Stephen’s Comments (group member since Nov 27, 2010)

Stephen’s comments from the Q&A with Stephen Goldin group.

Do you miss the days when science fiction books were fun? When the universe was bright and shiny and new, before the technology became grubby and the outlook became cynical?

That's what is all about. Let your Sense of Wonder roam between the stars in a spaceship that looks like a spaceship, and where adventure is the name of the game.

In the distant future, the idle rich of galactic Society have nothing better to do than construct elaborate Games for themselves to play--and the greatest Game of all is the Scavenger Hunt. Visit different worlds, pick up hard-to-get items that can't simply be bought, and have a fine time. A clever way to pass empty moments.

Tyla deVrie and her twin brother, Bred, follow the family tradition of entering the Scavenger Hunt. But little do they realize as they hop from planet to planet aboard Bred's decadent space yacht that the Scavenger Hunt is far more than a game; it will irrevocably change their lives. That is, if it doesn't end them first.

When this book was first published in 1976, the original publisher, Laser Books, thought it was too long, and demanded that it be split into two parts and published as totally independent books: Scavenger Hunt and Finish Line. I was never completely happy with the result, and vowed that someday the book would be put back together again.

Decades later, my dream was realized, and Scavenger Hunt is now available in a single-volume edition in both paperback and multiple ebook formats. I invite you to come along on a fabulous journey through the galaxy, meet some intriguing characters, and have a helluva lot of fun.

I've posted the opening chapters of Shrine of the Desert Mage as a free sample here on GoodReads. I invite you to check them out.

I’m excited and proud to announce the reissue of my recently expanded satirical novel, Polly!. In one sense, it’s a simple boy-meets-girl story—except, of course, it isn’t.

Herodotus Shapiro has had an unbelievably bad week. His wife left him. The IRS is after him for thousands of dollars. His home/bookstore burned down. On his way to take refuge at his brother's place, he got a speeding ticket. And now his car has broken down in the middle of the desert in front of a large mansion. What more can go wrong?

But now his world takes a turn for the weird. The mansion has a snowman on the front lawn--in the desert, in July. The house, which is bigger on the inside than on the outside, is owned by Polly, the most preternaturally beautiful young woman he's ever met. Polly is an acrobat, a gourmet chef, a psychologist, an international financial consultant, a physicist and a woman of who-knows how many other incredible talents. She has an unbelievable library, an art collection of all the world's great masterpieces, and a print of a previously unknown Marx Brothers film. Her toilet paper is actually silk.

And she seems to have some mysterious plans for him....

One GoodReds member has called the book “blasphemous ... highly offensive.” Several others, have given it 5-star ratings. Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Spider Robinson has said this:

All hands on Decalogue! A protagonist readers will find it easy to identify and empathize with, a classic journey story told with wit, wisdom and deceptive ease, and the most interesting guest star ever--what's not to like, here? Perhaps writers who attempt a book like Polly! wanna crack or two across the face for their audacity (to parrot conventional wisdom)--but not if they can manage to pull it off this entertainingly.

So ... ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.

The book is available in both paperback and multiple ebook formats. There’s a special holiday weekend deal on the ebook version. Buy the book from the Smashwords page and enter coupon code AV74C (not case-sensitive) and you’ll get it at half price. But hurry; the coupon expires Sunday, Dec. 26. Whichever edition you prefer, I hope you’ll give the book a try.

Happy holidays, and pleasant reading!

For a limited time only, Tsar Wars (Book 1 of the Agents of ISIS series) is now free in its ebook edition. If you enjoy space opera adventure, this is the perfect chance to sample the first great space opera dacalogy of the twenty-first century and find out what it's all about.

I've also taken this opportunity to change the covers on the ebook editions. I think the new ones are way cooler than the last set.

More exciting news coming up in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

I've just made 2 of my ebooks free:

The Djinn Garden This novelette is a self-contained excerpt from my 4-volume Arabian Nights-style Parsina Saga. It should give you some idea whether you'd be interested in the full series. It's available at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view....

But As A Soldier, For His Country This short story, available at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view..., was the springboard for my later science fiction novel of future warfare, The Eternity Brigade: Final Edition.

