K. Marvin Bruce

Fear notwithstanding, Terah crept close to the fire.   Pulled off his gloves to hold out his hands.   He looked at Mich in the dim light.   Young guy, not yet shaving.   At least it didn’t show.   What was his story?   “What do you do for food?” he asked. “Well, I’m stocked up at the moment, but I go out at night when I need supplies.   Found a few places with locks that accept MasterCard.   Only take a little from each, though.   Nobody ever misses it, I’m sure.   I try to avoid fresh snow, though.”   He gave Terah a small scowl. “I didn’t mean to bust in on you, man.   I’m just heading west.” “West to California?   Long way from here.   Most guys head south.” “I’ve got family west of here.” “Just passin’ through, then?” “Yup.” “Well, do me a favor and wait til the snow melts.   I can’t have your big feet givin’ me away.” They sat in silence for a while, watching the small fire. “You could pro...

I get the feeling not many people are truly haunted.   I know I am.   The reason I get this feeling is that my fiction, which clearly reveals evidence of haunting, is always a hard sell.   I can’t give it away, at times. You see, some of us are haunted by life.   I recently read a biography of one of my childhood heroes, Rod Serling.   The biographer said he wasn’t a haunted man, he just played one on TV.   Not that I want anyone else to be haunted, but I felt a little let down by that assessment. Is there something wrong with admitting being haunted?   Like the stigma of mental illness?   Why are people so afraid of those who are haunted?   I’ve always felt drawn to them.   You’d think the internet might be where we could find one another. Yet I had behind a pseudonym.   Why?   I’m afraid.   I’m afraid to lose my “real job” that I don’t enjoy.   Afraid that my family will find out what’s i...

There’s something about towers.  My friend Steve visited High Point State Park in New Jersey yesterday.  He posted some pictures of the tower on top of the highest spot in the state.  It looks like a cross between Monty Python and a haunted lighthouse inside. His post got me to thinking about towers.  Towers are some of the most moody locations for fiction (and some non-fiction) drama.  There’s inherent danger in a tower.  The climbing of a tower always implies threat. Fear of falling, as my writing partner Elizabeth reminds me, is evident even in young babies that haven’t learned to walk.  We fear the sudden drop. I used to watch Ghost Hunters on television.  When they visited lighthouses it was always easy to believe in a haunting.  Historically lighthouses were often isolated locations, very lonely and somber.  The thought of being trapped so far away from others suggests tragedy. One of the early, great stop-m...