Glenn A. Bruce Drops Latest “Crazy” Novel, Book Signing July 9
Local author Glenn A. Bruce, MFA, will be signing copies of his eighth and latest novel Dear Me!: or The History of the End of the World as We Knew It, Told As I See It, or More Accurately, Saw It, by Daniel R. Olafson—a comedic “last man on earth” tale of the near future.
Titular character Danny Olaf(son) refuses to choose his best friend at the time, crazy Arthur Mencken (no relation) for intramural softball in 8th Grade due to his having “no collar bone connectivity whatsoever” (i.e., “Arthur, you throw like a five-year-old girl”). As a result, Arthur Mencken vows at that moment: “To kill everyone in world, Danny—everyone but you.”
He makes good on his promise.
Dear Me! is the rollicking, sprawling story of how Danny Olaf became the last man on earth—thanks wholly to Arthur Mencken’s brilliant insanity in ridding the world of all humanity. “It’s pretty dark,” Glenn says of his latest novel, “but pretty damn funny. And so me.” He says that anyone who knows him well will know what he’s talking about.
The book was a “long time coming,” he says. “I started writing Dear Me! in 2001 and finished the first draft sometime in 2003. But, “as with a lot of my material,” Glenn says, “it may have been a little ahead of its time. I guess it was too early to make fun of Donald Trump.”
That’s hardly all that Glenn took on. “The novel is really about the state of America at that time—which, I think we can all agree, has only gotten worse.”
He adds with a gleam, “As has Trump!”
The tie-in? “Arthur Mencken is a redhead, and insanely narcissistic.” What else would cause him to kill everyone else on the planet, including himself, just to get back at Danny for not picking him for intramural sports?
At almost 500 pages, the book is about much more, however. Glenn says of the novel: “I really let go and hit just about every hot-topic button for me, and the country, in the craziest way I could find to write about it all.”
Indeed, Dear Me! takes on religion, politics, marriage, divorce, cranky elderly parents, open relationships, LGBT issues, greed, traffic tickets, self-involvement, hypocrisy, even polio as a soul-searching form of pure enlightenment.
“Nothing is sacred here,” he says. “But nothing is taken seriously, either.”
One early reader asked why the book had to be “so vulgar,” Bruce recalls. “I just said, ‘Well, because the world is.’ Then I said, ‘It was funny thought, wasn’t it?’ And he agreed. Another very religious friend standing with us, who had also read the novel, nodded and said, ‘It’s funny as hell.’ He read it twice.”
So, almost 15 years later, Bruce feels that the time is right to release the novel. “My step-brother just read it and said it was the wildest thing he had ever read—and he reads a lot. He basically said that he was so constantly surprised—he may have said “shocked”—and laughed so hard, so many times about so many things, that he still didn’t know what to think!”
“That made me smile.”
Glenn will be signing copies of Dear Me!, with copies of his other novels also available, this Saturday, July 9th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, at the Watauga Arts Council on State Farm Road at Shadowline (behind Harris Teeter).
Glenn A. Bruce has an MFA in Writing, was associate fiction editor for The Lindenwood Review, and has published seven novels as well as two collections of short stories. He wrote the movieKickboxer, as well as episodes of Walker: Texas Ranger and Baywatch. His short stories, poetry, and essays have been published internationally in Blue Crow (Australia), Alfie Dog (Great Britain), andEarthen Lamp Journal (India), as well as numerous American publications such as Flights (Sinclair College), RedFez (Illinois), Beat Poets of the Forever Generation (D.C.), and Carolina MountainLife (right here in Boone!). He recently won first place in the “Down and Dirty” short story contest at About That magazine, and is currently a finalist in the Defenstrationism annual short story contest for the second year in a row. He was final judge for the Brilliant Flash Fiction annual contest, and is currently working on three novels. Glenn teaches Screenwriting and Acting for the Camera at Appalachian State University.
High Country Lifelong Learners Movie: Cabaret July 11
July 11th, 2016 – Watauga County Public Library – Meeting Room
High Country Lifelong Learners in association with the Watauga County Public Library invite you to join us for a movie viewing of Cabaret on July 11th from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm.
Director Bob Fosse’s 1972 film, Cabaret, tells the story of a female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin who romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem
This film has an MPAA rating of PG and an approximate run-time of 124 minutes.
For more information please email: high.country.lifelong@gmail.com, Attention: Deb Gooch.
CCC&TI Celebrates New Class of Nurse Aides
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute celebrated a new class of Nurse Aides with a course completion ceremony on Wednesday, June 29 at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. Those recognized during the ceremony include:
Watauga Nurse Aide 1:
Robin Prussat, Rachel Plott (Peer Award), Mariela Arita (Peer Award) and Margaret Teague (Merit Award); Ana Joyner, James Saunders, Melissa Lonas (Peer Award), Christian Acosta (Merit Award) and Olivia Kelly.
Caldwell Nurse Aide 1
Jasmine Powell, Jissell Gutierrez and Melissa Pearce (Merit Award); Joshua Philyaw, Anthony Bentley, Tylishia Stuckey (Peer Award) and Kisha Lovins.
Watauga Nurse Aide 2
William Michael (Peer Award), Shannon Ray (Merit Award) and Ruby Boisclair (Merit Award). Rashell Aunchmen, Ruby Coats, Michelle Potter, Jenna Reece, Daniel Riccio, Desiree Smith and Deahanne Woodring.
Caldwell Nurse Aide 2
Sylvia Corpening, Hailey Davidson, Heather Hart and Susan Curtis (Peer and Merit awards); Crystal Williams, Kayla Cook (Merit Award), Jarrett Robinson and Kathryn Nelson. Not pictured: Shaundria Horton, Ashley Miles, Kathryn Nelson, Stephanie Newton and Katie Summerow.
July Programs and Events at the Watauga Library
|
|||||||||
|