Hi. I’m J.C. Bruce, journalist and author of The Strange Files — a series of novels, a newsletter, a blog, and a bunch of other stuff.
About the books:
There are six books in The Strange Files series chronicling the adventures of Alexander Strange, a columnist for Tropic Press, an online news service, who specializes in coverage of news of the weird.
In sequence, the books are THE STRANGE FILES, FLORIDA MAN, GET STRANGE, STRANGE CURRENTS, MISTER MANNERS, and STRANGE TIMING.
They are available as hardcovers, trade paperbacks and eBooks at all major online book retailers. MISTER MANNERS and STRANGE TIMING are also available as audiobooks.
Recently, STRANGE CURRENTS, GET STRANGE, and MISTER MANNERS received top honors in the Royal Palm Literary Awards for Best Mysteries published by a Florida author. MISTER MANNERS was also awarded by the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. And STRANGE TIMING is the Bronze Medal winner in the Florida Book Awards in the Popular Fiction category, and as of this writing, is a finalist in three other literary contests.
When I’m not busy deciphering Alexander’s notes and publishing his stories, I write regularly about current affairs, news of the weird, arts, culture, politics,, books, movies–basically anything that strikes my fancy. Those posts appear here and on social media. I also capture the best of all that in my monthly newsletter.
I first encountered Alexander Strange when we worked together at the Phoenix Daily Sun, which, sadly, like so many newspapers these days, has seen its shelf life expire. Alexander now lives in Goodland, Florida aboard his fishing trawler, the Miss Demeanor. I live nearby in a house.
I was the journalist-in-residence at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and, earlier in my newspaper career, I served as an editor, managing editor, or reporter at, among other places, the Naples Daily News, the Dayton Daily News, the Austin American-Statesman, the Longview News-Journal, the Mesa Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post, the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) and the Tampa Times (now deceased). Once, I even served as the press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a congressman who ended up getting indicted and sent to prison.
This job hopping has allowed me to experience varied swaths of our great country, sometimes without flashing blue lights in the rear view mirror. (Next to the law of gravity, my favorite statute is the one about limitations.)
At various times along this journey, I nailed down a Master of Arts degree from Antioch University, a bachelor’s degree from St. Edward’s University, and I also served time at the University of South Florida.
A perpetual joiner, I’m a member of or have been a member of various professional organizations including the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, the American Society of News Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and the Société pour L’étude des Nouvelles E’tranges et des Phénomènes Paranormaux. (I just made that last one up.)
I’m a former director of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and a former director (and lecturer) for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop. I’ve served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes and the National Journalism Awards, and am a member of American MENSA, which I like to mention so you’ll think I’m smart. And last week I scored a word worth 134 points in Word Chums.
So now that I’ve wowed you with my resume, why don’t you hit the subscribe button below? It’s easy, burns nearly zero calories, and will give you bragging right with your friends when you tell them how you are supporting American journalism (of a sort).
