I was born in 1942, just a little more than eight months after Pearl Harbor was bombed. I am a working man, but also a writer. Author of "APPLES AND GARLIC,The Poems of Charles Mitchell Turner," "EBENEZER'S GHOST", and "The Complete Short Works of Charles Mitchell Turner."
I write under the name of Charles Mitchell Turner, because there are thousands of Charles Turners out there, not so many with my middle name.
I am a Texan, born to migrant workers. Raised up in California, we constantly were on the go, even after my mother married a man who cooked in restaurants. Quit school at age 16 to help support my family.
During my service in the Navy, acquired a GED, did a few college courses. I enrolled in a junior college, in 1965, but got caught up in the times and failed to attend. Participated in civil rights demonstrations and anti war protests, most notably, The Mothers March on Washington, of 1968.
Also dabbled in poems and song lyrics.
In the 1970s, I wrote my first long story, which was sent to a publisher. The publisher, in a personal letter, informed me the tale was not written well enough to ensure success.
After I got my first computer, I put a few works on rosedog.com, but blew it with them. Thinking bogus their claim that publishers regularly check their authors, I began writing a book and posting the pages as it developed. This was working very well, for I felt it helped me to see the words as others would see them. Out of the blue, a publisher asked to see the entire ms., now. I had to apologize to him for putting a story in its incipient stages on such a site. From then on, it seemed my offerings did not catch many views on rosedog.
My stories and poems have been self published by Lulu, but I have some in the works I hope to offer to an established publisher.
I am in my second marriage, have raised four children, and have nine grandchildren. Then, there is Punky, my dog. I still work my maintenance man job, at the age of 65; semi retired.
Married 30 years.
I have collected recorded music since 1958. I adore Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Bobby Darin, Leonard Cohen, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Clyde McPhatter, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Judy Collins, The Beatles, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Hoagy Carmichael, Spike Jones, Buddy Holly, Hank Williams, The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Red Blanchard and so many more.
My favorite writings are A Christmas Carol; Marat/Sade; Opus 21 by Philip Wylie; An Essay on Morals by Philip Wylie; The Tropics Trilogy by Henry Miller; Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac; Ulysses; Faust part one; Dr. Faustus by Marlowe; Zen Flesh, Zen Bones; Walden and Civil Disobedience.
