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Award winning writer Bruce Neckels has 50 years of professional experience in the entertainment business. His acting credits in numerous film, television and stage productions, bring another level of creativity to his writing. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from San Francisco State College, in Radio-Television Broadcasting, with a minor in Drama. His first break as a writer came in 1989, when he was hired by NBC. Since then, he has scripted close to 600 episodes for television, earning four EMMY® nominations and winning the Writers Guild of America Award. "Matter of Conscience" is his first book, which includes his intensely personal experiences with the Vietnam War and the price he paid for being against it, along with the rewards that followed. Born August 10, 1944 in Dickinson, North Dakota, Bruce lived in Belfield N.D. under the care of his Ukrainian grandmother for the first nine years of his life. His parents separated when he was two years old. At the age of nine, Bruce was sent to live with his father in Merced, California, where he lived for the next twelve years (more on Mom later). There he attended public schools which included earning an AA Degree from Merced College. In 1965, he moved to San Francisco, where he attended San Francisco State College. It was during this time that Bruce got caught up in the antiwar movement, and after studying the history of Vietnam and paying close attention to what was currently happening in Vietnam, he refused induction into the service. Though he offered to do alternative service, he was sentenced to two years in a federal prison in 1971, but was paroled after one year. Following his release, Bruce continued his acting career in San Francisco as a member of the Brebner Casting Agency, (where he had been cast in his first movie role in Michelangelo Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point" in 1969. just prior to his incarceration) However, his TV/Film career had to sit on the sidelines from September until May for the next two years. As a result of his incarceration, Bruce "qualified" to join the Barbwire Theatre, an acting company of ex-convicts performing in Rick Cluchey's "THE CAGE," a brutal play about the horror of prison life. "The Cage," presented at colleges throughout the United States and Canada, included daytime classroom visitations, the play at night, followed by a Q&A session with the audience . Its' purpose was to bring awareness of prison conditions and the need for prison reform. The play gained such notoriety, that it was performed in the Great Hall of Justice in Washington D.C., and for the National FBI Convention on Crime, also in D.C.. After his stint with the "The Cage," Bruce re-joined the Brebner Agency where he landed roles in "Magnum Force," "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," several episodes of "Streets of San Francisco," and John Korty's "Farewell to Manzanar." He also appeared in several national TV commercials, and found time to take on roles in several plays, including, Ugo Betti's "Crime On Goat Island," which earned him the San Francisco Drama Critics Award for Best Actor of the Year in a Non-Equity Production. He also produced and starred in his own production of John Hopkins play "Find Your Way Home." Finally, in September of 1978, Bruce bid farewell to the "City by the Bay," and moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as an actor for the next ten years. But during this time, writing had begun to creep into his life. He wrote and submitted "spec" scripts to various TV series, and in 1989, was finally brought in to write NBC's new ground-breaking daytime series, "Generations." But after 18 months and a terrible time slot, the show was cancelled. However, Bruce was scooped up by the revolving door of soap writers, and immediately hired by "Santa Barbara." which he wrote until the show finally came to an end. From there he spent six months in Toronto writing "Family Passions," a joint venture series between Canada and Germany. Then back to Los Angeles, where he wrote a short series for MTV, "Spyder Games." And from 1996-2002. he wrote "Days of Our Lives," finally ending his soap writing career with "Young and the Restless, in 2017. His book, "Matter of Conscience," was published in December of 2019. He currently resides in Los Angeles, Calif., with his wife, Wendy. They've been married for 42 years. They have a daughter, Erin, age 30.

It's hard to imagine that an autobiographical detail of a Vietnam War dissenter, who chose to be imprisoned rather than fight in a senseless war, could be an enjoyable read. However, fans of the 1960s and early 1970s will appreciate "Matter of Conscience." Author Bruce Neckels gives us a picturesque account that is poignantly portrayed with just the right amount of fact, emotion, and humor.

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Category: Biographies & Memoirs; Politics & Social Sciences