I was born in and have spent most of my life in New York City. My father, Lester Bachner, was a successful lawyer and a championship bridge player. He was paid five dollars for a baseball story. My mother, Margaret Bachner, was also admitted as a lawyer and served as a volunteer law guardian in the New York City Children’s Court.
My education was about as good as one might have, starting with P.S. 6, then considered the best elementary school in the NYC public school system. That was followed by Phillips Academy, Andover and then Harvard College and Harvard Law School. This qualified me to become a US Army combat engineer bridge specialist (unfortunately not the card variety). Upon my discharge I began a career as a real estate lawyer, which still continues.
I live in New York City in the warm months and in St. Petersburg, Florida in the winter. I am married to, Barbara Bachner, a multi-media artist. Our daughter, Suzanne Bachner, is a playwright and director.
I started writing stories in a class at The New School with Peter Sourian. I’ve also taken workshops with Frederick Barthelme, Joseph Caldwell, Madison Smartt Bell, Rion Amilcar Scott and several other writers given at NYU, the 92nd Street YM-YWHA, the Vermont Studio Center and Chautauqua. Titles of some of my stories and venues of publication can be found under “Stories” in this website. I will include a link to one of them every few months.
For many years I participated in a peer workshop we called “The Madison Writers Group” where I was beaten up regularly over various bad habits, especially using summaries rather than actual scenes. I will always be grateful for the critiques of my fellow “groupies.” I frequently found this workshop more helpful than those led by prominent writers who often stifle the comments of participants.
I also converted one of my stories into a one-act play entitled Danny Boy produced by the John Montgomery Theatre Company and had a second, Have the Soup, Stanley produced by the Gallery Players.., both in New York City.
My novels are detailed below under “Novels,” except my first, which was a sketchy effort written in my youth. While fumbling with a more serious effort, I had an idea for a short story that got out of control and became the first version of Baby Grand. It was picked up by a well-known agent who sent it to nine major publishers. No dice.
“Write another, and when we sell it they’ll publish the first one,” she said.
Unfortunately, she retired before Last Clear Chance was finished so, I turned to independent presses and placed it with Black Rose Writing in 2015. The former agent’s prediction then came true and the same publisher brought out a revised Baby Grand in 2019. New Meridian Arts has published Killing Jack Armstrong, released in January 2022. I’ve recently completed a fourth but have not yet submitted it for publication.
My work is traditional literary driven by my characters. They take over and tell me their stories. Sometimes I know where they are going; sometimes I find out as we move along and don’t really know until the last few pages.
Since I started novels, I’ve written few stories and no further plays. What will be next – the page is blank. Some day an image will come. It will be a place or a person and I’ll be curious as to what is happening in that place or who is that person. To find out, I’ll have to write the story.
