Steve Lazarowitz is an animal lover, a stepfather, an
origami enthusiast, a hiker, a lover, a husband, a movie
buff, a game-player, an amateur entomologist and a writer
though not often all at the same time. He currently lives
in Tasmania with his wife, two stepsons, an insane dog and
a giant spiny leaf insect.
"Life is my major influence. I've lived many lives
within this one. As a retail store manager, an amateur
entomologist, a tarot reader in a tea room. From Brooklyn,
New York to East Peoria, Illinois to Fresno, California to
Moonah, Tasmania, I have traveled. I've crossed the country
by car, plane and train at different times of my life. I've
been to Costa Rica, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas,
England and now Tasmania, Australia. How can anything not
influence an author?
I've been reading speculative fiction
all my life. Here are some of my influences... Roger
Zelazny, Piers Anthony, Lord of the Rings, my fifth grade
teacher, my dad, Rod Serling, Star Trek, Knight Riders (NOT
the television series), Calvin and Hobbes, WWF Wrestling,
The Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Natural History, the
Smithsonian, managing a computer store, two divorces, three
marriages, five sisters, my friend Paul, the women I've
loved, the games I've won and lost, countless movies, books
and television series, the few times I've stared death in
the face, the few times I got away with things, the many
times I've paid for them, Styx (the rock group not the
river), Zen (my pet savanah monitor lizard), Juanita (my
pet amazon parrot), my step-daughter, my stepsons, my
living reef tank, Josh Miller, who saved me by dying, the
New York Yankees, September 11th, my father's death,
writing full time, the time I killed a bird that was
suffering. What hasn't influenced me?"
Books
A Cure for the Common Curse
Ebook
Fantasy/Humor
Tag line: Evil just got a whole lot
funnier.
Blurb: Jackson Locke, a private investigator who was
absent the day they taught politically correct behavior in
high school, is about to find out just what it means to be
on the short end of the stick. Caught between an insecure
ex-wife, an insane client (and her delectable daughter),
and a dozen or so demonlings out to make his life a living
hell, Jackson Locke does the only thing he knows how to
do--fight back. Evil has just got a whole lot funnier.
Publishing History: December, 2004 (Double Dragon
Publishing)
The Cup and the Bucket: A Workbook for Life
Ebook
New Age/Spiritual
Tag Line: A practical guide to living a
new age life in a young soul world.
Blurb: No time to find your guide in a mountain cave
in Tibet? You’ve come to the right place. Demystify
yourself. The Cup and the Bucket is a book about karma, the
soul, reincarnation, the Tarot and pizza.
Publishing History: November, 2004 (Double Dragon
Publishing)
Dream Sequence and other Tales from Beyond
Print
Anthology
Tag Line: Think at right angles to reality.
Blurb: Dream Sequence and Other Tales from Beyond is not
your typical anthology. The twenty short stories in Dream
Sequence will task your mind, your emotions, the very way
you see the universe. Steve Lazarowitz superbly blends
fantasy, science fiction and horror into a speculative
fiction cocktail that will challenge you to think at right
angles to reality.
What can you expect to find in Dream
Sequence?
A story written by a wolf, a magical duel
between eighteenth century sorcerers, a princess that must
find a way to lose her virginity to circumvent her dark
destiny, a young psychic who gives the ultimate gift in an
attempt to save the life of a friend’s daughter, a man who
must sleep, lest all of humanity perish, a computer
technician that stumbles upon the most ingenious invasion
of all time, a University on a world of sentient insects,
an alchemist trying to obtain all the ingredients to make a
very special potion and much, much more.
Publishing
History: September, 2004 (Twilight Times Publications)
Fantasy Cereal
Print
Fantasy
Tag line: Adding
milk to this volume will void your warranty.
Blurb: Two fantasy novels! Two heroes! Two magic swords
that aren't quite what they seem! Twice the fun and
excitement! Enough plot twists to satisfy even you. Now for
the first time together...Alaric Swifthand and Reflections
of a Recovering Servant. A fast and furious fantasy duet
from the mind of Steve Lazarowitz.
