The Hounds of Love is a collection of poems that tell a familiar story in an unrestrained free verse form. This is a story of love discovered, love lived, love lost, and love rediscovered. In this story, love has no form, no rules, and no boundaries. It is free and it is loose and it is dogged by all of us, relentlessly. Like a pack of hounds on a hunt, it is a game, with one prize, and one loser. The author, Mark Allen Gray, holds a Master of Science degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. Since childhood, Mark has been an avid student of literature and enjoys writing, in particular, capturing and condensing life events and emotions into poems. Mark's style draws on the creative, logical, and technical elements of computer science in his professional life and blends them with the raw emotional events and experiences of his personal life within a social and political framework that nurtures freedom. Mark's major literary and poetic influences include Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Jim Morrison, and Charles Baudelaire. Love is a big subject to explore. Writers and artists of all types have been driven by its mystery, thrill, and madness for many millennia. It is the author's hope that the reader will find some entertainment or healing value in this small story. "This collection of poetry is intense and savagely ironic. The author's palette of emotion, raw expression, and cautious optimism is an accomplishment for every taste in his generation. It is original, unforgettable, and hauntingly enticing... What a book! I couldn't put it down. Your heart will pound to every beat of this work. This collection is a must read...a catharsis!" ̄ Janean Adelstein