My name is Stephen Covey. I am a Writer.
Once upon a time, I was a software and web consultant. Now I pay
the bills as a
Realtor, webmaster and rock
hound, and in my spare time I write Science Fiction (SF). If
you got to this page seeking books on Rocks, Gems, and Minerals, see
my Recommended Mineral Books. If
you got here seeking books by Stephen R. Covey, see my page on
Reader's Resources for my
recommendations.
I've been reading
SF since I was 8 years old (and fascinated by dinosaurs). I love SF
because I love to learn, and great SF expands the mind by
exploring visions of what might be. I've always favored
"hard" SF, stories about technologies and exotic places that
just might be possible, someday, somewhere, somehow. As soon as
practical, I plan to write full time ("retirement" is simply a
synonym for "career change"). In a very real sense, I am a
full time Realtor, a full time webmaster, and a full time writer.
Sleep isn't all that important, anyway, unless you are dreaming up a
new scene or a new story.
A little about me:
I started to read when I was very young, inspired by my father
Darrell who daily would read every article in the newspaper,
plus on average one novel. Besides, the comic section of the
paper is pretty boring if you can't read. When I was 7, my
parents purchased a children's encyclopedia (The Book of Knowledge),
and I decided to read the entire 20-volume set. It took me a
year to read Volume I (slowed drastically by the need to frequently ask "Mom,
what's this word?") I finished the set during the summer two years after
that. I liked science and technology, and I admit that I
largely just skimmed the articles on history, biographies, politics
and the like (except for the interesting people like Newton and
Einstein).
Like many kids, I was fascinated by dinosaurs.
In the 3rd grade, my class took a field trip to the nearby library
(which happened to be on the same block as the elementary school),
and I discovered dozens of books on dinosaurs. I often went to
the library on my own to read those books. After almost daily
visits for 6 months, a very helpful librarian said "You can take
these books home, you know." No, I didn't know, and the very
next day my mother co-signed a library card for me. Months
later I had finished reading the last of that library's books on
dinosaurs, and the same librarian showed me the only other books
with "dinosaur" in the title - in the science fiction section.
I was hooked.
I was lucky enough to attend a high school with
excellent chemistry, physics, and biology teachers. I attended
a wonderful small college (Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana),
and graduated with a degree in physics.
A small liberal arts college offers many unique opportunities.
For one, I was able to satisfy my literature requirement with an
Independent Study course I created on "The Science Fiction of Isaac
Asimov". I also wrote my first SF piece while a student there,
but I was embarrassed by my poor writing and gave up about half-way
through the first draft. Largely, I just needed more
experience writing, and a lot more reading. Skip ahead 30+
years ....
I write what I like - SF that explores the implications
of new technologies, or possible worlds, or plausible events that
would disrupt our lives should they ever come to pass. I have
detailed outlines for a half-dozen novels (and up to 40,000 words of
first draft in each), plus outlines for several collections of
related short stories. I have discovered that I enjoy writing
SF every bit as much as I enjoy reading it.
I also discovered that
my new home in St. Augustine, Florida is a great place to be a
developing writer. The Jacksonville area is home to at least 4
writer's groups (one of which has several local chapters), and I
just joined a critique group of 8 Jacksonville area science fiction
and fantasy writers.
As I complete works and get them published,
these pages will be expanded to provide more details about each
story and/or collection. For now, here is a list of my
works-in-progress:
- NOVELS:
- The Waist Of Time
- The Wall At The End Of The Universe
- Leo's Call
- Beneath The Peridot Seas
- The Cometwealth
- The Dhreesah Crusades
- COLLECTIONS:
- Strip Search (or Party Line)
- Terran Technologies, Inc.
- Portalnaut
- Moore's Demise
- Fermi Paradox
- SHORT STORIES:
