K. Marvin Bruce

My friend Steve likes horror movies.   It’s something we share in common, and it’s one of the things that brought us together back in college.   He recently published a book that some horror fans will enjoy— Holy Horror . The idea here—Steve used to teach biblical studies—is that you can learn quite a bit about the Bible from watching horror movies.   It’s an interesting idea because a lot of conservative Christians believe horror is evil.   From the Devil, even. I find this kind of book interesting because it bring two unexpected fields together.   I write horror stories.   (I’ve got one ready to go, if I can only find the time to get it through Submittable.)   I watch horror movies.   Who would think of finding the Bible in such places? His larger point, I think, is that horror and religion are closely related.   That I can get!   Have you seen the how the evangelicals behave lately?   How they rally around ...

A friend who is also a writer sent me a story to read.  It is a rare and distinct pleasure to read what other unknown writers write.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but his story, as always, captivated me with secrets he wasn’t telling.  He writes well. My friend studied mythology in college.  His stories draw from the characters of the Classics.  This isn’t a bad place to look for ideas.  I sometimes use the Bible for the same purposes.  The old stories never seem to wear out. Another friend, this one assures me he is no writer, sends me a story every year.  He writes ghost stories for his nieces and nephews and he includes me because I ask him to.  His stories are uncanny, but they don’t scare.   Both friends write stories with cars.  I stopped to think about this.  Cars have created their own little microcosm where stories play out.  One of my published stories, “Fashion Wear for Gentlemen” takes place mostl...

I'm pleased to announce that my latest story, “Pearls before Swine,” has just appeared in Dali’s LoveChild .  If you care to read it, the link is here . This story concerns the metaphorical fate of a Bible believer.  It takes place in a Bible store in the Arizona desert.  I have to give my friend Steve credit for the main idea, although the setting was inspired by a trip I once made to Tempe. Steve was raised in a very religious household.  The Bible was a big deal to him growing up.  In the bookstores in his hometown and at his college, accessories for Bibles were big business.  The book itself was so sacred that you couldn’t put it on the floor or lay other books on top of it. I wondered what it must’ve been like to have been raised in such an environment.  Would you eventually reject what you’d been taught?  Would you simply accept it all your life and push on with a meek living in an unsatisfying job? The two brothers in...

As I sit here lingering on the edge of self-publishing, I decided to read an improbable novel recommended to me by my friend Steve.  Robert Repino’s Mort(e) is an apocalyptic tale about a cat whose single-minded purpose leads to a poignant conclusion.  I won’t spoil it for you; I’m a professional. I’m always encouraged to see madcap novels published.  The Medusa novel I have out with about six publishers at the moment is bat-shit funny.  It is also intelligent, and maybe that’s my problem. I know editors, and they are fallible people.  They have sins just like the rest of us.  Their deadly sin, it seems, is not being able to see the potential in a story that’s clearly got it.  Repino, according to Steve, had a tough time finding a publisher for what is clearly a brilliant novel.  His story gives me hope. It might just be easiest to give up, but when I think this I realize that publishers are starved for good content.  To get to ...

My young writing partner Elizabeth often used to ask me if she was writing something the right way.  I responded that there is no right way to write.  Sure, there are rules and conventions that help more often than not, but when it comes to writing, you do what comes natural. I can’t know, but I suspect, this is one of the reasons it is so difficult to get published these days.  I do know publishing professionals, and they all say that publishers want works “like” those of a best selling author.  As close to a sure thing as a publisher can get. True creativity, however, blazes trails.  I enjoy fiction that I have a difficult time classifying.  Genres, after all, are guidelines to help us categorize written works.  Sometimes, however, the categories just don’t match the reality. I often write by phrases.  Phrases come to me—often at the worst possible time—that seem to be the basis for a story.  Phrase gets added to phrase, light ...

As an erstwhile novelist (six written so far, none published), I have always relied on inspiration.  That is to say, all the novels came to me.  The ideas were there, ready to suggest themselves.  Like a comparable date. I finished my latest effort last summer.  I still need to go back and rewrite and revise, but the fact is it has an introduction, plot, characterization, climax, denouement, and conclusion.  It is complete in draft.  The same is true of its five siblings. I’m now in the process of trying to cobble together another.  You see, I have only a few minutes each day to write—usually less than an hour.  As a result, I frequently produce short stories.  I’ve have 13 published, but I have dozens more to submit.  Since some of these stories share a setting, I wondered… Can a novel be Frankensteined from these disparate parts?  I know novelists have done this many, many times before.  The characters, however, ...