Well, my friends, I have made the grade. I will be eternally famous so long as Wikipedia is online.
I decided to look up the Black Orchid Novella Award, which is my only claim to fame. There, on the Wikipedia page, is my name as the winner of the 2018 BONA. So now my name will live on the internet long after I’m gone. Whoo hoo.
So long as I was strolling through the internet, I decided to see if anyone read my two Minerva James books on Kindle, Minerva James and the Temple of Apollo and Minerva James and the Goddess of Deceit. Turns out I have two 5 star reviews for each book! Two more satisfied customers!
Google also likes to throw around Minerva James and the Good Goddess, a short story I placed in the Dandelion Revolution’s anthology “Not as You Were Told.” It’s actually one of my favorite Minerva short stories, as Minerva goes to jail for disobeying a judge. But it’s part of her plan. I wrote that story specifically for the anthology. They liked it so much, they’re going to put another Minerva story, Minerva James and the God of Strangers in their next anthology, which I’ll put a link to as soon as they publish.
In fact, looking on the Goodreads website, they’ve helpfully listed many of my online books and anthology appearances without my asking. Gee, thanks, guys!
Inspired by this, I’ve just posted a new page to this blog. It gives you links to some anthologies, magazines, and Kindle books I’ve written. I’ve even included Danse Macabre, a book I wrote in 2013 under the pseudonym Peter Cain. The book is a series of bizarre short stories told by a skeletal storyteller and a wandering bard in a fictional medieval setting. It gained a one-star review from someone in Germany who didn’t get that the stories were randomly told. He thought it was too philosophical, and he doesn’t like philosophy or ethics. And he calls himself a German!
Anyway, It looks like my name will live as long as the internet. Some consolation, I guess.
Mark Bruce, Writer 