Publishing
History: September, 2004 (Zumaya Publications)
A Leaf in the Wind
Ebook
Fantasy
Tag line:
Sometimes you have to die to beat the odds.
Blurb: Kestryl, the Bladesman of High Gondylar, has every
reason to believe Penthor, the heir to the Gondylarian
throne, has committed treason. Yet, Penthor’s assassins
have failed and Kestryl sets off on a long journey to find
Cyanne, the true heir to the throne. Exiled at the age of
five, Cyanne is now a young woman and could be anywhere.
Even if he finds her, Kestryl has no idea what she might be
like, or whether she will choose to return to the Great
Dukedom.
Neither Kestryl nor Penthor know the face of the true
enemy, a powerful sorcerer who has managed to turn the two
most powerful men in High Gondylar against each other.
And no one could have prepared themselves for Tanrif, an
outlander whose own destiny will affect not only High
Gondylar, but will change the face of Corithim forever.
Publishing History: May, 2004
Reflections of a Recovering Servant
Ebook
Fantasy
Tag line: A servant's life can be more dangerous than a
knights.
Blurb: Servitude never prepared Stracc to be a fugitive,
nor did it prepare him for involvement in the affairs of
nobles. Certainly, it never prepared him to deal with
something as powerful as the Cursed Sword of Ariendal. Was
the Sword responsible for his missing reflection, or was
the cause even more sinister? With the help of the
beautiful Thea along with Captain Taylor of the late king's
guard and a host of unusual characters, Stracc must unravel
the greatest conspiracy of all.
Publishing
History: January, 2004 (Double Dragon Publishing) /
October, 2002 (Twilight Times Publications)
Alaric Swifthand
Ebook
Fantasy/Sword-and-Sorcery
Tag Line: Never has a hero been
less prepared to save the day!
Blurb:
Conan had strength, Arthur had Excalibur, Rambo
had guns--Alaric Swifthand has an uncooperative magic
sword, which doesn’t seem to be any help at all. How could
an ordinary guy possibly get into so much trouble, and why
does it keep happening to him? The answers may surprise
you. Never has a hero been less prepared to save the day!
Publishing History: July, 2002 (Twilight Times Books) /
August, 2000 (Crossroads Publishing)
A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation
Ebook
Speculative Fiction Anthology
Tag line: Learn to
think all over again.
Blurb: From the depths of the oceans to the far reaches of
space. Seventeen stories that will transport you, assail
you and change the way you think about the universe. A
Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation...learn to think all
over again.
Publishing History: January, 2002
(Twilight Times Publishing) / October, 2000 (Crossroads
Publishing) / February, 2000 (Darkstar Publications)
Serials
The full definition of a serial is any continual
publication appearing under a single name, separated
from its brethren by a volume number. According to
this definition newspapers and magazines are serials. This
is not the type of serial I'm talking about. I'm
thinking along the lines of the old science fiction serials
like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, or even radio serials like
The Shadow. Today, many authors offer their works
in a serial format, revealing one chapter at a time. This
is not what I mean when I talk about a serial. What I
call a serial isn't merely a story broken into sections; it
is a deliberately structured piece of fiction--fast paced,
action oriented and filled with twists, turns and
cliffhangers. I've had three serials run on the Internet
over the years. In fact, my very first work to be displayed
on the Internet was The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand
. If some of the names of the serials look familiar,
it's because I often add to serials and republish them as
ebooks after they've run their course.
The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand
Tag Line: Never has a hero been less prepared to save the
day!
Alaric debuted on October 7, 1997 on a page
called Dragonsclaw--a role-playing game page. I had visited
the page on a friend's recommendation.
