I Shot Bruce

Set in London, beginning in the early sixties and spanning five decades, I Shot Bruce follows Vijay Asunder, a rock-and-roll wannabe who, many decades after he is spurned by the manager of a singing group that eventually becomes world-famous, finally decides that he must kill the one person that symbolizes the success that has eluded him, his replacement. During a fifty-year span of time, Asunder follows the fortunes of the band and its various members as he pursues the alternate and ever-so-quiet, but not-very-satisfying life he’s made for himself as an antique dealer. Yet with each passing year, and with each reminder of ＂what might have been＂, his obsession for revenge grows, until finally he must act.Conceived loosely on the untimely dismissal and subsequent life of Pete Best, the so-called ’fifth Beatle’, Asunder’s perspective and his ultimate commitment to retribution differs markedly from Ringo Starr’s predecessor. Intelligent and intense, I Shot Bruce chronicles and dramatizes obsession to the point of self-destruction.

Brett Busang describes himself as a prolific essayist, a moderately interesting playwright, a lapsed painter, an ambivalent anglophile and a failed ballplayer. He likes people who listen, places from which soccer is notably absent, books without chase-scenes, peace of mind that doesn’t come at the expense of thinking, and food he can eat with his fingers. Having now turned his attention to writing fiction, Brett says, ＂I like writing fiction because I never know what’s going to happen; and because it is always autobiographical and never autobiographical enough. I like to write in various genres because I am easily bored, relentlessly curious, and also because my tendency to ’dart around’ is an asset in no other place.＂ Brett Busang was born in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives in Washington, DC.