot of fan-following immediately after its release. It is liked by numerous readers across the globe for its original content and views of the author on a sensitive social issue.

Oshiro received praises from many reputed critics and prominent authors, which boosted his self-confidence and motivated him to keep writing excellent stories in the days to come. Whenever author Oshiro is not busy with his writing work, he keeps himself busy with his trying to find the fictional characters of his future novels with the help of his camera. He also attends various conventions to gain important inputs and ways of making his stories better in different aspects. Oshiro has a great liking for pet animals. He considers himself a great admirer of pets and has a lifelong goal of having all the dogs of the world as his pet. Oshiro keeps trying different things to fulfill this goal. DongWon Song from the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency represents Oshiro. Also, he has a publicist at the Tor Teen Books in the form of Saraciea Fennell.

Author Oshiro loves conventions very much. He attends several of them regularly every year without fail. He even does some school visits every year. Saraciea Funnell is the one who looks after the bookings of each of the events that Oshiro attends. Author Oshiro was born on October 23, 1983, in Los Angeles, United States. He had a great interest in the field of literature from the time he was very small, which helped him to choose the path of writing and excel. Oshiro began his literary career by reviewing science fiction and fantasy. Later, he took a step forward and created the Mark Reads & Mark Watches blogs. Oshiro has entertained the readers with his in-depth analysis of the stories of Discworld, Harry Potter, and others. As his fan-following continued to grow, Oshiro moved on to write his first book. About the book, he says that when he was working on its first draft, he had not realized that the book would become a take on coming-of-age while experiencing systematic racism and police brutality. In the afterword of the novel, Oshiro has mentioned that he had planned to write a sci-fi trilogy series and wrote his debut novel as the first part accordingly.

Many reviewers have mentioned that the book is full of harsh realities related to student life. It is an intense story that confronts trauma at regular intervals. Oshiro likes to describe his debut novel as a story about activism, grief, and living with the determination to survive despite the trauma. It depicts the story of a high school student named Moss Jefferies, who lost his dad to brutality from the police a few years ago. Moss hates how the people around him start defining him by that incident. And when the police arrive at his house with metal detectors and start searching without authority, Moss realizes that it is time to do something about the brutal nature of police or else many others will die the same death as his father. Oshiro has said that there were 2 things that inspired him to write the story, the first is that he always wished to write a story addressing the resource officers and police violence’s presence within a high school’s context. The inspiration was tied to the observations and experiences of author Oshiro. The idea of writing this story began in Oshiro’s mind in 2012 and it took him 6 years to complete the novel.

The debut book written by author Mark Oshiro is entitled ‘Anger is a Gift’. It was released by the Tor Teen publication in 2018. The book is set in Oakland and features the chief character in the form of Moss Jefferies. This book depicts a story of loss, resilience, family, and love. It testifies to the strength and vulnerability of a community living in an oppressed system. At the novel’s beginning, it is mentioned that Moss Jefferies died 6 years ago after a police officer from Oakland police handled him brutally. The loss of his father affects Moss deeply. The perception of the media after the incident as well as the absence of accountability gives panic attacks to Moss Jefferies. As he restarts his studies in the sophomore year, Moss sees that his own school has started treating him and his fellow batchmates as criminals. And the ill-treatment keeps getting worse with the passage of time. Their lockers are searched randomly, new rules are set up especially for them, police officials are stationed in the halls to keep an eye on their activities, etc. Also, there is constant intimidation from the people around them.

All these things tempt Moss Jefferies and his friends to take aggressive action. But, Moss knows that the school authorities want them to take such a step so that they can take legal action against them. Instead, Moss chooses to organize a non-violent protest to force the administration to put an end to the discrimination against them. When life makes Moss choose between giving in to hate & fear and putting up a fight against the oppression, he decides to use his anger as a gift in such testing times. This book was very well appreciated by the readers in different parts of the world. They liked the diverse set of characters mentioned by author Oshiro. The readers also enjoyed the plot construction, dialogues, and writing style of Oshiro. His depiction of graphic violence and racism against adults and teens of color and their emotionally jarring state helped to achieve excellent reviews from many prominent reviewers and critics.