About

I am not Brad Murgen.  My real name is Jeff Bumgardner, and Brad Murgen is an anagram of my last name.  I chose this nom de plume because I figured it would be easier for people to remember and spell correctly (people usually misspell Bumgardner) and because it was unique in terms of the internet (no other Brad Murgens, many Jeff Bumgardners).  Think of it as my creative brand.

I have been writing fiction on and off since the late 90s, since my college days, but never got serious about publishing anything until around 2011.  I've held a variety of jobs in a wide array of industries – corn detasseling, fast food (Taco Bell), a box factory, a mailroom, an insurance company, drummer in a death metal band, a registrar in an emergency room, finance and data mining in telecommunications, iOS app developer, technical writer – and will probably hold a few more before all is said and done.

Here are my socials:

Brad Murgen
Facebook page

Jeff Bumgardner
LinkedIn

I currently live in Morgan Hill, CA with my wife and daughter.

4 comments:

  1. HUGOOctober 3, 2013 at 3:39 PM

    Hey man...interesting page! Since Broken Hope has a new album....Does it contain songs that they wrote during the time you were in the band?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brad MurgenOctober 3, 2013 at 5:15 PM

      It does... I recognized a few of the songs immediately. I'll have to pull out the old demos and see if there are more. "Flesh Mechanic" was actually the working title of the album at time, too.

      Delete
  2. MichaelAugust 18, 2021 at 6:41 AM

    Hi Brad. I just found your website. The Belgariad and Mallorean were my first forays into fantasy when I was in middle school in the mid-90's and it was fun reading your retrospectives. Jumping back into The Wheel of Time series as we get closer to season 1 of the show dropping.

    I wanted to recommend a book series that I think you would really like and have some great thoughts on. It only has two books so far though, with the long-awaited third book on every fans wish list. It's the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. It's one of the best series I've read despite it being unfinished.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brad MurgenAugust 20, 2021 at 10:18 PM

      Hi Michael, thanks for the comment and for checking out my retrospectives!

      I'm aware of the Kingkiller Chronicles and I would love to read it... but after waiting 20 years for The Wheel of Time to end and waiting 20 years for no ending to A Song of Ice and Fire, I rarely start unfinished series these days. Especially when the author seems unreliable. It's too disappointing to invest in something that may not be complete. Like for ASoIaF, after 10 years of no new book, I've lost interest in the series completely.

      The only unfinished series I've read in recent years is The Expanse, and only because the authors have been reliable and releasing each volume regularly.

      Once Rothfuss releases the third book I'll be reading it for sure.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)