Hi, and thank you

for checking out my site.

 

In 1962, I graduated from Brooklyn College, put the BA in theater in my back pocket, and became a folk singer. Then, I became a folk-rock singer/songwriter and, ultimately, a recording-studio singer and composer of many successful jingles, including McDonald’s, Lipton Tea, and Jeep.

Over the years, I was fortunate enough to have written songs for Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, and the Pointer Sisters, and to have sung backup for Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Peggy Lee, Carly Simon, and others. I was also with the improvisational comedy group War Babies.

During the ’90s, the music business dried up for a lot of people, including yours truly. After a brief period of mourning, I began writing mystery novels and short stories. I’ve written three novels, Hits From The Past, Death in the Jingle Jungle, and Diehard Fan. Over fifty of my short stories are currently appearing in literary magazines, and I received a Pushcart Prize nomination for short fiction. Many of these stories are lined up below for you to click on and read.

Also, just to give you an idea of my music, I set up a page with some of the songs I wrote, sang, and recorded “back in the day,” both with my band and solo in my MIDI studio.

I hope you enjoy it all, and, if so, please come back, because I’ve got a lot of stuff, and I’ll be updating this site periodically. Thanks again!

Lenny is a versatile, “think outside the box” writer. His work can be attention-grabbing and vivid with colorful characters and fun twists, or it can be “quiet,” emotional, and deeply human. We know better than to be lured into a sense of security by his judicious and careful prose: In Lenny’s world, anything can happen.—Writer’s Relief

 

Publications

 

Acronyms R Us (Perceptions Magazine)

And Foolish Notion (Eleven Eleven)

ArToo #MeToo (Penmen Review)

Assholes Anonymous (Down in the Dirt)

Autocorrect (Bamboo Ridge)

Cat As Cat Can

Chairman Of The Bored (Cairn)

Compared to What? (Verdad)

Compromising Position (Evening Street Review)

Conversation Pieces

Crazy Little Thing Called Death (Penmen Review)

Damning with Faint Praise (Forge)

Dear John (Dirty Goat)

Deities Limited (Drunk Monkeys)

Dyscustody (Packingtown Review)

Dying Well is the Best Revenge (The Umbrella Factory Magazine)

E-3

Exed Out (Diverse Voices Quarterly)

False Equivalency.com (Penmen Review)

Fear Itself (The Chamber Magazine)

Feelin’ Guruvy (Blue Lake Review, Fall 2020

Flash Mob Rule

Fortune Cookies (Blue Lake Review, Spring 2019)

Glockenspiel (Bitter Oleander, Spring 2014)

Heather’s Problem (The Thieving Magpie)

Horror Story (Opiate Magazine)

Ignorance Power (Umbrella Factory)

I M What I M (Down in the Dirt Magazine)

Internet Legend (Riversedge and The Griffin)

Ire Land (Litbreak Magazine)

It Unrings A Bell

Jerry’s Lucky Number (Avalon Literary Review)

The Joke (Diverse Voices Quarterly; Vol. 7, Issue 27)

Just Kidding (Blue Lake)

Kid Lit (Forge, Spring 2016)

Libido (Diverse Voices Quarterly; Vol 8, Issue 30)

Little Things Mean A Lot

The Malady Lingers On

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (Crack the Spine)

One More Round

Out of Context (Rougarou)

The Phisherman (The Umbrella Factory Magazine)

The Power Of Positive Pessimism (Westview)

The Power That Be (Rio Grande Review)

Questionable Behavior (Wild Violet)

Reasonable (Hobo Pancakes)

Rosh Hashana, Mon (FOLIO)

Right To Life

Shop ‘Til You Drop

Social Management (Down in the Dirt Magazine)

Sotto Voce (Treehouse Arts Magazine)

So You Want To Be A Murderer

Stand-up And Be Counted (Sandpiper)

Such Sweet Sorrow

Tales From The Cryptic (Jabberwock Review)

The Waiter Show (Griffin)

Time Before Time (Teleport Magazine)

To Your Hurt’s Desire (Evening Street Review)

What’s In A Name? (Slab)

We Come, We Go

Who Do You Think I Think You Are?

Whose Fault? (Lowestoft Chronicle)

With A Twist (Amarillo Bay)

Wisdom 101 (Evening Street Review)

Diehard Fan, Chapter 1

Death in the Jingle Jungle, Chapter 1

 

Reviews for Diehard Fan and

Death in the Jingle Jungle

“The ingredients all work to deliver a compelling, entertaining novel. The author builds the suspense masterfully, combining the diverse plot elements – baseball, a young boy’s coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, 1950’s nostalgia and a suspenseful subplot – into a compelling story. Give Diehard Fan a whirl; you’ll enjoy it.”

—Baseball Books for Baseball People

“As the story winds its way to its surprising revelation, Levine packs the narrative with nostalgic social and cultural minutiae (like apartment dumbwaiters for collecting garbage and the ubiquitous candy store / magazine shop / soda fountains serving egg creams) evocative of NYC outer-borough life during the early 1950s, when baseball was king. Riveting, detailed play-by-play accounts of the final games in the play-off series are salted throughout every chapter, sure to delight baseball enthusiasts… An engaging mystery, best for baseball aficionados.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Levine paints an extraordinary picture of the commercial jingle world, an industry whose silliness (some of the jingle lyrics provided are hilariously banal) is belied by the savage nature of its competitiveness.…This is an endlessly entertaining novel—funny, edifying, and immersive. A captivating tale that artfully explicates a strange profession.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Lenny Levine