It offered gaming news and reviews in a
functional but unappetizing manner. I felt the page would
be more successful if it had something that drew people
back month after month. Naturally, that meant having
something by me on the page. I emailed the webmaster with
the idea, who asked to see a sample of my writing. At the
time I worked in a computer store in Brooklyn, New York. As
soon as I received his email, I sat down and, off the top
of my head, wrote the very first part of The Adventures of
Alaric Swifthand . I hadn't plotted it at all; I just
wanted to give the webmaster a sampling of what I could do.
A few minutes after I sent it off, he emailed me back
wanting to know what happened next. I told him if he wanted
to find out, he'd have to host the serial. So, Alaric
Swifthand was born.
We agreed to a six issue test run. I started writing. The
problem was, I wrote myself into a corner by creating a
murder mystery without any possible solution. At least no
satisfying one. There I was, writing on the fly, often
finishing an installment the day it was due, with no idea
at all of how to end it. When I wrote part five, I still
didn't know. Part Six was hailed as brilliant by most of my
readers, but it wasn't careful planning they were seeing;
it was last-minute desperation.
I received so much fan mail for Alaric that the webmaster
asked me to continue the story. Book Two of Alaric
Swifthand ran seventeen installments, right up to part
twenty-three. Then, in November of 1998, more than a year
after its debut, the last episode of book two went up.
Amidst some small protest, I retired Alaric, at least for
the time being.
Later, when I became involved with epublishing companies,
I wrote Alaric Book Three, combined it with the first two
and released it, first from Crossroads Publishing and later
from Twilight Times Publications, where it resides today.
Alaric is still available as a download and is also
available in print as part of Fantasy Cereal , a two-novel
trade paperback from Zumaya Publications.
Alaric Book Four is started, but it will likely be a while
before I find the time to complete it.
Reflections of a Recovering Servant
Tag Line: Being a servant can be just as dangerous as being
a knight.
While browsing around the net one day, I chanced upon a
page called Trolls Eye Reviews. The site was looking for
content to review, so I took a chance and sent them the
information about Alaric Swifthand, which was still running
at the time. I received a very nice review from Trolls Eye
(my first review), and Jason Laseman (the owner of Trolls
Eye Reviews) and I became friends.
Later, when he told me he was planning on starting an
online zine of his own, I was anxious to get involved. I
offered him another serial. It came to me while I was
talking to him about it, and by the time the conversation
was done, Reflections of a Recovering Servant was born.
Unlike Alaric, I had a fair idea of where this one was
heading (even though it still managed to surprise me from
time to time).
Reflections debuted on April 1st 1999 in
The Wandering Troll Ezine. It ran thirteen installments,
the last of which was posted to the site on March 1,
2000.
Reflections was a far more ambitious serial than
Alaric, and to this day remains one of my favorite stories.
It's also worth mentioning that my wife discovered the
first issue of Reflections online two days before we met in
a 3D chat program. If that's not fate, I don't know what
is.
Confronting the Void
Tag Line: What happens when the veil between worlds no
longer exists?
Confronting the Void is the serial that
took me the longest to write. I began it sometime during my
second marriage, but never found a page to host it, and so
I lost interest. In truth, I love the idea of writing on
the fly, being forced to meet that deadline. Admittedly, I
didn't try to push it very hard, possibly because it was
science fiction and I was far more comfortable with
fantasy.
After a divorce, and a transitional relationship that
lasted three years, I ended up moving from New York City to
Hobart, Tasmania, where I reside to this day. I finally
decided to find a home for Confronting the Void and I
did--a site called The Writer's Hood, which I'd had
dealings with before.
Again I ran into a problem. I
had had, at some point, an idea of where the serial was
going. I could no longer remember my plans. I had to start
mid-story and figure out what was going to happen. When I
failed, I took the story in what was almost
certainly a new direction, though I love the way it came
out.
Confronting the Void has one of the most twisted plots
I've ever conceived, which in my book makes it okay.
The
Writer's Hood had problems staying with a schedule (even
though I was always on time), but eventually the entire
thirteen installments were posted. I've since contracted
Confronting the Void with booksforabuck.com, and expect it
to be available as an ebook in the not too distant
future.
