Bruce Craven is a member of the Columbia Business School Executive Education faculty in New York City. In addition to directing and teaching in a variety of executive programs, he teaches graduate business students his popular elective Leadership Through Fiction.  His book Win or Die: Leadership Secrets from Game of Thrones, was published in March 2019 by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.  The book is currently being translated into Russian and Turkish. He wrote the novel Fast Sofa (1993) which was published in Japanese and German. He also co-wrote the script for the film adaptation, starring Jennifer Tilly, Jake Busey and Crispin Glover. His collection of poetry, Buena Suerte in Red Glitter will be published in 2019 by Red Dirt Press. He lives with his wife and two sons in the Coachella Valley in California.

The New Path

In the middle of the night, he saddled up his pony
& went for a ride. Willie’s Red-Headed Stranger,
1975, burns with vengeance, loss, hate. The story,
blended tunes, sparked on the road, compiled at home. Murder,
a preacher tormented. “Love is like a dying ember…” Crying
blue eyes, a now famous cover from the 15 tracks.
Raw production worried everyone. Who’s buying
this? “That album isn’t going to sell shit.” It’s a fact.
“Did he make this in his living room?” Career-ending
mistake! But outlaw Willie trusted himself. Bee Spears,
bassist, believed the boss’s instincts, not second-guessing
the man. Blue Eyes was a smash! Willie had traveled, performed; years
of living hard. Booze got him mean. Couldn’t quit tobacco. His fate?
Filled his empty cigarette pack with joints. Lung cancer took his dad in ’78.