INTERVIEWER
Tell us a little about yourself?STEVEN BRUCE
I’m a poet, writer, and the author of White Knuckle. My poetry and short stories have featured in magazines and anthologies around the world. In 2018, I graduated from Teesside University with an MA in Creative Writing. I was born in England, but I now live and write out of an apartment in Barcelona.INTERVIEWER
When did you start writing?STEVEN
I started writing in my late twenties while living alone in a cramped flat inside a run-down tower block in England. Bouncing between unemployment and warehouse jobs, I knew I needed something to pull me out of that quiet life of desperation.Then one night, out of nowhere, I remembered a story told to me in primary school. It was about a man who commits murder, chops the body into pieces, and hides it under the floor. Eventually, his guilt manifests in the hallucination of the corpse’s heart beating under the floorboards. Of course, I’m talking about The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. And I thought, maybe I could write horror stories. So I switched my old computer on and, in total ignorance of the craft, spent the next few hours writing. When the sun came up, I’d written the first draft of a short horror story titled Chimaera. From there, I never looked back.
INTERVIEWER
Have you gone on any literary pilgrimages?STEVEN
Not intentionally. However, I’ve stumbled across a few places on my travels around Europe. Some that come to mind are Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Antico CaffĂ© Greco in Rome, Dante’s House in Florence, and Bar Marsella here in Barcelona.Europe has a great culture and an astounding history. You can’t go far without discovering a place of literary interest or a monument to a famous artist. It’s one of the many reasons I love living here.
INTERVIEWER
Do you read reviews?STEVEN
Reviews are extremely important for authors, especially the good ones. They promote the book and help potential readers decide if it’s worth their time. But, ultimately, I tend not to read reviews anymore. Too easy, they become an unnecessary distraction. Although it’s great hearing when someone enjoys your work, my job is to write, not contend with opinions.INTERVIEWER
What was the best money you ever spent as an author?STEVEN
The best money I ever spent as an author was on a decent coffee machine.INTERVIEWER
Tell us about your latest release?STEVEN
My latest book’s titled White Knuckle. It’s also my debut poetry collection, released last year.It’s an autobiographical report on the reality of life in a poverty-stricken, drug and violence-fuelled environment. It’s a gut-wrenching composition of grief, loss, and abandonment at an early age.
Overall, it features fifty-one poems and a letter to my younger self. Here’s a short sample poem from the collection:
Failing
Wandering the deserted streets at dawn
with dirty skin, no food for three days.
Feet blistered from wet, worn-out shoes,
knuckles grazed from fighting off two junkies.
Elbow stinging from a weeping knife wound,
I retire under the railway bridge.
School report card tucked inside my pocket,
it says I must try harder.
INTERVIEWER
What was the hardest scene to write?
STEVEN
There were a lot of difficult moments while writing this book. If I had to choose one, I’d say the poem about finding my mother’s suicide.INTERVIEWER
Where can we find it?STEVEN
You can find White Knuckle on Amazon. Alternatively, you can order a signed, personalized copy via email.INTERVIEWER
Thanks for doing this! Any parting words for readers?STEVEN
You’re welcome. And authors are nothing without their readers. So thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed the book. Your support is much appreciated.Original Interview Source: The Author Interviews