K. Marvin Bruce

Some things I just take for granted. My friend Steve, for example, is an editor. Although he works for a non-fiction publisher, he still knows a few things about the publishing process. He suggested that I share some of it with the struggling writers out there. Most of us dream, I suppose, of getting a book published.  I know I still dream about it.  How does it happen?  With traditional publishers, it begins with a query. Editors are, for the most part, very busy people.  Publishers are the ones who give credibility to writers, and to get published, you need to work with an editor.  All editors work with a “slush pile”—submissions that come in unsolicited.  Until they get your query, editors don’t know you exist, and your submission ends up in the slush pile. Slush piles do get read, but they don’t have the priority that a known author or a repeat author with the press earn.  This can take a surprisingly long time. Many editors requir...

If you’ve ever read any of my stories, I hope that they aren’t the worst you’ve ever seen.    I know individual tastes vary, but those of fiction editors vary maybe a little too much.  Stories written specifically for certain magazines rejected.  The word “subjective” always  slathered on like burn ointment. Sometimes I wonder about the essence of storytelling.  It has changed over time as I found out when my friend Fantasia had to read The Scarlet Letter in high school.  She complained about the overly descriptive narrative that made the plot sometimes hard to follow.  I explained how gothic it was.  Even that didn’t help. No doubt, over time, writing preferences change.  Or should I say reading preferences?  Many of us had to write descriptively in school.  When we carry it over into our fiction we find editors who don’t like our verbosity.  Flash fiction is all the rage in this internet culture of constant cl...

The folks at Danse Macabre are most accommodating.  I’m pleased to announce the appearance of my latest short story, “Circumstance of Victims,” In Danse Macabre 72, Oubliette . This is an experimental piece, but, if read with patience, it makes sense.  It is also, like most fiction, somewhat autobiographical.  If you would like to learn what that means, I would encourage you to read my story.  Those who hold power over employees don’t realize just how awful that responsibility is. I’ve been alive long enough, and with a personality strong enough, to have lost a job or two.  It is never shy of anything but devastating.  The first novel I attempted (unsuccessfully) to publish was about just this.  I suspect the editors who threw it on the slush-pile had never experienced it. I sent the manuscript to my friend Sluggo to read.  S/he said that it was pretty long, but the parts about what it feels like to lose a job were spot on.  A...