K. Marvin Bruce

  Scholars have a fancy name for ancient texts that claim to have been written by someone who clearly isn’t the author.   The word is “pseudepigrapha.”   It’s a way of admitting that we know who didn’t write something, but we’re not fooled by the attribution. The modern equivalent, to some extent, is the pseudonym.   The pen name.   Nom de plume.   Nom de guerre.   Assumed name.   Alias.   Most pen names can be traced to an author’s real name by those very interested.   Even famous writers use them.   For many reasons. Stephen King, for instance, even after becoming famous, has written under a pen name from time-to-time.   And J. K. Rowling used her initials so that it wouldn’t be obvious she was a woman.   Those of us who make a living doing something else sometimes use pseudonyms because of our jobs.   That’s why I do it. Now that my first novel is under contract with Parisian Phoenix, I’ve been thinking about the ...

  I suspect some writers, perhaps many, are, like me, self doubters.   Imposter syndrome gone wild.   That’s why when someone says, “I’m interested,” we light up.   If you were rejected a lot in your youth it doesn’t make it any easier as an adult. For the second time my first good novel (I’ve written some not good ones) has found an interested publisher.   There’s a validation there.   A quiet joy that seldom comes from anything else. It looks like Interview with the Gorgon will be out in 2027, published by Parisian Phoenix Publishing.   This novel was under contract with Vagabondage in 2012.   The acquiring editor left before it hit production and the press decided to kill it.   But Medusa won’t die. In subsequent years I kept trying.   Many small presses.   I queried over 100 agents.   One responded that it was obviously a smart story and I was an intelligent writer, but it wasn’t for her.   Otherwise, crickets. In ord...

  I’ve been quiet for a while because I was working on a novel.   I’ve written novels before; seven of them.   Thing is, they’ve never been published.   One was under contract and then cancelled.   Now it’s under consideration again.   The other six are very patient. In addition to these novels, I’ve also written a nonfiction manuscript using my pen name.   It’s not published either.   The reason for this cross-over is that my current employment might become my past job if anyone read this piece.   Best to keep my identity false. Long-form writing is something I enjoy doing.   I do want some of the novels to be published, but it seems that you have to have someone take a chance on one before anyone will bother to look at another.   Such is the writing life. Just a thought, but for my fiction you need to give it a little time.   The first page might not snatch you, but the stories draw you in.   I read novels like that. ...