Both of these stories are available in multiple electronic formats, including PDF for people who don't have an ereader device. Enjoy them with my compliments. All feedback is welcome.

For people who want a sample before they invest in a whole new fantasy series, I'm providing an electronic excerpt from my 4-volume Arabian Nights-style Parsina Saga free of charge. The Djinn Garden is a self-contained novelette. It's available in multiple electronic formats, including PDF for those who don't own an ereader device. The books themselves are available both as paperbacks and as ebooks. I hope you'll try it and, even more, I hope you'll enjoy it. All feedback is welcome.

I hope you will.

It's certainly a change of pace from Faulkner!

Personally, I think SFWA should be as inclusive as possible, to be an umbrella that protects all writers within the field. There's a very strong snobbish clique, however, that wants to keep the membership closed in and secure from amateurs, feeling they'll somehow dilute the strength of the organization. IMO, being inclusive increases the strength, but other people's mileage seems to vary.

Other than being a lifetime active member, I'm not much involved with the bureaucratic workings of the organization these days. A person who could probably give you more specific information would be the Executive Director Jane Jewell at execdir@sfwa.org. She's a very nice lady, and it's her job to help newcomers. I'm sure she'll do what she can for you.

Thanks for joining, Neve. As a writer myself, I'm fascinated by names. Yours is obviously Slavic. Care to narrow it down any closer than that?

BTW, if you order the trade paperback editions through my online bookstore, Parsina Press, you can get coupons for $2.00 off the list price of each title. Just in case you're not independently wealthy.

And I'm looking forward to entertaining you.

I was teaching an adult-learning course on writing science fiction at a local community college, and I thought it would be cruel to send my poor students out into the publishing world without some basic knowledge of how to survive there. I devoted one 2-hour session to business principles, and the class was over before I'd barely scratched the surface. I convinced the college administrator to devote an entire course to this subject, and found several of the same students eager for more information. When I learned that one student was commuting about 200 miles for a 2-hour-a-week class, I realized there was an enormous need for more information on the subject.

Eventually my wife (at the time) and I wrote a book called The Business of Being a Writer. The book was a main monthly selection of the Writers Digest Book Club and a featured alternate of Book of the Month Club.

The publishing world has undergone major changes since the book's original publication in 1982, and much of the book is out of date. A friend of mine, author/podcaster Dan Sawyer, is collaborating with me on a brand new edition, hopefully to be published in 2011. In the meantime, I've updated some of the book's chapters and published them individually as ebooks.

A Career in Writing
The Mechanics of Submission
Marketing Your Work
Rights and Copyrights
Dealing with Editors
Legal Matters
Magazine Contracts and Permissions

Back in the late 70s, fantasy books seemed to divide themselves into twp types: Tolkienesque rip-offs of European mythologies, and musclebound heroes in unnamed barbarian cultures. I hearkened back to the far-off days of my youth (much less far-off then than they are today), and remembered what thrilled me in Saturday afternoon matinees--Arabian Night, genies in bottles, flying carpets, that sort of thing. The exotic sort of fare that was missing from the bookshelves. So I decided to rectify the situation.

The end result is my 4-book Parsina Saga, set in a world loosely based on ancient Persia with a Zoroastrian twist. There is, of course, a mammoth quest (no, they're not looking for woolly mammoths!) by a group of very interesting characters, and the result is a series I've been highly complimented on. I hope you'll give the books a try.

The Agents of ISIS space opera decalogy grew out of the old "Family d'Alembert" series I wrote several decades ago, and how I came to write the new one is a long story I'll go into it if anyone's interested. (That's what the Q&A part of this group is about, right?) If you like your science fiction with an action twist, I hope you'll give these books a try. They're available in both paperback and ebook formats.

Hi, I'm Steve Goldin. Welcome to this group where we're supposed to talk about one of my favorite subjects...me. Actually, you can talk about anything you like. I just have a short attention span, that's all.

I've written over 30 books. I'd tell you a more exact number, but I ran out of fingers and toes awhile back, and I'm just guessing now. It's a lot. I'm working hard to keep most of them in print; complain to me if you can't find one you're looking for.

You can find out a lot about me by checking my author bio. Why don't you tell me (and the other people in this group) a little bit about yourself as well.