Where do you live?Ohio, America, right in between the corn and the Michigan fans. What’s your home life like?The best kind of crazy. I found an awesome wife willing to settle, and we’ve got two amazing kids that justify my increased blood pressure in all the best ways. It’s a cliché, but I hate having to leave them in the morning, and coming back home to them is the best part of my day. If I ever got big enough to be a full time writer, I’d have even more time with them working from home…so feel free to tell a few thousand of your closest friends to go snag my book! (I hear it’s good luck) What genre(s) to you like to write? To read?When it comes to writing, I’m a pretty solid speculative fiction guy. I love all the common speculative themes: time travel, aliens, space ships, super powers… But what I enjoy most is trying to take a common trope and turning it on its head. If I can twist something new out of something familiar, I can shut down my computer feeling good inside at night. I always love the feel a story gives you when it smacks you in the face at the end (or along the way); that good old-fashioned Twilight Zone feel. These are my favorite stories to put together. With that being said, the first story I ever published happened to be a western (“Lo Midnight”; Frontier Tales Magazine), and it’s still one of my favorites. When it comes to reading, it’s much the same. My favorites will always be speculative fiction. I love Jim Butcher, Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, Dean Koontz, Stephen King… too many to name them all. But more than anything I love a good story. You can make me laugh and keep me guessing, I’ve got no problem buying the next one that comes out. Why did you start writing?I’ve loved writing as long as I can remember. My mom tells me stories I don’t remember of how they had meetings with my teachers because I was writing fiction when they were trying to teach me math. (My first detention in junior high was for reading a book under my desk…in English class. That was a teacher that did not particularly appreciate irony.) In high school I had a couple of absolutely incredible teachers who fanned the flame into something real, and actually taught me what it looked like when you did it right. I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to. I’ve always loved making stuff up. What do you do when you’re not writing?For my day job, I am actually a therapist. I primarily specialize in family therapy and child/adolescent therapy. It’s another job that never gets old, and never stops being rewarding. For fun, I like all the stereotypical uninteresting stuff: movies, reading (of course), video games. I play a couple of instruments (not well), and my kids are old enough now that I can coach some of their sports (also not well). I’m pretty involved in my church, enjoy being bad at soccer, golf, and basketball, and I try to include some form of chocolate or peanut butter in most of my daily decisions, like an American. Where do you like to go when looking for a new book to read?I’ll be honest, I start almost all of my initial hunts in the new releases section in the sci-fi/fantasy corner of my local library. I’m always running searches for new stuff by my favorite authors, but I also love finding something new and shiny. I try to stay plugged in to the indie community, too. It’s amazing the quality stuff that comes from that corner of the market. These are people who aren’t afraid to reach way outside of the box. And I’m always open to word-of-mouth. At what point do you call it quits when reading a new book?If it’s a bad book, at the end. But for a great one, maybe after the second or third time through… Are you independently or traditionally published?I’ve got credits for both. My debut novel, Minutiae, is an indie published novel. For the genre, it’s pretty light sci-fi stuff that’s heavier on the characters and story than anything else. I’m about halfway through my second novel, which is definitely truer to the speculative field. But I do have multiple short stories that have been traditionally published in magazines, and two coming up in an Anthology (When Glints Collide) this October. Nicholas Adams and I will both be featured in that one. I think it’s definitely going to be worth the read. (Aww... I'm blushing, Steve)
What book/story are you currently promoting or working onMy current WIP (work in progress) is titled Degree of Separation. It will be an average-length sci-fi novel. To date, I personally believe it is the best story I’ve come up with yet. I’m very excited about this one. What’s the elevator pitch?In the future, to solve the growing challenges driven by the excesses of the past, society has developed the perfect solution in the form of an integrated, self-contained city complex: Helios. With the capacity of a major city, Helios is designed to be the perfect community of tomorrow. But a mysterious accident at the heart of the Complex has left thousands dead. Worse, its systems are failing. Its leaders can no longer be trusted. Conspiracy peaks out from every dark corner. Deeper and deeper secrets hide beneath every discovery, and the answers that do come offer more terror than respite. And unfortunately for the inhabitants of Helios, it is only the beginning… How long have you been working on it?I have been going back and forth between this WIP and writing a couple of short stories for new opportunities, which I usually try to avoid. But if you can’t break your own rules, whose can you break? I also almost all my writing on my lunch breaks. So with that said, Degree of Separation has been moving forward more slowly than I wish. It’s probably been underway about 8 months or so to date. When will it be available to buy? Where?I’m not entirely sure yet when it will be completed. I also have high hopes that this work will be picked up conventionally. So as of right now, I’m not sure as to the when or the where, but I’ll keep all interested parties in the know. If you follow me, that’s where all my updates come from. How can readers find you online?
Anything you’d like to add?Thanks for reading my words! I'd like to thank Stephen for taking the time away from his family and therapizing to participate in this interview. I wish him great success in his future writing endeavors!  Sincerely, Nicholas Adams
1 Comment
Mary Evans
9/16/2017 10:28:43 am
I am Steve's mom. I have always incouraged Steve to write! I have always enjoyed his writing ever since he was a young child! He doesn't trust my input because of this! I am very proud of him! Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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