stevengjackson

Author Steven G. Jackson

Announcements

My short story, “The Asylum for Rejected Characters,” has been selected for publication in the upcoming anthology Masquerade. Expect to see this on Amazon in the fall.

Sleepless in Laguna, a new bookstore in Laguna Beach, has added The Zeus Payload to its fine collection of books.

I’ve completed three novels in the last year. It’s time to find publishers for them. One is a traditional thriller (The Lust Gambit), and two (The Lamia, The Night Hag) are horror novels.

The Zeus Payload World Tour continued on April 6, 2020, where I gave a Zoom-based 90 minute talk on “Next Level Editing.” The lecture provided detailed material on rewriting and editing that the author needs to do before handing the manuscript over to professional content and copy editors.

The 2020 version of 24 Hour Creative was performed at Camino Real Playhouse on Feb. 1, 2020. My play, “Pharmaceuticals for Dummies,” was brilliantly produced, directed, and acted. This was my 11th produced stage play. Not bad for a recovering engineer.

My stage play “The No-Goodnick, the Bad, and the Ugly” was performed at Camino Real Playhouse on January 15, 2020 as part of the Reader’s Theater of the 2020 ShowOff! International Playwrighting Festival. This was my fourth time placing in the competition, which gets 200-300 entries each year.

The 2019 version of 24 Hour Creative was performed at Camino Real Playhouse on Feb. 2, 2019. My play, “Psycho Therapist,” was brilliantly produced, directed, and acted.

I gave three writing workshops in December, 2018. “Structure Matters” was given twice, both to small writing groups in a setting conducive to individual instruction. “Rewriting for the Pros” was given once in the same personalized setting.

I read my short story, “Life Dies, and Then You Suck” on August 21, 2018, at LitUP! OC in Tustin. The story was published in the highly-acclaimed fiction anthology, It’s All in the Story.

The Zeus Payload World Tour continued on April 3, 2018, at the Dana Point Library in Dana Point, CA. I spoke on “One Hour MFA in Professional Writing” from 5-7PM.

The 2018 version of 24 Hour Creative was performed at Camino Real Playhouse on Feb. 3, 2018. My play, “The Optimism of Youth,” was brilliantly produced, directed, and acted. See my blog post for more details.

The book launch for It’s All in the Story was Nov. 2, 2017, at Book Carnival in Orange, CA. Two of my short stories, “Full Service” and “Life Dies and Then You Suck” were published as part of the SCWA short fiction Anthology – It’s All in the Story.

Along with Maddie Margarita and DP Lyle, I was interviewed on Suspense Radio on Saturday, October 7th, at 9am PDT. The link to the interview is: Suspense Radio Inside Edition October 7th, 2017.

The Zeus Payload world tour continued on May 19th, as the Read Between the Wines Book Club invited me to attend. They become the fourth book club to read The Zeus Payload.

My current novel project, The Lamia, is out for a professional edit. Then on to literary agents and publishers. I don’t know what its publishing home may look like, but I am confident it represents my best writing to date. And I’m busy with my next novel project.

My stage play “Life Dies, and Then You Suck” was performed live on February 4th at Camino Real Playhouse as part of their 24 Hour Creative Show. I was given the show’s theme (ethical dissonance) at 8PM on Friday night, we held actor auditions, and then I started writing at 10PM. I returned the completed play to the theatre at 7AM for the director and actors, they rehearsed all day, and the curtain went up at 8PM Saturday. For those interested, here is the final draft.

I was the featured speaker at the Southern California Writers Association on July 16th. My talk, “Structure Matters: Engineering a Novel” delved into how my engineering background is a plus in my writing career.

The Zeus Payload world tour is back from London, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Two local bookstores in Orange County carry The Zeus Payload. It is available at Book Carnival in Orange, a bookstore that specializes in Mysteries and Suspense. My interview and book signing there on February 13th was great fun.

The Zeus Payload can also be purchased at SJC Friends of the Library, a local bookstore in San Juan Capistrano, which has a complete selection of fiction and nonfiction. We are working on a date where I can be interviewed and have a book signing.

The people at both bookstores are friendly, helpful, and have a terrific selection of hardcovers and paperbacks.