Welcome

Hi. I’m J.C. Bruce, editor of Tropic Press, freelance journalist, and author of a series of books recounting the misadventures of Alexander Strange, America’s only reporter covering news of the weird on a full-time basis.

I also write the Essential News column for Florida Weekly, a monthly newsletter on Substack with more than two thousand followers, and file regular news updates to my Substack subscribers through my news site, Tropic Press

Tropic Press, by the way, also has a publishing division, where all six books chronicling Strange’s adventures are printed. They are, in order, THE STRANGE FILES, FLORIDA MAN, GET STRANGE, STRANGE CURRENTS, MISTER MANNERS, and STRANGE TIMING.

The books are available as hardcovers, trade paperbacks and eBooks at all major online book retailers. MISTER MANNERS and STRANGE TIMING are also now available as audiobooks.

Recently, STRANGE TIMING was named Book of the Year in the annual Royal Palm Literary Awards. It also won two Gold Medals in the thriller and science fiction categories. STRANGE TIMING also won the Bronze Medal in the Florida Book Awards in the category of Popular Fiction and was named a Finalist in the national Indie Book Awards.

STRANGE CURRENTS, GET STRANGE, and MISTER MANNERS also received top honors in the Royal Palm Literary Awards for Best Mysteries.

Some background:

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 in a house.

Before returning to my native Florida, 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. I recently was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Lightgate Institute for Extranormal Studies, a Miami think tank I totally made up for my book STRANGE TIMING.

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 recently I scored a word worth 134 points in Word Chums.