Steve Berman

Pioneering Speculative and GLBT Fiction

Feb 1, 2009 Lynne Jamneck

Steve Berman's independent publishing house Lethe Press is fast becoming a leader amongst speculative and GLBT fiction.

Author Steve Berman's independant publishing house, Lethe Press, continues to move from strength to strength, publishing high quality speculative and GLBT work. Suite101 interviewed him about his own writing as well as how he started in the publishing industry.

Have you always written fiction that is speculative in nature?

I think so. The first story I sold, at 17, was an story for children. When I received my author copies I discovered that the editor has removed all mention of magic from the story—I guess he didn't care for spec fic himself.

How did you make the jump from writing to editing? Was there something you wanted to do or say as an editor that you felt you could not do through your own writing?

Oh, I think it was just a random notion that happened after I had made so many friends in the field. I had been publishing through Lethe the work of Toby Johnson and we'd often chat on the phone. We both believe in not only preserving the voices of authors but also encouraging them. So, we decided to work together on Charmed Lives, a book of inspirational essays and fiction for gay men. After that positive experience (and earning a finalist nod for the Lambda Literary Awards for our efforts), I decided to try my hand at editing more anthologies.

Can you tell us a bit about how Lethe Press, your independent publishing house, started?

In 2001 I was working on my novel, Vintage. I thought to myself, if I release a collection of short stories I would have a better chance of selling the novel. But who would publish a book of (mostly) gay spec fic tales? No one. So, I bought a ton of ISBNs and started Lethe Press. Originally, I intended just to do Trysts (the collection) and some public domain work. But it did not take me long before I was releasing gay titles that had gone out-of-print. And now Lethe releases over 20 books a year—some original, but many are reprints.

From a both a writer and editor's point of view, what do you feel are some of the unique themes that GLBT speculative fiction can address?

Well, spec fic allows GLBT individuals to explore their world on more common ground with heterosexuals—we can create worlds and times where being queer is no longer an issue. Also, we can better explore the experience of being the Other—of being outside the common culture. By doing either, we can learn a great deal about the perils and pleasures of assimilation.

When you look back at what you've written over the years do you notice any recurrent themes?

Loneliness. Definitely loneliness.

What do you look for when compiling an anthology of short fiction?

Well, I think it is as important to acquire work from established names in the field as it is to publish new authors. Well-known writers add a bit of heft to promotional efforts and ensure that people will immediately recognize quality when they look at the Table of Contents. New authors constantly reinvigorate the genre.

Have you ever received negative feedback about something that you have written?

Sure. The challenge is to ignore it. Most of the time such criticism is like the male carptenter bee—a lot of buzz but without any sting. Just swat it away without concern.

There is the misconception amongst the general reading population that writing comes easy for all writers. How would you comment on this?

[Laughs and laughs] Maybe poor writing is easy. Ask any artist, whether the medium is words or paint or sauces—they will tell you nothing wonderful comes without much effort and trial.

Are you seeing any exciting trends in publishing at the moment?

There's a great deal of paranormal romance and 'supposed steampunk'--I say supposed because what's really being released under this moniker is adventures stories with clockwork mechanisms. Rarely does Victorian socio-economic class and culture come into play and that's a failure of the writer. Cyberpunk was not simply about the 'net. It's important to conceptualize the role technology plays in a culture—the car may be the single most important invention to America, and yet for us in the 21st century it is a tool taken for granted (has it been commercialized to death?).

Do you have any upcoming writing and/or editing projects that you'd like your readers to know about?

Well, in the late spring/early summer of this year I will be releasing the next two volumes in Best Gay Stories and Wilde Stories (the latter is a 'Best of' anthology focusing ion gay speculative fiction). Both from Lethe.

I'll try to work on some short fiction. My writing time and energy has been limited lately because of the growth of Lethe Press.

Thank you for taking the time to interview me, Lynne.

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The copyright of the article Steve Berman in Book Publishing is owned by Lynne Jamneck. Permission to republish Steve Berman in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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