I love hearing from fans! If you'd like to get in touch with me about a book, ask a question, or just say hi, please fill out the form and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. – Stephen Ames Berry
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September 3rd, 2011 on 2:12 pm
Hello: Just want to take a moment to tell you about my new kitten, Heidi. While sleeping last night, loud noise, coming from the l/r, woke me. Went to see what it was. One of the cats had stepped on the TV remote and turned the tv on. There was Heidi, sittig on the footstool, watching an infomercial.
Back to writing my short story. See you back at Twitter.
~Rebecca Scarberry
September 3rd, 2011 on 10:58 pm
My late mother-in-law had a huge cat who’d sit atop the TV, selectively changing channels. He favored ancient sitcoms with laugh tracks.
September 3rd, 2011 on 10:54 pm
Hi Steve: I am following an Italian director who doesn't speak any English. The 1st tweet I got from him was, of course, in Italian. I wrote back-"I don't understand Italian, but I just know you wrote something poetic and wonderful to me. Ha!" So hilarious-he wrote back "we are friends, yes. Anyway, Don't know why I'm going on about this other than maybe you have a suggestion on a better Italian online translator than Babylon. Translated last tweet & it has to be wrong-said he lives in Switzerland and wants to be an astronaut. Ha!
September 3rd, 2011 on 11:02 pm
Try Google Translate. (Don’t try anything too complex–the German poet Rilke, for example.)
As I recall, one of the official languages of Switzerland is Italian.
September 18th, 2011 on 3:36 pm
Hi Steve,
I was wondering if you would be interested in writing a guest blogpost about the problems you have experienced with Smashwords, detailing teh problems, the measures you took to address them and teh reponse from Smashwords as well as your subsequent decision to remove some of your books from their distribution network.
This would be published on a Tuesday, at your earliest convenience and advertised on our Facebook page and through Twitter.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Patricia
September 19th, 2011 on 1:12 am
I’d be happy to. I’ll email you.
Thank you.
Cheers,
Steve
September 22nd, 2011 on 7:19 pm
hi stephen how things are going, I half twiter disappearedbecause I am sick good reason, I grabbed the rain that dayI felt good the issue was the next day was very cold, My body ached as if I had stuck, I went to work but I was dizzy, tube to use the bus could not drive, nor well-finished workand came home only today I slept better, it all has finallyreleases a video if you're interested here's the address to see http://www.youtube .com / watch? v = 7zBa11Qg8Wsthat you have a excellent day
September 24th, 2011 on 1:55 pm
Sorry you’re ill, Caleb and hope you’re feeling better.
I tried to watch your video, but the link doesn’t work. If you’d care to send mea fresh link, will be happy view your work.
Cheers,
Steve
September 28th, 2011 on 6:32 pm
I stumbled upon the AI war in Waldenbooks almost 25 years ago. To this day it is my favorite science fiction book! I was so excited when I found it available in the Kindle store. I was even more excited when I discovered the Battle for Terra Two was also there. I'd been wanting to read that story ever since I finished The AI War. I immediately ordered it and began reading. I was not disappointed. I can't wait until the BioFab war is available. If you have any other ideas, please put them in a book. I've been hoping to see more from you for 20+ years.
September 28th, 2011 on 9:17 pm
What a gracious comment! Thank you, David. I’m so glad you enjoyed AI War and Terra Two and kept AI War all these years. (Waldenbooks was one of my favorite book stores, along with Brentanos, both sadly gone.)
I’m finishing up the rewrite of Final Assault now and hope to have it out on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords in the next few months. The rewrite of The Biofab War is going to take the longest of the four novels.
I did have another idea which I put in a book: THE ELDRIDGE CONSPIRACY’s available as a Kindle and at Smashwords. It makes some assumptions about the Philadelphia Experiment and goes from there. If you like the Biofab series, you’ll probably enjoy ELDRIDGE. (Spoiler: no aliens–well, not quite.
)
Thank you so much for taking the time to write me–such comments buoy an author’s spirits.
