writer • editor • translator
Latest news and stories of interest from writer Steve Anderson, author of the novels The Other Oregon, Under False Flags, Liberated, The Losing Role, and Kindle Singles including the novella Rain Down.
Update, March 9: The winners have been picked. Congrats to Marilyn, Ashley, Leigh, Aaron, and Cynthia. I hope you enjoy the book.
Are you on Goodreads? You could win a hardcover copy of the new novel Lost Kin from Skyhorse Publishing. The giveaway is on now through March 8. Win the book before it releases March 29.
Find the Goodreads giveaway here.
You're a winner, I can feel it. Good luck!
I was stunned and thrilled to get a great advance review of Lost Kin from Kirkus Reviews, out this week. Here's a snippet:
"There's enough action and mystery to keep the pages turning—traitors done in by a shashka, a Ukrainian sword; a dramatic face-off in Czechoslovakia's snowy Šumava Mountains—all spun out in a masterful story of redemption found within the brutalities of postwar realpolitik . . . Classic noir shadowed by the hulks and rubble of the once-proud city of Munich, a character itself in this haunting tale . . . Anderson deserves a standing ovation."
Here's the link: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steve-anderson-2/lost-kin/
I happened to write a novel titled The Other Oregon (2015). It includes a reckless and menacing militia movement scheming away out in rural Oregon. Now we have the true story of self-appointed militiamen (“domestic terrorists”? “militants”? “reenactors”?) threatening rural Oregon and this tale just keeps getting stranger.
I wondered if I was a little far-fetched in my fiction. As it turns out, the truth fetches far further.
At this writing the story is already so jam-packed with all that’s kooky and hypocritical about America it's ready to blow. The angles are endless. It’s Red Dawn meets the Rajneeshees meets Deliverance meets Idiocracy. It’s the 1870s with machine guns. The bumbling Bundy gang, it seems, are unknowingly doing performance art as sanctioned by the Coen brothers. My favorite hashtags: #OregonUnderAttack #VanillaISIS #Yallqaeda. Now we have #BundyEroticFanFic, conclusive proof that there’s hope for America yet. Satire being the bad-assest gun ever fired.
But while we satirize, we should always take these extremist groups seriously. Because they don’t think they’re funny. They don’t see the stunning hypocrisy. They are deadly serious. Because they are the true believers. Because other groups have been scheming much longer than the Bundys and are cunning enough to stay clear of this fight. Because they’re planning the next one. The Oklahoma City bombing was a next one.
Not too long ago: Armed militias roamed the land for a cause to convert into their own, ultimately seeking the takeover of a democratically elected government they despised. They too believed. Claimed they're only protectors of the people, harming no one who didn't deserve it. That was in 1920s Germany.
Or, just ask the Burns Paiute tribe what they think.
Photo: Beth Nakamura, The Oregonian. Just before the entrance to the Burns Paiute Tribe.
Out today, I'm happy to report: My translation of Grave Intent by German crime novelist Alexander Hartung, the second in the Jan Tommen series set in Berlin. Congrats Alex!
More on my Translation page.
Photo: German Book Office/Publishing Perspectives
In my other role as a literary translator of German, I was lucky enough to get an invite from the German Book Office New York to attend their TransLab Workshop for emerging translators last September, held in NYC at the Goethe-Institut near Union Square.
Evan Strouss of the German Book Office covered the one-day workshop for Publishing Perspectives in his article "The Task of a Translator in Today's Market."
Translating (and writing and editing) can be a solitary endeavor, so it was nice to be reminded how much one can learn from peers and masters. Vielen Dank GBO, GI NY, and Katy Derbyshire!
UPDATE, Sept 18: Congrats to the winners: Mary Beth, Gary, Tim, and Russell — happy listening, all!
Listen to audiobooks, or think you might? I’m giving away four audiobooks of The Other Oregon: A Thriller to celebrate the audio version’s recent release—narrated by the talented Marc Vietor.
The prize is a promo code redeemable for the audiobook (normally $19.95), downloadable free from Audible.com. Entries accepted until 3 p.m. (PST) on September 16.
Entering is easy. Three options:
—Current newsletter Mailing List recipients are already entered once.
—Anyone who joins the Mailing List is entered. To sign up/enter, go here.
—Refer someone to enter and let me know (or tell them to mention you)—receive a second entry.
I'll draw and announce the winners on September 17. I hope you win it!
Writer, novelist, editor, translator