When Jane Austen died in 1817, her novels were soon forgotten. They were considered too tame, too normal. All they did was reflect her time, her society, her friends and neighbors. Not like the dramatic novels of, say, Dumas (of Three Musketeers fame) or Sir Walter Scott. No knights in armor, no swordfights. No carContinue reading “Jane’s World”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Stinky Humans
“You’re wrong about humans. Yeah, they may be stinky, greedy, stupid, foolish, dangerous and…uh, what was I saying?” “That humans are stinky.” “Yeah, they’re the worst…” That bit of dialogue has never found its way into one of my stories, but I think about humanity and all its perfidy quite often. As a mystery writer,Continue reading “Stinky Humans”
A Prayer for My Country
This is the song I hope to sing at Mass the day after July 4th. A Prayer for My Country Intro: We live in troubled times, Lord We talk in bitter rhymes, Lord We argue and we threaten and we fight. Yet after all these years I find Our lives are still intertwined This isContinue reading “A Prayer for My Country”
Flo
For the last few weeks I’ve had a companion when I take a shower. A rather aggressive female I named Flo. Flo is a house spider of the type pictured above. She’s not poisonous and is not interested in biting me unless I try to mess with her. In fact, according to Wikipedia, she’s notContinue reading “Flo”
My Moment With Brian Wilson
The sad news of the passing of Brian Wilson came across my Sirius XM radio the other night. He was a vital voice in rock and roll, a seminal figure in both the music and the legend of rock, a man who made music like no other. Years ago (in the late 90s) I wasContinue reading “My Moment With Brian Wilson”
Writing It Out
I recently broke my writer’s block. I did it by writing. Which is like saying, I got over my fear of heights by going on the high dive, I got rid of my unemployment by going back to work, I got rid of my lethargy by deciding to exercise. I mean, of course the wayContinue reading “Writing It Out”
Those Pesky Rights
There seems to be some confusion in America about Due Process and the right to a Writ of Habeus Corpus. I can understand. Why, it seems like only yesterday that no one worried about being abducted by government agents in America. Russia, yes. North Korea, yes. Burbank? Really? Since I am still a lawyer, IContinue reading “Those Pesky Rights”
Music, Music, Music
In about 15 minutes I am loading the guitars into the car and heading to Victorville. There’s a recording studio there and I’m due at 2 (hey! a rhyme!) to start “putting down tracks,” as they say in the business. In other words, I’m going to record some songs. Every Saturday night I sing atContinue reading “Music, Music, Music”
Life Without Women
I have lived with four women in my 68 years. None of them stuck around terribly long. The longest was the first wife, The Sweet One. She and I were together 7 years, mostly because we were both so busy that we didn’t get on one another’s nerves until the very end. Last year IContinue reading “Life Without Women”
Easter is a’coming…
Easter is the forgotten holiday, a sort of stop along the way to summer in which we sort of celebrate Spring. Which is puzzling, since Easter should be the biggest deal on the Christian calendar. Easter celebrates the rising from the dead of Jesus. It’s the founding event of the Christian religion. We make aContinue reading “Easter is a’coming…”
Mark Bruce, Writer 