Best regards,
Steve
October 11th, 2011 on 10:40 am
I just finished the first chapter of the The Eldridge Conspiracy and I enjoyed it. I've been a fan since the Biofab War series. I just happened to check Amazon for your name against the hope of getting the Biofab War in ebook format. Two of the series were there in ebook form and I look forward to the other two. In doing that I snapped up The Eldridge Conspiracy
In the first chapter, I noticed two things – the first is about the military records center in St Louis, there was a fire there in 1973 that destroyed most of their records. I only knew of it after my father's death and I had to work with his DD-214
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Center_fire
The other is the reference to the diamond ring of Angie's right hand and then a few paragraphs later, it's referred to as an engagement ring. I always thought engagement rings went on the left hand
I thought it amazing I noticed. those two items won;t stop me from finishing the book, or buying any of your future books, which I look forward to
October 12th, 2011 on 11:53 am
Thanks for taking the time to write. So glad you enjoyed the biofabs and are getting along well with ELDRIDGE.
My Army DD214 went up in flames along with your dad’s. But the Navy and Marine records escaped mostly unscathed.
Reminds me that when safely filing my Army discharge with those of other family members, I came across the papers of a great-uncle. He accepted his honorable discharge from the Union Army as his regiment fought nearby on the 2nd day of Gettysburg, his enlistment being up. He had to have ridden north to the fading sound of battle. Hopefully he didn’t have to walk over dead and dying comrades to make his retreat. Died a year later in Boston of pneumonia–few mourners. (It was back in the days when everyone knew everyone and folks were always writing letters.) I’m not going to frame that profile in courage. My kids can have the joy of discovery after I’ve made my own retreat.
Engagement rings and wearing of: back in my marrying days, the engagement ring was worn on the right hand until the marriage ceremony, when it would join the wedding band on the bride’s left hand. If things didn’t go well, it could always be slipped off the right hand and returned, sold or worn as a keepsake and portable asset.
FINAL ASSAULT (Remastered) is in the final throes of editing and will be out in November, in time for the flood of new, better, cheaper Kindles so gleefully anticipated by authors. (My speculation that Amazon will then lower royalty rates sees me dismissed as a Cassandra.
) Despite being a Luddite, I’ve ordered a Kindle Fire unit: I swear publishers are making the fonts even smaller in more recent paperbacks. (My squire: “Maybe you need glasses? Or should wear the ones you have?” “It’s not me–it’s Them.” “Isn’t that called ‘The Conspiracy of The They” in psychoanalytical literature?” “Ridiculous. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” “Right.” “I’m going to the store. Have you seen my glasses?”)
Thanks again.
See you on Twitter. (In large font.)
Cheers,
Steve
October 13th, 2011 on 6:09 pm
Having finished "Eldridge" two questions come to mind:
When was it written?
Was it written with sequels in mind?
October 14th, 2011 on 11:16 pm
The Eldridge Conspiracy was written, on and off, over a nine-year period beginning in 2000. It spent a lot of time slumbering on the hard drives of various computers. Proposals for it garnered a few handwritten rejections on good stationery from some decent literary agents. Eventually one of my better high school students nagged me into publishing it as an ebook. (This is the kid who would sometimes call in the wee hours to ask, “Can I come over? Mom’s channeling Dr. Schmidla.”)
No, Eldridge wasn’t written with sequels in mind. Like Topsy, it just growed: organically, iteratively until it could grow no more and was sent out into the world. Certainly there are enough unanswered questions for a sequel, but I’m first rewriting The Biofab War, which has also been slumbering on hard drives for some years. Stay tuned.
Cheers
October 16th, 2011 on 8:34 am
I had thought it took awhile to come to fruition. Usually science fiction only uses past dates for background to the present, so seeing "current" dates of 1998 was a bit of a giveaway. And it has the feel of something that keeps coming back, like an old lover that you become friends with.
Certainly there are areas to explore for sequels, but the ending, where Milano returns looks like a perfect segway. It's like a door opening on the future (no pun intended)
October 19th, 2011 on 11:45 am
Certainly some available strands for a sequel, Dale–and next up after I finish rewriting THE BIOFAB WAR. (Which I’m now rereading after a hiatus of several decades. A kudos to Berkley/Ace for printing a trade paperback that didn’t fall apart through the years.
Writing from the perspective of a time even just a tad earlier magically gits the writer with knowledge of the “future” and the ability to incorporate it into the story, e.g., Milano’s Cassandra-like hints at the end. And of course, one doesn’t have to keep constantly updating the more minor aspects of the technology appearing in the novel. (The larger science/technology in THE ELDRIDGE CONSPIRACY, much like quantum theory, are akin to metaphysics and hence ageless.)
