About Scott Stein
Posted on Thursday June 22, 2006 at 1:43pm.
Scott Stein's second novel Mean Martin Manning (ENC Press, 2007) was called “a gem of a book” by the Philadelphia City Paper, which also said, “If Franz Kafka were funny, if, while down at his local pub in Prague, he had fired off one witty, sarcastic rejoinder after another about the absurdity of the world, then he would have written a novel like Scott Stein's Mean Martin Manning.” Per Contra described the novel as “serrated social commentary disguised as a hilarious journey from hermit to unwilling and uncontrollable ward of the state” and said that it provided “a healthy dose of laughter.” In selecting Mean Martin Manning as a 2007 summer book pick, Liberty’s editor wrote, “It’s smart and it’s funny .... Its images, ideas, settings, and characters will linger in your memory far beyond this summer.” Stein has created four interactive Web sites related to the novel: Mean Martin Manning’s site; Mean Martin Manning for President; It’s Dr. Karen; and Caseworker Alice Pitney’s blog. These sites were profiled in 2007 by the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2007, he was interviewed about the novel by The Bibliothecary and Reason magazine.
In 2001, in its review of his first novel, Lost, the Philadelphia Inquirer said, “There are a million laughs in the big city, as a sharp-eyed writer shows … Stein has a keen eye for the details of our cultural landscape … wonderfully comic … a page-turner … insightful tweaking of city living and modern times.” Lost was a BookSense.com daily pick—they called it a “witty, deadpan debut novel” and said “... with hilarious and winning effect, Stein captures an ordinary guy’s life as it descends into an existential car chase through the twisty turns of New York City—getting lost has never been so enjoyable.” Lost also received favorable press from the Bucks County Courier Times, the Queens Courier, Washington Square News, and the Triangle.
He was the founding editor of the online magazine When Falls the Coliseum: a journal of American culture (or lack thereof), about which New York magazine said, “no matter what your personal politics, WFtheColiseum will spark a thought or two … hip, sardonic … quirky.” It featured more than two dozen writers from across the country. Consisting of essays, fierce debate, satire, and some silliness about issues such as crime and law, politics, economics, religion, language, and entertainment, the site had thousands of readers. At least one of its essays was cited in a scholarly journal (the Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics discussed Stein’s “Literally Decimated, Figuratively Speaking”). When Falls the Coliseum was made into a book in 2001.
Stein's short fiction, essays, and book reviews have been published in The G.W. Review, Art Times, Liberty, the Drexel Online Journal (DOJ), the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Publisher’s Marketing Association Newsletter.
He is acting director of the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing in the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He teaches writing fiction, writing humor and comedy, creative writing, and freshman writing. The book Drexel University Off the Record (the unauthorized guide for prospective students) lists “Scott Stein’s Humor & Comedy Writing class” as one of the “Ten Best Things About Drexel.”
Stein received his MFA in creative writing/fiction from the University of Miami, where he studied fiction writing with (and occasionally substitute-taught undergraduate creative writing courses for) Lester Goran, author of numerous novels and story collections, including the New York Times Notable Book Tales from the Irish Club. He also studied the South American novel in a form in fiction course with visiting writer Nelida Piñon, as well as poetry writing with John Balaban. Stein was a fiction editor for the MFA program’s literary journal, Mangrove.
He received his MA in liberal studies from New York University, where he studied Dostoevsky, (way too much) Nietzsche, (way, way too much) postmodernism, the philosophy of humor, the Bloomsbury Group, Darwinism, and Nineteenth Century European politics. He wrote his thesis on Kafka under the supervision of Friedrich Ulfers.
His BA in English (with university honors and departmental honors in creative writing) is from the University of Miami. In addition to studying with Lester Goran, he took creative writing courses with Kathleen Martell Gordon, Peter Schmitt, and Evelyn Wilde Mayerson. He minored in philosophy, studying with, among others, the late John Knoblock (classical Chinese philosophy, honors introduction to philosophy) and Susan Haack (honors twentieth century philosophy, metaphysics).
Stein taught writing for a year at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania before coming to Drexel University in 2000. He has also taught courses for Drexel’s Department of Culture and Communication, including writing for the world wide web, public speaking, grant writing, and business writing. For nearly six years he taught a course called “The Individual, Society, and Freedom” on an adjunct basis for the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania. It was a course in persuasive writing that focused on social issues and placed individual rights at the center of the debate. He has developed a new course for the University of Pennsylvania called “What’s So Funny?” It examines humor in writing.
