Ask the Author: Bruce Paley
Answered Questions (10)
Bruce Paley
President Donald Trump. Arrrrrrghhhh!
Bruce Paley
Donald Trump ran for President. And won.
Bruce Paley
Hi John,
To be honest I no longer really keep track of developments in the Jack the Ripper world, so I'll have to decline your offer, intriguing as it sounds. You might want to contact authors such as Paul Begg, Philip Sugden, or Robin Odell, or others, if you haven't already. There's also a lively site (I assume it's still going) called Casebook on Jack the Ripper. Or you might like to post them elsewhere on-line. I would add that if your findings are valid then you might consider working them into a book - publishers are always interested in new angles on the case - or perhaps an article in one of those True Detective or True Crime magazines. I know they look a bit down market, but I first published my theory in True Crime in 1982, and it eventually led to my book.
To be honest I no longer really keep track of developments in the Jack the Ripper world, so I'll have to decline your offer, intriguing as it sounds. You might want to contact authors such as Paul Begg, Philip Sugden, or Robin Odell, or others, if you haven't already. There's also a lively site (I assume it's still going) called Casebook on Jack the Ripper. Or you might like to post them elsewhere on-line. I would add that if your findings are valid then you might consider working them into a book - publishers are always interested in new angles on the case - or perhaps an article in one of those True Detective or True Crime magazines. I know they look a bit down market, but I first published my theory in True Crime in 1982, and it eventually led to my book.
Bruce Paley
Without hesitation I can say that my favourite fictional couple is Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty from Jack Kerouac's seminal novel On the Road. In 1968 my teenage girlfriend and I set out to hitch-hike to California, and while we parted our ways in Peoria, Illinois (shortly after all our possessions had been stolen), I went on to California by myself, and had all sorts of (mis)adventures, including a spell in an Oklahoma jail, a mad 300-mile ride on a 1250cc Harley, sleeping on a Saturday night in a parked car in an auto dealership and waking up the next morning gasping for air (I had foolishly closed all the windows tight), getting stuck on the Texas panhandle in 100º heat, getting a 1000-mile from some kids from New York who had stolen their mother's car, stealing my way across the USA by nicking sandwiches, candy bars, and even light clothing from gas stations and truck stops, and arriving in LA with - literally - 2¢ in my pocket. Back in New York, I was telling a friend about my adventures when he suggested I read this book called On the Road. Not only was Kerouac voicing some of my thoughts and name-checking some of the same places I had just been (like Terre Haute, Indiana) but I found myself empathising with Kerouac via his alter ego character Sal Paradise - there is a vein of sadness that runs through all of Kerouac's books that really touched me.
And so a hero was born....
And so a hero was born....
Bruce Paley
Can't say. In my case I've got more things that I want to write than I'll probably get around to. But you can't force it, just relax and when it comes it comes.
Bruce Paley
For me it's having your day for yourself. Some writers talk about it being a lonely profession, but I don't feel that at all. It's also a terrific kick seeing your article or story in a magazine or anthology for the first time, or seeing your book in a bookshop! Few things are better than that.
Bruce Paley
Quite simple: read, read, and read some more, and write regularly - after a while a door sort of opens, and books and stories come out. Someone once said you should write every day, even if it's just your name.
Bruce Paley
A few projects are in the pipeline, including a Renaissance-set novel, and a project combining photographs I took of abandoned houses in Wales, with relevant poems by Welsh poets (I'm an American, late of London, now living - happily - in rural Pembrokeshire).
Bruce Paley
I don't think you can look for inspiration, it has to come to you. All you can do is be open to it.
Bruce Paley
Back in 1997 read an article in The Guardian about a Hungarian dwarf troupe that had survived two world wars, the Nazis and the communists, but couldn't survive the financial dictates of capitalism. The idea stayed with me, and not long afterwards I began working on the book, creating all the characters and situations, revising it over the years and doing numerous drafts until I was satisfied with the one I put on Amazon.
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