You’re friends with old lovers? Heavens. Where they used to send me a dead fish, now they hunt me down on Facebook just to block me. Oh, well–can’t be said I don’t inspire a lasting passion in others.
Cheers
October 28th, 2011 on 8:47 am
Hi, I have loved the Bio-fab war series for years, but my copies are falling apart, where can I find either the original 4 books or your revised editions in NON-Kindle e-book editions as I have a Sony ereader which takes EPUB, RTF, DOC or TXT or PDF formats??? Please let me know
thanx,
Mike Jurist
October 30th, 2011 on 10:01 pm
Thanks for your note, Mike. It’s always great to hear from fans, especially members of the original Biofab Legion.
Updated biofabs 2 & 3, The Battle for Terra Two and The AI War, can be found on Smashwords in all ebook formats, with #3, The Final Assault, being released in a few weeks.
The ancient Ace and Tor first editions are available used through Amazon or Abe Books, where their author also goes to buy them when he loses his copies.
Just query by title.
Cheers,
Steve
January 5th, 2012 on 3:20 am
Stephen,
I have to say that the 4 Biofab books of yours are favorites of mine. I read a lot, on average 50-75+ books a year (for 15 years) and those four of yours are near the top of the list for me.
My copy of The Battle for Terra Two is ripped and torn (the cover is held together with massive amounts of tape). I see that you're rewriting the four books and publishing them as Kindle books. Any plans to publish them as 'real' books as well? I don't have a Kindle and would love to get your revised editions.
Thanks!
January 30th, 2012 on 3:43 am
Hi Aaron,
Thank you for the kind words about the Biofabs. I’m delighted you’ve so enjoyed them over the years and sorry for the condition they’re in. (Classic pulp novels are made of, well, pulp.
There’s a lady in Australia who wrote to tell me her copy of THE AI WAR is now sepia-hued from a long-ago accident with iced tea in her garden.)
THE BIOFAB WAR’s coming out this week as a Kindle. (I finally broke down and bought a Kindle Fire for Christmas; I’ve been accused of hogging it.) I’m then going back and sprucing up some of the ebook formatting in the Biofabs and THE ELDRIDGE CONSPIRACY. All will be published as “real books” at Amazon’s CreateSpace within a few months. There’ll also be an omnibus edition of all four biofabs, THE BIOFAB QUARTET. The cover for that’s done–looks remarkably like the others.
They need to be indexed so readers don’t loose themselves amid all those biofabs, corsairs and mindslavers.
After years of grousing about “a teacup’s full of characterization” in the series–I did have to keep the fusion cannon going–I took advantage of the breathing room in FINAL ASSAULT and did some character enhancement. As Admiral Sagan warns in a different context, “Be careful what you wish for.”
Thank you again.
Best wishes,
Steve
February 26th, 2012 on 3:55 pm
Last evening I bought the first three Biofab books from Kindle store, with a quick glance at each text before buying the next. I stopped at AI War: it had the text of Final Assault. After two nonresponsive, boilerplate Amazon replies to my e-mails the third acknowledged the error, made AI War unavailable and said they are '… working with the publisher to fix the problem as quickly as possible…' I trust your t'ata beverager is charged. Sorry to see a problem you had at Smashwords crop up at Amazon.
I bought Biofab War the year it was published, the others as they appeared and have read them many times. First reaction to Kindle edition is that I miss the original spelling; I have yet to read the entire texts.
Sincerely,
John Allen
March 2nd, 2012 on 12:28 pm
Thank you, John! I probably never would’ve noticed as sales plummeted and returns rose.
Amazon Kindle’s been having growing pains for some months but this is a new symptom. Last summer they removed all categorization for one title, leaving it in Kindle limbo. Took me ages to notice, but after a mere five mails, it was fixed.
Smashwords is a great idea with some fine people behind it. After numerous complaints from surely others besides just me, they’ve created a fast-track–for Smashwords–approval and distribution process for updated titles. We’ll see how that goes; so far I’ve only entrusted them with THE BIOFAB WAR. BW’s free on Smashwords; I hope to also make it forever Free! on Amazon, but that will take some time.
