...About the Emily Chesley Reading Circle
... News | Whaaa? | Letters of Annoyance

18th Century lithograph from the Renier (Rayner) family archives.  Notice the family motto, inscribed in its original French.  Translation: "The more I drink the better I sing."  Truer words were never written. The Squire was introduced to the fruit of the vine at a very early age.

Mark A. Rayner, Esquire

Born into a family of Niagara Wine makers in February 1966, Mark spent his early years reading, playing guitar and enjoying hikes in the Niagara Peninsula region. Early in life Mark proved he had a "head for business"; he was an idea man. While in high school he toyed with the thought of starting his own watch line, appropriately enough called the ESQUIRE line. Unfortunately someone beat him to the patent office with the concept and turned the business into a multi-million dollar a year company (but the nickname stuck).

To combat his depression, and to cool the sting of his newnickname, Mark decided to learn more about the wine making industry and toured extensively through Australia, Italy and France (for some strange and still unexplained reason wine reserves dropped in every country through which he traveled). After exhaustive research Mark returned to Canada and enrolled in university. While cramming particularly hard one evening (at some place called Alfie’s) he came up with the idea of ice wines; but again he was beaten to the market; his innovation was only moderately successful, and his parents gross margin return on investment was terrible. The ice wine division was shut down.

His depression was severe and he decided to travel through the U.K. and Central Europe to study BEER. (His parents, being wine makers, were appalled about this lack of moral fortitude -- My GOD! beer of all things, why couldn’t it just be loose women or drugs?) Mark learned all about the Bavarian Purity Law of 1492 and what it means to beer drinkers the world over. It was at this point that he came up with the concept of a discount beer name linked to a major retailer. Mark’s father gave him the venture capital needed to get the business off the ground but some guy named Dave Nichol beat him to market.

Mark, sensing that his life as an entrepreneur was doomed to failure, went back to university to earn his Masters. While there he learned of Emily Chesley and immediately dedicated his life to forwarding her ideals and bringing her incredible works of fiction to the masses. He is a founding member of the Emily Chesley Reading Circle and a respected Chesleyan scholar.

Mark is the co-author of the Unified Field Theory of Drinking and the Lizard, several unpublished novels, Aurora-nominated short fiction, and the recently released biography of Dr. Maximilian Tundra, Degeneralities.

You may contact him via email.

--"Scholarship" by the Dude

Emily's Bio | The Oeuvre | Flannigan Bio | Inventions
Associated Figures | Literary Contest | The Frolics Store
About the Circle | Search this Site | Home

Join our mailing list or send us email.

All written material, graphics, logo, and html coding
© copyright 2003-2005 The Emily Chesley Reading Circle

Web Monkey : Mark A. Rayner