K. Marvin Bruce

 There'll be more The Space between Atoms shortly.  I promise.  I thought I'd stop to point out a new story publication—we struggling writers need a bit of encouragement every now and again! My weird, perhaps unnerving tale "Between the Sheets" is now live on Yellow Mama .  This story is about what happens when the unexplained comes home to stay.  I'm willing to admit, as most honest people are, that strange things do happen in life.  Often we can find an explanation.  Sometimes we can't. I suspect that's why I like speculative fiction so much.  There's a sense of wonder to it.  As a friend of mine who's a published novelist likes to say, stories need a flux capacitor.  It's a reference to Back to the Future .  It's how Doc's time machine works.  It's never explained because it can't be, but without it there's no story. Some day I may grow brave enough to publish nonfiction about the strange things I've noted in my life...

  I’ve been doing some thinking.   I have dozens of stories written.   Most of them aren’t very good, but several of them are.   I’ve been trying to get them submitted. Part of the problem with being a graphomaniac is that you have so much material that you begin to forget it.   I’ve read some of my own stories that I have no recollection of writing.   One that I recently finished was “Squirrel Play.” Recently finished stories I remember.   I wanted this one to get read, so I decided to aim high.   The Horror Zine is a phenomenon that took off.   I’ve tried to publish there before, without success.   I decided to try again. Much to my surprise, it was accepted.   I’m thrilled beyond words! As a struggling writer I wrestle with self-doubt constantly.   I wasn’t given much encouragement as a writer, except by two English teachers in my high school.   Although that was nearly forty years ago, I only got the courage to submit...