I miss the apostrophes, too. And those of The Biofab Legion like yourself who’ve long had those books are also unhappy with the purge of the apostrophes. One longtime fan was so upset that he sold all of his old paperback Biofabs and posted an anguished review about it on Amazon. Readers have of course devised their own naming conventions and often aren’t happy with mine. However, over the years there’s been far more grousing about how the apostrophes are a turn-off rather than that they’re fun. And it would be nice if my kids read them before I’m dead. (“What’s with the apostrophes, Dad?”
)
I’m currently writing a novella based on my teaching experiences with wayward teens, then crafting a sequel to THE ELDRIDGE CONSPIRACY. If enough people want, I’d be happy to bring Implacable out of stasis again, though would probably have to send the MPs after the happily-retired D’Trelna and his crew.
Again, thank you so much for sounding the alert and taking the time to awaken Amazon–I’d have remained oblivious. I’ve add the book files to my weekly Amazon checklist. (Currently at My Author page they’ve associated some of the new Kindle covers with the used paperback editions. Jeez.) Am up to email #4 on that one.
I do hope you enjoy the redited Kindles. (The characterization in FINAL ASSAULT has been somewhat enhanced.)
Best wishes,
Steve
May 2nd, 2012 on 4:28 pm
Dear Steve,
(I left the following post on your blog page, but am repeating it here in case you don't often get back to read comments on past posts.)
We just happened upon your generous comment about Editor in this post. I plan to quote it, with attribution, on our customers' comments page.
Editor does have a check for missing quotation marks, but its scope is limited to the paragraph. Starting when a paragraph begins, it keeps a count of double quotation marks and, if the count is odd at the paragraph's end, issues an "unbalanced quotation marks?" comment (first checking whether the next paragraph begins with a quotation mark, in case the writer has a continuing, multiple-paragraph quotation). In some cases, a missing quotation mark generates an "incorrect spacing" comment, because it guesses that the lonely mark belongs with either the preceding or the following word; the [i] Reference screen notes that this comment may be provoked by missing or unbalanced quotation marks. Some missing quotation marks generate both messages.
(Editor also keeps track of opening and closing parentheses and brackets, adding and subtracting as openings and closings occur and trying to ignore legitimate instances like 1), ii), A), and so forth.)
This is tricky stuff, to be sure. Editor cannot handle single quotation marks, because there's no principled way to distinguish them from apostrophes in the stripped-down plain-text memory image that Editor makes of a word-processor memory file to get rid of formatting codes, graphics, etc., before analyzing it, and because sloppy typing can pose problems that defeat our simple counting algorithms. If you find cases in your work where Editor trips up in finding missing quotation marks, and would kindly send us copies of the paragraphs where it happens, we will try to rectify the omissions and send you free upgrades when we do. Of course, we would treat any such material as strictly confidential.
Thanks again for the kind words.
June 2nd, 2012 on 11:28 am
Thank you for you kind words, John, and for your offer of support. With school over for the year, I’ll try to visit my blog more.
My wife, who has a master in computer science and has worked on projects spanning the gamut from pharmaceuticals to C3I integrated battlefield systems, tired of my kvetching about missing quotation marks and sat down to pound out an application in Visual Basic to track them down within MS Word 2010. The prototype, which didn’t account for all instances, went well in plain text outside of the Word environment. The problem then became making it work as an Add-In within MS Word before spending time refining the application. This brought her into the cloistered world of Microsoft–very little information Out There to help anyone insert applications as Add-Ins. (Being kind here.) As you know, for those of us who write books, it’s incredibly cumbersome to edit outside of MS Word. I can’t imagine it was easy for Editor to field its own Add-In. That project has been shelved.
One can always hire a copy editor, of course. I haven’t yet–reports from those who do indicate, that as with much else in life, with copy editing you get what you pay for if you’re careful. Their services aren’t cheap and my royalties are in no danger of approaching those of J.A. Konrath.
A virtue of Big 6 publishing was the zealous copy editing. Late one evening years ago my phone rang; the bill later revealed the call was from Manhattan. A voice I didn’t recognize said tartly, “I hope means ‘I hope.’ ‘Hopefully’ means ‘to be filled with hope.’ You’ve got it everywhere!” ClICK.
Thanks again.
Best wishes,
Steve
August 22nd, 2012 on 10:52 pm
Hi Steve,
Started my first SAB book late last night (1am Eldridge Conspiracy). Dusky couldn't understand why she couldn't sleep on my chest. A gazillion yrs ago I read The Philadelphia Experiment and I have the movie on tape so needless to say, I am rapt! Having trouble putting it down. You deserve more $ for it but I guess that will come. What should I read when I finish it? We're getting ready for huricane-great time to read, especially if I have to go to the high school!