Prior to teaching, he worked as an editor and grant writer for Temple University; the director of marketing and public relations for the Educational Alliance, a large nonprofit social service agency in New York City; and a copywriter for One World Solutions, a New York boutique advertising agency with clients in the toy and wine industries. In 1994, he was a double finalist and won honorable mention in the Gannett Outdoor Creative Challenge, a competition open to all advertising professionals in New York City. While he has no wish to return to the industry, he sometimes dabbles in it, developing brochures, slideshows, special events, and other projects for Drexel’s Department of English and Philosophy.
On an ongoing basis since about 1995, he has pursued self-education in libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and public policy issues, studying and contrasting such writers and thinkers as Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Rose Wilder Lane, Thomas Sowell, Frederic Bastiat, Lysander Spooner, David Friedman, Robert Nozick, and Virginia Postrel, to name a few. He also has more than a passing interest in Evolution. But his first love (not counting, of course, his wife and son) is fiction. His early reading consisted of Encyclopedia Brown, Judy Blume, The Black Stallion series, science fiction and fantasy, comic books (mostly Marvel), the back of cereal boxes, and whatever else he could get his hands on. His more recent reading can be seen on his book shelf.
Other interests and hobbies include playing tennis (at one time wasn’t bad); ping-pong (still deadly); basketball (before back injury, no-look fade-away hook shot was unblockable—really, it was—yes, he knows he’s short, but you should have seen this thing); bowling (he was on his high school team—go ahead, laugh); chess (a bit rusty); playing with his son (all superheroes all the time); bantering with his wife (yes, it’s true—plus, she might read this—but it’s still true); cooking (mean BBQ, Italian); listening (can’t play a thing) to jazz (especially Miles, Monk, Coltrane) and classical (Beethoven, of course, but also especially Mahler) and very loud rock (a long list, embarrassing in spots); arguing (don’t get him started); and assembling preassembled furniture (that’s been disassembled for packing purposes) with a variety of Allen wrenches and easy-to-follow instructions in four languages provided by the manufacturer. When he was young and fit, he worked as a lifeguard (never needed to save anyone, but had a very good tan); got NAUI certified in Scuba diving (if you haven’t noticed, there aren’t any oceans in Philadelphia); and climbed Mt. Katahdin in Maine (it isn’t exactly Everest, but then he’s no Sir Edmund Hillary). His adventures these days are far more likely to entail trying to get a five-year-old to go to sleep at a decent hour.
Scott Stein grew up in Bayside, Queens, attending Bayside High School, I.S. 25, and P.S. 169. He has lived on Manhattan’s Upper and Lower East Sides and now lives near Philadelphia with his family.
In 2001, in its review of his first novel, Lost, the Philadelphia Inquirer said, “There are a million laughs in the big city, as a sharp-eyed writer shows … Stein has a keen eye for the details of our cultural landscape … wonderfully comic … a page-turner … insightful tweaking of city living and modern times.” Lost was a BookSense.com daily pick—they called it a “witty, deadpan debut novel” and said “... with hilarious and winning effect, Stein captures an ordinary guy’s life as it descends into an existential car chase through the twisty turns of New York City—getting lost has never been so enjoyable.” Lost also received favorable press from the Bucks County Courier Times, the Queens Courier, Washington Square News, and the Triangle.
He was the founding editor of the online magazine When Falls the Coliseum: a journal of American culture (or lack thereof), about which New York magazine said, “no matter what your personal politics, WFtheColiseum will spark a thought or two … hip, sardonic … quirky.” It featured more than two dozen writers from across the country. Consisting of essays, fierce debate, satire, and some silliness about issues such as crime and law, politics, economics, religion, language, and entertainment, the site had thousands of readers. At least one of its essays was cited in a scholarly journal (the Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics discussed Stein’s “Literally Decimated, Figuratively Speaking”). When Falls the Coliseum was made into a book in 2001.
Stein's short fiction, essays, and book reviews have been published in The G.W. Review, Art Times, Liberty, the Drexel Online Journal (DOJ), the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Publisher’s Marketing Association Newsletter.
He is acting director of the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing in the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He teaches writing fiction, writing humor and comedy, creative writing, and freshman writing. The book Drexel University Off the Record (the unauthorized guide for prospective students) lists “Scott Stein’s Humor & Comedy Writing class” as one of the “Ten Best Things About Drexel.”
