Welcome to the Official Website for Mark Bohac
Mark Bohac was born in Chicago in 1961 and lived there until his father accepted a job relocation and moved the family to Dayton, Ohio in 1972. He graduated from the University of Dayton in 1983, a “wholly unremarkable student,” in his own words. It took him nearly 40 years to complete his first novel based on a memoir he kept as a young man coming of age in the late 1980s, A Bullet in the Head, An Arrow Through the Heart. He self-published the novel in 2023, when he was 62 years old.
A Bullet in the Head, An Arrow Through the Heart won the 18 th Annual National Indie Excellence Award and was recognized as a Finalist in the 2024 Wishing Shelf Awards. He is currently working on a follow-up novel.
Mark Bohac lives in Rhode Island with his family.
About Mark Bohac
Mark Bohac recently self-published his debut novel,
A Bullet in the Head, An Arrow Through the Heart.
Coming in at almost 500 pages in an age of instant
gratification and short attention spans, readers are
enjoying the ride.
“A compelling journey back to the 1980s packed full
of perfectly timed humor. Excellent for upsetting the
politically correct.” The Wishing Shelf Book Review
“This a NOT a short novel. But that’s okay. …it’s
probably not a book for feminists, but it’s funny, and
often insightful.” Male reader, aged 45
Bohac starting working on A Bullet in the Head, An
Arrow Through the Heart, in 1990 while living in
Atlanta “and running out of options,” as he describes
things.
A career in insurance paid the bills over the next 30+
years, and with that nonsense out of the way, he
was able to come back to his love of writing as a
sixtysomething and finish what he started so long
ago.
Along the way, he ran four marathons, dabbled in
stand-up comedy, and raised four kids with his
muse. He tends bar when he's not trying to write.
Bohac cites John Irving’s The World According to
Garp and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick among the
works of literature that inspired him to write. Bohac’s
writing is a mix of happy and sad, told in a common
voice, as it examines the common themes of
friendship and coming of age.
“A roller-coaster of a read – sad, happy, melancholy,
crazy – never a dull moment.” Male reader, aged 57
Bohac promises it won’t take another 40 years to
write a follow-up novel, and he promises the next
one will be considerably less than 500 pages, as
well.
Mark Bohac welcomes inquiries and feedback from
readers. You can write him at markbo61@mail.com.
Critical Acclaim
‘A laugh-out-loud, politically incorrect (in a good way) novel that has its thought-provoking moments too. A FINALIST and highly recommended!’
- The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
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