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 hundreds of 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 this.) 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 collected non-fiction book). I'm working my way through Larry Niven, Jack Vance, and Roger Zelazny. I've read most of the books by each of these authors. I've also read most of the books written by Robert Heinlein, Philip José Farmer, Ray Bradbury, George Orwell, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as nearly all the Doc Savage adventures.
Anyone can complete an amazing book collection in a weekend, if they have a fat wallet and an Internet connection. I'm a bargain hunter 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
- Jack Vance
- Roger Zelazny
- Histories of genre fiction, including many bibliographies
My favorite book is The Martian Chronicles. The most valuable book in my collection is probably a first edition of A Princess of Mars. My best find was about a dozen early Arkham House books worth roughly $2,500 for $1.99 each at a Goodwill.
We have many paintings, created as cover art, hanging on the walls of our home. Les Edwards is my favorite.
I also play and collect board games, and I've worked in game publishing. I've made a lot of editorial contributions to boardgamegeek.com.
If you'd like to see what I'm reading, I log my books at Goodreads, #10579578.