the unusual inspired works to be published at 19 years old
Kayla Nick-Kearney | Staff Writer
nickkek@imail.losrios.edu
He hasn’t finished a degree in literature yet. He hasn’t been accepted to a four-year university yet. He hasn’t seen his 20th birthday yet. He hasn’t even moved out of his parents’ house yet.
But he has published his first book.
City College student Michael Panush describes his recently published book “Clark Reeper Tales” as a weird combination of western, science fiction and horror.
The weird shows up in Panush’s class choices too. One of his favorites is the Anthropology Department’s Magic and Witchcraft class.
“It exposes [me to] more bizarre religious practices and beliefs that find their way into my stories,” Panush says.
Co-author Jake Delaney and Panush worked together in high school and had known each other through boy scouts from a young age.
“We did the book itself for our senior project but it ended up spilling over into the next year,” Delaney says.
While “Clark Reeper Tales” has only been in the works for a little more than a year, Panush has been writing most of his life.
Panush says it’s easier to balance his writing with the rest of his life in college than it has been in the past.
Chase Madsen, another friend, speaks of Panush with admiration, having watched him write short stories. They were reading Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” when Panush was inspired to write “Clark Reeper Tales”. Although his stories come across loud and clear, Madsen describes Panush as shy in person.
“He’s probably one of the most literate people I know. One of the most fascinated people of creative fiction and it reflects on his writing the most,” Madsen says.
“That’s his passion. For fun, he writes,” Delaney says.
Friends call him passionate, but driven may be another accurate description.
“Every chance I get I force myself to write a few more lines down. Writing, for me, is sort of a compulsion,” Panush says.
Panush is currently working on several stories, including a 1950s retro futurism story.
He says a pirate story that trades swashbuckling pirates with fantastical elements will probably be his next project.
“I want to see him try to get published with legitimate publishers and really become an author in the media,” Madsen says.