Stein received his MFA in creative writing/fiction from the University of Miami, where he studied fiction writing with (and occasionally substitute-taught undergraduate creative writing courses for) Lester Goran, author of numerous novels and story collections, including the New York Times Notable Book Tales from the Irish Club. He also studied the South American novel in a form in fiction course with visiting writer Nelida Piñon, as well as poetry writing with John Balaban. Stein was a fiction editor for the MFA program’s literary journal, Mangrove.
He received his MA in liberal studies from New York University, where he studied Dostoevsky, (way too much) Nietzsche, (way, way too much) postmodernism, the philosophy of humor, the Bloomsbury Group, Darwinism, and Nineteenth Century European politics. He wrote his thesis on Kafka under the supervision of Friedrich Ulfers.
His BA in English (with university honors and departmental honors in creative writing) is from the University of Miami. In addition to studying with Lester Goran, he took creative writing courses with Kathleen Martell Gordon, Peter Schmitt, and Evelyn Wilde Mayerson. He minored in philosophy, studying with, among others, the late John Knoblock (classical Chinese philosophy, honors introduction to philosophy) and Susan Haack (honors twentieth century philosophy, metaphysics).
Stein taught writing for a year at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania before coming to Drexel University in 2000. He has also taught courses for Drexel’s Department of Culture and Communication, including writing for the world wide web, public speaking, grant writing, and business writing. For nearly six years he taught a course called “The Individual, Society, and Freedom” on an adjunct basis for the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania. It was a course in persuasive writing that focused on social issues and placed individual rights at the center of the debate. He has developed a new course for the University of Pennsylvania called “What’s So Funny?” It examines humor in writing.
Prior to teaching, he worked as an editor and grant writer for Temple University; the director of marketing and public relations for the Educational Alliance, a large nonprofit social service agency in New York City; and a copywriter for One World Solutions, a New York boutique advertising agency with clients in the toy and wine industries. In 1994, he was a double finalist and won honorable mention in the Gannett Outdoor Creative Challenge, a competition open to all advertising professionals in New York City. While he has no wish to return to the industry, he sometimes dabbles in it, developing brochures, slideshows, special events, and other projects for Drexel’s Department of English and Philosophy.
On an ongoing basis since about 1995, he has pursued self-education in libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and public policy issues, studying and contrasting such writers and thinkers as Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Rose Wilder Lane, Thomas Sowell, Frederic Bastiat, Lysander Spooner, David Friedman, Robert Nozick, and Virginia Postrel, to name a few. He also has more than a passing interest in Evolution. But his first love (not counting, of course, his wife and son) is fiction. His early reading consisted of Encyclopedia Brown, Judy Blume, The Black Stallion series, science fiction and fantasy, comic books (mostly Marvel), the back of cereal boxes, and whatever else he could get his hands on. His more recent reading can be seen on his book shelf.
Other interests and hobbies include playing tennis (at one time wasn’t bad); ping-pong (still deadly); basketball (before back injury, no-look fade-away hook shot was unblockable—really, it was—yes, he knows he’s short, but you should have seen this thing); bowling (he was on his high school team—go ahead, laugh); chess (a bit rusty); playing with his son (all superheroes all the time); bantering with his wife (yes, it’s true—plus, she might read this—but it’s still true); cooking (mean BBQ, Italian); listening (can’t play a thing) to jazz (especially Miles, Monk, Coltrane) and classical (Beethoven, of course, but also especially Mahler) and very loud rock (a long list, embarrassing in spots); arguing (don’t get him started); and assembling preassembled furniture (that’s been disassembled for packing purposes) with a variety of Allen wrenches and easy-to-follow instructions in four languages provided by the manufacturer. When he was young and fit, he worked as a lifeguard (never needed to save anyone, but had a very good tan); got NAUI certified in Scuba diving (if you haven’t noticed, there aren’t any oceans in Philadelphia); and climbed Mt. Katahdin in Maine (it isn’t exactly Everest, but then he’s no Sir Edmund Hillary). His adventures these days are far more likely to entail trying to get a five-year-old to go to sleep at a decent hour.
Scott Stein grew up in Bayside, Queens, attending Bayside High School, I.S. 25, and P.S. 169. He has lived on Manhattan’s Upper and Lower East Sides and now lives near Philadelphia with his family.