Once again, my friends, I have placed in the finals in the Killer Nashville Claymore Awards, an unpublished manuscript competition. Once again, it is in the Comedy category–my unpublished book “The Return of Edsel Eddie,” a rock and roll fable, garnered the honors.
This year I am going to Music City to be a part of the convention. Indeed, they’ve asked me to give a talk about the life of a trial lawyer. My title: “Perry Mason Was a Terrible Lawyer.” Those of you who read the blog regularly will recognize my distaste with the television Perry, who would accuse every single witness on the stand of murder until he hit on the right one.
But my little comedy book has nothing to do with that. Instead, it’s a funny telling of a has-been band getting back together because they’re suddenly popular on Spotify. Every third chapter is from the Notebook of Edsel Eddie, with gems like this:
My friend, God loves to fuck with the songwriter. Sure, you can write songs that don’t come from God. Tin Pan Alley was all about throwing cliches out there, both lyrical and musical, just to make a buck. Some of these songs are pretty good. But they never quite resonate the way a God-given song does. It’s the difference between We’re An American Band—a silly, paint-by-the-numbers song which sold a million copies—and the aforementioned Rock And Roll, Hootchie Koo, which for all its lively foolishness, is touched by the angels.
I think the book got in on Edsel’s notebooks, though the story has some funny moments, too. Do I think I’ll win? Are you insane? I don’t win these things. (Okay, I won the Black Orchid Novella Award. That was a delightful fluke). But I’m hoping some publisher at the conference will like Edsel enough to give him a ride.
And yes, I noticed what I did there.
Mark Bruce, Writer 