Mark Merlis's novels include American Studies, about a closeted literature professor in the McCarthy era; An Arrow's Flight, a riff on the Philoctetes myth, set simultaneously in the ancient and modern worlds; and Man About Town, a tale about politics and growing older set in Washington, DC. His most recent novel, JD, was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in spring 2015. Merlis's work has won the Los Angeles Times book prize, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Ferro-Grumley award for distinction in gay writing.