Despite his many trials with small publishing companies, Murfreesboro author Bentley Turner is now published and has big plans for this year.

Bentley Turner (a pseudonym) has written several short stories, poems, fiction and nonfiction throughout his life. Now retired from his professional career, Turner released his latest piece of fiction, The Prize Winners and Other Stories, in February 2022.

This work is a collection of many short stories he’s written over the years, some dating back as early as the 1960s.

The collection of stories varies in genre and topic, but the author wants each one to be true to life and its experiences.

“The individuals [in each story] deal with intolerant teachers, fickle girlfriends, unusual pets or the deaths of loved ones,” says Turner. “Other stories in the collection concern adults who confront loneliness, mental illness or rejection.”

Turner’s writing history equipped him well to portray these life experiences in a collection of short stories.

He’s been able to collect pieces of his life experiences as he’s lived it and embed them in the stories he’s produced before, during and after his professional career.

He took to writing fiction in high school as a hobby, only producing content for pure enjoyment.

“These stories were amateurish, to say the least,” says Turner.

As he progressed through school, his passion for writing progressed as well. While earning his bachelor’s degree, he enrolled in several creative writing courses, turning his hobby into a skillful, creative communication tool.

Turner earned his master’s degree with the intent of becoming a professor.

In his courses, he learned how to research and write nonfiction, which he would do throughout the duration of his professional career.

In retirement, he refocused on his hobby of fiction writing and began working on a mystery novel.

Mystery novels have always been attractive to Turner, he says; he’s enjoyed reading mysteries by James M. Cain, John D. MacDonald, Sidney Sheldon and Linwood Barclay.

After many rejection letters and experiencing the woes of working with small publishing companies, his first novel, The File on Thomas Marks, was released.

This suspenseful thriller explores a man who was the last person known to be with two women before their murder but claims innocence, despite the lack of evidence to corroborate his story. It remains Turner’s favorite piece of his own work.

Throughout his publishing journey he learned that several small publishers went out of business each day. Two publishing companies he considered doing business with went out of business before publishing his work.

“There are 120,000 books published each year in this country and since 70 percent of the books published do not make profit, small publishers have a difficult time,” says Turner.

Turner’s hobby has grown with him throughout his career, from exploring his surroundings in fiction writing as a youth to being a key component in his education, professional career and retirement.

Turner is not writing to make a second career in his retirement, though. Instead, he says, it’s simply to see if he can still do it. He now uses writing as a tool to keep his mind alive.

“I try to write something, no matter whether it’s a poem, a short story, a novel, an article or some other form of nonfiction, to determine whether I can do it,” says Turner. “This perhaps, more than anything else, has been my inspiration.”

Now, that is the grit of a Murfreesboro native, a true writer.

His next mystery, A Killing in Oklahoma, is scheduled to be released in late June. He has another novel, The Agency, set to be published in late 2022.

Find The Prize Winners and Other Stories and The File on Thomas Marks on Amazon.