the Scott Stein

I am pleased to announce the rebirth of my online magazine, When Falls the Coliseum: a journal of American culture (or lack thereof) .

I ran this online publication from 1999 to about 2003. You can read the full history and a welcome statement. We have a few really good writers already signed up and more will be joining us soon. So please take a look and subscribe. My first post is already up on WFTC: It goes without saying.

This site, the Scott Stein, will continue to exist as a personal blog. I will post here whatever is not quite right for When Falls the Coliseum. Thanks for your continued support and for reading.

If you subscribe to Reason magazine, you should receive the November issue soon, maybe today. Check out page 11. Yep, that's me and Mean Martin Manning they're talking about. The picture is a few months old, of the pre-shaven Scott Stein. Still, handsome.

Jacob Sullum, senior editor, began the interview with this:

Your book is a funny, entertaining story that happens to have political themes, as opposed to a heavy-handed ideological lesson that tries to be entertaining. Did you set out to write a political novel?

To read my response and the full piece (which includes some silliness), you'll have to get the magazine. The piece isn't available online. They don't post this print version content on their site for a couple of months (plus, it doesn't look as cool online as it does in print).

If you don't subscribe, you might have to wait a few days for the magazine to hit the stores (Barnes and Noble, Borders). Pick up a copy. Show the issue around to friends. Say, "Hey, I know that bastard!" Then tell them to buy the book.

Stephen Cox, editor of Liberty, has selected my novel Mean Martin Manning as his summer book pick. The brief review appears in the July print issue (in stores in June), but you can also read it online (scroll down -- it's the last review on the page). Here's an excerpt:

There are few really good hardcore libertarian novels. This is one of them. Remember, I said "hardcore." And "good." "Good" doesn't mean "I agree with the message." "Good" doesn't mean "I like the hero." "Good" doesn't mean "This is an agreeable fantasy." "Good" means a lot more than that, and "Mean Martin Manning" is good. It's smart and it's funny. It's exactly as long as it ought to be. Its images, ideas, settings, and characters will linger in your memory far beyond this summer.

To read more about Mean Martin Manning and to purchase a copy, visit ENC Press.

ASK, the journal of the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University, has posted a short video of the publication party for Mean Martin Manning that took place on March 9, 2007. Check it out.

Thank you to bloggers Brad Warbiany and Wulf at Atlas Blogged for discussing Mean Martin Manning. Just a reminder to them, and to all bloggers, that Mean Martin Manning for President is looking for members.

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer has an article that discusses the sites I'm using to promote Mean Martin Manning.

Please consider forwarding the article to everyone you know, blogging about it, and visiting the sites the article links to (which I will also place below).

http://www.meanmartinmanning.com
http://www.mmm4prez.com
http://alicepitney.blogspot.com
http://www.itsdrkaren.com

Based on the reviews, this might be the greatest book ever written. Good for you, Erwin Wisotsky, Ph.D.

What You Want and What You Need: Joining the Quest for Improvement through Rejecting Material Culture

I am pleased to announce that the Philadelphia City Paper has a review of Mean Martin Manning appearing in their March 22-28 issue. It is now available online. The review of my novel is the last on the page, so scroll down. After you read the review, you'll know why I'm smiling. If you don't have your copy of the novel yet, well, I don't know what to say. I mean, really, what does a guy have to do? Read the review and then go get the book from the publisher. Don't make me tell you again.

Now that Mean Martin Manning is published and being read by people, I expect the sites promoting the book to be more active. So please visit the sites and participate. This brilliant (modesty be damned) book promotion premise will only work if people get in the spirit of it. Mean Martin Manning himself has already commented on the book's first review and Alice Pitney just blogged about it as well. You can get in on the act at these sites as well as at mmm4prez.com and itsdrkaren.com. So writers and readers, have a little fun with it.

Update: It appears that a spammer has taken Alice Pitney's blog seriously, choosing to post advertisements for self-improvement products on an earlier blog entry.

Per Contra has reviewed Mean Martin Manning. Apparently, they liked it. More information about my novel is available at encpress.com, where it can be purchased.