About a year ago I decided to improve my fitness routine by combining it with intermittent fasting… And the card game, solitaire. Believe it or not, it’s been a great help. Why not? Suppoedly Napoleon found solace in playing solitaire during his exile at St. Helena. If the stories are true, Tolstoy played solitaire when he hit blockades in his writing process. He cleared his mind by playing solitaire, thereby opening himself up creatively once again. But it’s Madame Blavatsky I have to thank for introducing me to the card game as a simple and engaging way of occupying the…

A desk lamp provides Gavin Hurley with nothing when he’s at work. Only flickering candlelight is capable of supplying the light he needs while crafting his stories. Watched by Michael Myers from behind the glass of a framed Halloween poster and surrounded by the soft sound of eerie music, Mr. Hurley is at home with the right conditions he needs to realize the true nature of his craft. Mr. Hurley believes deeply in the dark genres of storytelling. Aside from the classic voices in haunted literature like Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and H.P. Lovecraft, he believes that contemporary voices…

There is a tipping point half way through the YouTube film, Marble Hornets, when Jay, the everyman protagonist, transitions from the role of passive observer to active participant. He meets with a college student named Tim and interviews him on video in order to ascertain the reasons why a student film went awry and to discover the fate of its director, Alex Kralie, three years after the events took place. “Speaking of Alex, he did move away after he ended this production—do you know what might have caused him or even where he might have moved to?” Jay asks Tim.…

I dedicated my book, Bigmart Confidential, to the staff of the Voice, Bloomsburg University’s student newspaper. And that dedication extends to all past, present, and future members of the team. That dedication made me nostalgic to take a look back through the writings I contributed to the newspaper. I’m the first to admit that many of them are — like, really bad. But there’s also a handful I’m proud of. Why shouldn’t I be? They are some of the first pieces of nonfiction writing I produced, and they’re not that bad. That, and they show off my love affair with…

Below I’m providing the first chapter from my book, Bigmart Confidential, as a free excerpt. The chapter is titled “Marijuana and a Stiff Drink.” I hope you enjoy it, and if so, please purchase either the digital or paperback format of the book here: Bigmart is always accepting applications. Bigmart accepts these applications in all of its stores at all times. Bigmart accepts them from anyone regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. All are welcome to try their luck at landing an interview, and perhaps even finding a job. And all that’s needed is a Bigmart…

I started writing Bigmart Confidential over 10 years ago, and when I began the project I expected it to earn me millions and make me a celebrity. Agents and publishers were going to fight over me at lunch meetings in swanky Manhattan restaurants. And all of the book contracts I’d be offered — why, I’d make the most powerful New York publishing houses beg to print my words. Obviously, that didn’t happen. None of it. I finished the initial draft of Bigmart Confidential in eight months, and spent another year obsessively rewriting it after showing it to friends for feedback (something…

I’ve been on the lookout for any kind of commentary from Barbara Ehrenreich on the election of Donald Trump. I anticipated coming across an essay, but it was on YouTube where I found Ehrenreich sharing her thoughts. Barbara Ehrenreich was a guest speaker at Washington College in April 2017. The event was hosted by Patrick Nugent, the Deputy Director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the America Experience. Ehrenreich spoke much about her seminal work, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, a book that continues to have a profound effect on both my writing…

I’ve officially published and released Bigmart Confidential: Dispatches from America’s Retail Empire after 10 years of work on the project, and I couldn’t be prouder of the finished product. The book is currently for sale as an Amazon Kindle e-book, and I’m waiting for the proof of the CreateSpace paperback version. And here’s the book description I wrote for Bigmart Confidential: Bossy customers, out-of-touch managers, missing children, gawking Mormons, weapons of cardiac destruction, overworked and underpaid employees — it’s all in a day’s work at Bigmart. There’s no shortage of wild, funny, and moving tales to tell, and writer Steven…