Steve Alten

Steven Robert "Steve" Alten (born August 21, 1959) is an American science fiction author. He is best known for his Meg series, a series of novels set around the fictitious survival of the megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark. Alten holds a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University, a master's in sports medicine from the University of Delaware and a doctorate in sports administration from Temple University.^[1] Alten is the founder and director of Adopt-An-Author, a nationwide secondary school free reading program promoting works from six authors, including his own.^[2] Alten resides in South Florida.

Critical response

Some critics have pointed out that Alten's books feature poorly researched science and weak writing,^[3] and at least one has called the novel MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror "terrible".^[3] Others have praised his character development, research and story-telling.^[4] Reviewer Steve Donoghue's review calls Alten a "huckster" and has written "the Moby Dick of giant killer shark novels."^[5]

Reviewer Jason Frost said of Alten's Grim Reaper: End of Days, "This will not be one of the best books you will read this year. This will be one of the best books you will read, period." Mystery Book Review said of The Loch, "The blending of factual and fictional material as crafted by Alten for the book is both fascinating and credible." Paul Craig Roberts, former Wall Street Journal editor, said of Alten's thriller, The Shell Game, "Alten’s book is a first-class thriller set in the real world of today."

Alten's comedic novel, Dog Training the American Way (written under the pen name L.A. Knight) was given a positive review by Kirkus Reviews, which described "the prose [as flowing] like a jocular babbling brook" and the plot as compelling: "Incident by unlikely incident, we are pulled deeper into their lives until it is their fates (not merely their quips) that keep us turning the pages."^[6]

Bibliography

Meg series

• Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997)
• Meg: The Trench (1999)
• Meg: Primal Waters (2004)
• Meg: Hell's Aquarium (2009)
• Meg: Origins (E-Book, 2011)
• Meg: Special Anniversary Edition (2015)
• Meg: Nightstalkers (2016)
• Meg: Generations (2018)

Domain trilogy

• Domain (2001)
• Resurrection (2004)
• Phobos: Mayan Fear (2011)

The Loch series

• The Loch (2005)
• Vostok: Sequel to The Loch (2015)

Other Novels

• Goliath (2002)
• The Shell Game (2008)
• Grim Reaper: End of Days (2010)
• The Omega Project (2013)
• Sharkman (2014)
• Nightmares Unhinged (Foreword) (2015)

Film projects

• In a 2008 interview producer Belle Avery spoke about doing preliminary work on film based on The Loch.^[7] To date, there has been no adaptation of this book into a film. Warner Bros Studio has secured rights to "MEG" according to Variety Magazine, the studio has Eli Roth in the helm of the directors chair as of June 16, 2015.^[8]

References

1. ↑ "Authors". Adopt An Author. 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-25. 
2. ↑ "Adopt-An-Author", THE Journal, 08/01/2005.
3. 1 2 Ellis, Richard (20 July 1996). "MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror, by Steve Alten". Los Angeles Times Book Review. Retrieved 25 November 2013. 
4. ↑ Redfern, Nick (8 August 2009). "Lair of the Beasts: Monsters in Fiction". Mania. Retrieved 2013-11-25. 
5. ↑ Donoghue, Steve. "Book Review - Meg by Steve Alten". Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review. Open Letters Monthly. Retrieved 2013-11-25. 
6. ↑ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/l-knight/dog-training-the-american-male/
7. ↑ "Belle Avery Talks 'Grizzly Park' and the Long-delayed 'MEG'!". Bloody Disgusting. 29 May 2008. 
8. ↑ Kroll, Justin (16 June 2015). "Eli Roth to Direct Giant Shark Thriller 'Meg' for Warner Bros.". Variety.com. Variety Media. Retrieved 14 July 2015. 

External links

• stevealten.com, Steve Alten's official site
• Steve Alten at the Internet Movie Database
• The Loch Trailer, The Loch Steve Alten's Best selling novel Trailer
• Los Angeles Times Book Review
• A Visit To The Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed, Southern California A virtual field trip to a world-famous fossil locality northeast of Bakersfield, California, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where real megalodon teeth have been collected from the 16 to 15 million years-old middle Miocene Round Mountain Silt Member of the Temblor Formation.
• Huell Howser of "California's Gold" Visits Sharktooth Hill and The Buena Vista Museum, California Huel Howser of "California's Gold" famously visits Sharktooth Hill, northeast of Bakersfield, California—a place where real megalodon teeth 16 to 15 million old have been collected from the Round Mountain Silt Member of the middle Miocene Temblor Formation. Huell also visits the Buena Vista Museum in Bakersfield to inspect huge megalodon teeth on display, in addition to a life-size reconstruction of the mouth of a megalodon.