Posts by Bruce Berger
What does it take to create a Creative Writing class for undergrads?
This is a pleasurable task and one which I now embark on for the fourth time at American University. The course is called Lit 107, Creative Writing Across the Genres, and the idea is to give students exposure to the reading and writing of works in creative non-fiction, poetry, and fiction. The semester is divided…
Read MoreWhat does it take to create a Creative Writing class for undergrads?
This is a pleasurable task and one which I am now embarking on for the fourth time at American University. The course is called Lit 107, Creative Writing Across the Genres, and the idea is to give students exposure to the reading and writing of works in creative non-fiction, poetry, and fiction. The semester is…
Read MoreHow Might Chat-GPT “Interpret” a Family Saga?
I have experimented substantially with AI, as I believe most of you have done. I would never use generative AI in my own writing, although I do use AI-assisted software, such as prowritingaid.com, to catch errors. But I wondered how a common AI program, Chat-GPT, would view my novels as a whole. So, I experimented.…
Read MorePlato warned us about Trump: An Essay
About 2,300 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote the Dialogues, among which was The Republic. There, in Book IX, Plato warns us of the “tyrant,” and his depiction eerily resembles Donald Trump. Plato says that the tyrant: (1) arises out of the democratic republic; (2) has difficulty sleeping; (3) does not shrink from bloodshed;…
Read MoreThe Covo Family Saga Advances in Competition!
The Covo Family Saga has now made it to the short-list of the 2025 Chanticleer Book Series Awards! The Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs). chantireviews.com. I am hoping beyond hope that my collection, which so far is comprised of The Flight of the Veil, The Music Stalker, To See…
Read MoreVideo Never Tells the Whole Story
Video never tells the whole story. I learned this decades ago as a prosecutor in the Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice. Yes, that’s the same unit that presumably will review the FBI investigation into the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Video evidence of alleged police misconduct was relatively…
Read MoreWhat Does It Say About Our Government When There Are Mass Resignations from the Department of Justice?
The news goes from terrible to worse than terrible. https://www.ms.now/news/doj-civil-rights-division-officials-quit-harmeet-dhillon The entire leadership of the Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice has resigned in protest of the USDOJ’s apparent decision not to investigate the police shooting death of Renee Good. I worked there for four years, and most of the time…
Read MoreForeword Clarion Review of Forgiven: A Novel!
Review of Forgiven (9781685136734) — Foreword Reviews “In Bruce J. Berger’s spiritual novel Forgiven, a trip to Greece prompts life changes for each member of a busy Jewish family. … The story assumes an urgent, intense pace prior to the Greece trip, after which the book focuses on lush landscapes and personal reflections more. A storm…
Read MoreThe Book Publicist Angle
It’s long past time for my rant on the subject of so-called book publicists. I say “so-called” because book publicists do very little to actually publicize their clients’ books. So what do they do? Well, they are great at promises. “I promise you that I have great contacts in the media industry in the DMV…
Read MoreCoincidence, Mass Shootings, and Mourning
What are the chances that two entirely separate mass shootings are both perpetrated by graduate physics students who seemingly failed in the study of plasma? (I don’t have any understanding of plasma, despite my undergraduate degree in the sciences. Plasma was never on my radar, and I managed to get past my college physics course…
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