Thanks for the enjoyment!
Jill
August 27th, 2012 on 5:46 pm
So glad you’re enjoying Eldridge, Jill! (Sorry for the late reply; I keep a desultory blog.
)
I’m writing the sequel to Eldridge now–tentatively entitled The Eldridge Entanglement. Begins when the twins are in high school and Schmidla safely mouldering in the ground.
*evil smile*
Most of my last year was spent bring out my back list, a couple of hundred thousand words requiring editing and updating and fresh covers. It’s space opera, originally from Berkley/Ace and Macmillan/Tor. The captain’s fat and the blaster fire only stops for a soothing cup of tea. If you like the genre, the first one, The Biofab War, is Forever Free! just about everywhere. All books contain a generous sampling of the following book in the series.
Thank you again for the kind words. As for the money, no one’s yet made an offer for the movie rights, but I live in hope.
Best wishes,
Steve
August 25th, 2012 on 8:42 pm
Hi Steve,
Remember me from 1968/70? Saw your info on an internet search and thought I'd say hi.
Regards,
Joe
August 27th, 2012 on 5:48 pm
Joe!
Email enroute. (The Dark Lord yet lives.)
Cheers,
Steve
August 28th, 2012 on 3:12 pm
You sound interesting. I have two novels out there–For the Heart's Treasure and Children of Bast. The latter is the memoir of Gaylord Cat, with cats being the only characters. I am attempting my first sci-fi. Very challenging.
I shall get one of your books, read and review. Thanks for the twitter friending. Friending! How are language is changing digitally.
September 3rd, 2012 on 1:01 pm
Thank yo for note, Frederick. All writing is of course challenging, be it cats or sci-fi. (I sometimes wonder what our cats would have to say to us if they could speak–might not be all that heart-warming.
)
Hope you enjoy the books and look forward to your review.
Thanks for follow back on Twitter. Friending apparently has power, judging from how devastated my kids can be when a Facebook friend “defriends” them.
Best wishes,
Steve
September 21st, 2012 on 7:25 pm
Hi,
I'm just about to start reading your books on the Kindle having bought them all… As I'm new to them it would be really helpful if it was more obvious from the book description on Amazon whether it was the book 1 of 4 in the series, 2 of 4 in the series etc…
Best regards from Switzerland!
Cheers,
Hegster
September 23rd, 2012 on 2:44 pm
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them. Am currently laboring through the sequel to THE ELDRIDGE CONSPIRACY, tentatively entitled THE ELDRIDGE ENTANGLEMENT.
September 23rd, 2012 on 2:56 pm
Let’s try that again, Hegster
The new WordPress release is apparently truncating comments upon initial view.
Excellent point–it would be helpful if they were numbered sequentially. And I did once do that. Sales plummeted! Apparently folks thought having reading, say, the 3rd book in the series first would be totally disorienting. I did carefully engineer them so they could arguably stand alone. And the first two chapters of the next book are tucked in at the end of each book. (More than our friends at Amazon give you as a sample.) But you’ve inspired me to add the numbered sequence to the front of each book and the Amazon description page. Thank you.
Best wishes,
Steve
February 4th, 2013 on 7:36 pm
We would like to highlight your newest book in our magazine. If you are interested, let me know.
Susan Reichert
February 25th, 2013 on 1:21 am
Thank you for your note, Susan. Would certainly be delighted to have you do so. (Apologies for the belated reply–the webbot that’s supposed to email me of new contacts or comments has apparently gone AWOL.)
I’m on the alert now. Please drop me a line if still interested.
Best regards,
Steve
February 25th, 2013 on 3:43 pm
Got your email, yes we are still interested in highlighting your newest book.
Send me an email address, along with the cover of the newest book, release date, and 50-60 word description.
Looking forward to receiving the information .
Thanks
Susan
March 14th, 2013 on 2:24 am
Again, thank you for following me. Quite an impressive bio you have there. It is wonderful to know someone who believes in children … even those who may have been disavowed by many a one …. Best regards,
Noelle
April 20th, 2013 on 3:33 pm
Thank you, Noelle.
Best wishes,
Steve