User:MartinStever
I'm a lifelong genre fiction reader and collector.
After college I worked in publishing for a decade. I wrote for Advance Comics and wrote most of Internal Correspondence for 6 years. I've done a lot of marketing in the publishing biz. I organized, managed, and acted as driver on the first U.S. signing tours for Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and Dave McKean. Harlan Ellison once called me to thank me for pushing Harlan Ellison's Watching, but I wasn't in the office to take the call. I once slept on the floor with Elvira at a convention, was a guest at Skywalker Ranch for lunch (twice!), and was featured on PBS' Reading Rainbow. Several of my book ideas made it into print. I tinkered with and approved a lot of covers. I became friends (over beers) with many authors, artists, editors, and publishers. I have proofread many hundred publications (thousands?); should have kept track.
Then I went to B-School and changed careers. My last work in publishing was in 2003.
I read and/or listen to 100 books each year. (Thanks to Goodreads for helping me track that.) About half are genre fiction.
I've read all the Hugo winning novels. I've read everything by Stephen King (except his baseball book and his collect non-fiction book). I'm working my way through Larry Niven, Dan Simmons, Jack Vance, and Roger Zelazny. I've read most of each of their books.
Anyone can complete an amazing book collection in a weekend, if they have a fat wallet and eBay. I'm a bargain collector focusing on limited editions.
Things I collect:
- I have a nearly complete collection of Arkham House, including M&M.
- Easton Press genre fiction
- Underwood-Miller
- Dan Simmons
- Jack Vance
- Roger Zelazny
- Books about genre fiction, including bibliographies
We have a lot of original cover art hanging on the walls of our home. Les Edwards is my favorite.