Naomi’s American Family Two Families. One New World. A Century of Promise & Detours.
Compelling stories of ambition, broken dreams, and the human condition — told without restraint.
Mature audiences who appreciate compelling fiction — stories with weight, wit, and an unflinching view of the world.
“I am my books, and my books are me — compelling stories of ambition, broken dreams, and the human condition, told without restraint.”
Mark Carp
I’m the father of a 52-year-old son. I have a commercial and industrial real estate brokerage business and have written twenty works of fiction, including novels, novellas, short stories, and a screenplay. I live in Baltimore, Maryland, and hold a B.S. degree from the University of Maryland and an M.S. degree from Johns Hopkins University.
I enjoy the creative aspects of writing fiction, and I try to create realistic characters with flaws and strengths that readers can identify with. I also enjoy creating plots that keep readers engaged. I have been reviewed locally and nationally, sometimes with critical acclaim. I am currently working on my next book.
I have a particular view of the world, and I seldom deviate from my beliefs. I despise political correctness. I admire people with keen intellects, and I can’t stand phonies. If you talk to me for ten minutes, you’ll know 90% of what you need to know.
What Drives the Work
Why I Write
I write to tell compelling stories the reader can identify with through plots and characters. My work reflects my views, and I don’t hold back. I believe in moving the plot along, and I use dialogue to do it. My inspiration comes from my love of writing.
Characters & Truth
The characters in my books often range from integrity to perfidy. None of my characters is perfect. People can interpret my works any way they wish. I don’t try to save the world in my works. I feel my fiction has more than a ring of truth.
Life is a Blueprint
I’ve learned in life there is no substitute for effort, and you never say never. If you get knocked down, you better get up, or else you can get trampled. Life can change in a heartbeat, and tomorrow is another day. In the end, one must learn to accept the good with the bad and go on.
Engaging Readers
The writer has keen insights. He knows human nature. He’s an exceptional storyteller who doesn’t waste words. His prose is lean and absorbing. He really gets it. I transmit my beliefs into my plots and characters so my readers can identify with the story — I want them to say: “The author got it right. He really nailed it.”
Life in Baltimore
Naomi’s American Family
“Naomi’s American Family” is a compelling piece of historical fiction set between the turn of the twentieth century and the Great Depression, during a time of profound change in the United States. The story follows two Russian-Jewish families as immigrants making their way in a New World.
The main characters work in Hollywood movie-making, clothing manufacturing, and organized crime — and each finds a world rich with promise, but each faces unique detours.
The Bibliography
Twenty works of fiction — novels, novellas, short stories, and a screenplay. Each one a world of ambition, consequence, and the human condition.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Novelist Mark Carp is a writer of extraordinary talent. “Naomi’s ‘American’ Family” is a consistently compelling and deeply engaging read from beginning to end.
The Author Speaks
Mark Carp doesn’t take classes to hone his craft. Instead, the Pikesville-based novelist takes what he knows and what interests him, and spins all of that into stories.
“Maybe this is a bit cynical but if I had taken a course in novel writing, I may never have written the first word,” says Carp, owner of a commercial and industrial real estate business. “It’s just something I started doing, and I really enjoyed it.”
Carp, 70, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, where he was an assistant sports editor for The Diamondback, the school’s campus newspaper. But after his graduation in 1969, Carp decided to lay down his pen. He began writing again about 25 years later, reporting on sports for the Terrapin Times in the 1990s. In time, though, Carp found his enthusiasm for sports writing dwindling.
He had just begun writing stories and soon realized that fiction — not journalism — was where his passion lay. In nine months, he wrote his first novel, “Abraham: The Last Jew.” Since then, Carp has written and self-published six novels with Jewish themes, conveying the breadth of the human experience through individual stories.
His latest novel, “Naomi’s American Family” (Xlibris), tells the story of two Russian Jewish cousins who immigrate to the United States in the early 20th century. Naomi is the first to arrive, and some years later, her cousin Joseph joins her and her family. Each works hard to achieve the “American Dream.”
Carp says Judaism is important to all of his characters, yet it is not the primary theme of his novels. Rather, it is woven into the stories.
“I put Jews in particular situations where they have to relate to each other’s faith and some of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the good and bad times,” he says. “How they practice, what they practice, that’s a personal decision on their part. My books aren’t overtly religious.”
A Beth Am congregant, Carp reads a lot, both fiction and nonfiction, and credits authors Irwin Shaw, Herman Wouk and Paddy Chayefsky with inspiring him. Of the latter, Carp says, “His genius was that he was great at understanding human nature and conveying it to the audience or reader.”
Carp says he writes every day between 5 and 6 a.m. “My writing is based on feel, instinct and spontaneity,” he says. “I go with my gut, I go with my instincts, I go with my knowledge, I go with what I know and what I feel.”
Carp says he is proud knowing that his novels have touched readers and also of his determination to stay true to his vision of his novels.
“I’d like to think I tell very compelling, very realistic, very hard-nosed stories that reflect real life while being very politically incorrect,” he says. “And I’m going to keep doing it until I can’t do it any longer, which I hope will be never.”
Carp’s advice to young writers? “Write about what you know and put your gut on the pages and don’t be afraid,” he says. “I hate to sound crass, but … do what you wanna do, you hear me? You do what you want to do because when you do that, you’re going to be happy with yourself.
“If it’s not a labor of love, you can’t do it.”
Authors Who Shaped the Work
These authors have influenced me through their compelling plots and unforgettable characters — writers who understood that great fiction holds a mirror to human nature without flinching.
The Few Who Led the Many
A husband-and-wife team pioneering the art of public relations — from the eve of World War I through the Kennedy assassination.
Stay tuned for more details on this next work of fiction.
Images & Moments
Get in Touch
“If you talk to me for ten minutes, you’ll know ninety percent of what you need to know.”