The Listening Machine and Other Stories

Mark Joseph O’Connell

In The Listening Machine and Other Stories, Mark Joseph O’Connell invites readers into a luminous tapestry of love and loss, memory and longing. Through poetic prose and richly rendered characters, these stories unearth the quiet moments of connection that shape a life. Spanning present-day realities and near-future imaginings, the collection is united by a haunting, unflinching voice and a deep exploration of Queer relationships, artistic identity, and the fragile, necessary work of hope. In “Season of the Witch,” an astrophotographer mourning his partner during the pandemic searches the night sky for signs of forgiveness. “Three-Part Harmony” traces the complicated legacy of a beloved Queer indie band. A young designer’s life unfolds across decades  and continents in “The Shapes” as he chases beauty, reinvents himself through art, and confronts love, illness, and legacy, each experience shaping him like fabric cut, draped, and carried by the wind.  In “Thrifty,” two women find unexpected love amid protest, creativity, and the making of a new life. In “Benediction,” a man returns from Rome to his dying grandfather’s farmhouse, where faith, silence, queerness, and long-buried family truths collide in a tender reckoning. “Guts” follows a gentle textile artist drawn into the seductive, perilous orbit of a body-obsessed sculptor, a charged affair that becomes a confrontation with the price of being truly seen. In “Ace,” a once-celebrated Toronto painter facing eviction, desire, and a rapidly shifting city must decide what kind of life, and love, he is willing to claim. Finally, in the near-future title story, “The Listening Machine,” a lonely man’s bond with an AI companion casts light on the deepest reaches of human longing. Evocative and profoundly moving, The Listening Machine and Other Stories is a literary songbook of desire, art, and resilience. O’Connell’s character-driven tales brim with lyrical intensity, each one echoing long after the final page is turned.

Available now on the MarkOConnellStudio bookstore:

“Glass Jaw”

Lyrics, melody and vocals: Mark O’Connell. (AI has been used for instrumentation on this track). ©2026 Mark O’Connell. All rights reserved. No part of this song, including its lyrics, melody, composition, arrangement, or recording, may be reproduced, distributed, performed, adapted, or used in any form without prior written permission from the copyright owner. This song is inspired by my short story: “Three Part Harmony” from my book The Listening Machine and Other Stories. “Three-Part Harmony” traces the complicated legacy of a beloved Queer indie band, a throuple that is splintering as the pressures of potential success fights the weight of the past.