Glassman, Steve 1946-

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Glassman, Steve 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born September 4, 1946, in Hays, KS; son of Eugene and Marguerite (a teacher) Lesher. Ethnicity: "American." Education: University of Kansas, B.A.; University of Southwestern Louisiana, M.A.; Vermont College, M.F.A. Politics: "Democrat." Hobbies and other interests: Outdoor activities, canoeing, hiking, bicycling, "preferably in tropical wilderness areas."

CAREER:

U.S. Peace Corps, Washington, DC, volunteer in Micronesia, 1966-68; University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, lecturer, 1981; University of Texas at Austin, Austin, lecturer, 1983; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, associate professor, beginning 1984. Democratic Executive Committee of Volusia County, vice chair; Sister Cities of Volusia, founding member; Florida College English Association, president; Association of Departments of English, founder of FCEA. Associated with Florida Studies Proceedings.

WRITINGS:

Blood on the Moon: A Novel of Old Florida, Quality Publications (Brooklyn, OH), 1990.

(Editor) Zora in Florida, University Presses of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 1991.

(Editor) Crime Fiction and Film in the Sunshine State, Bowling Green State University Popular Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1997.

(Editor, with Maurice J. O'Sullivan) Orange Pulp: Stories of Mayhem, Murder, and Mystery, University Presses of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 2000.

Near Death Experiment, Tropical Press (Miami, FL), 2001.

(With Maurice J. O'Sullivan) Crime Fiction and Film in the Southwest: Bad Boys and Bad Girls in the Badlands, Bowling Green State University Popular Press (Bowling Green, OH), 2001.

On the Trail of the Maya Explorer: Tracing the Epic Journey of John Lloyd Stephens, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 2003.

(Editor) Florida Crime Writers: 24 Interviews, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2008.

It Happened on the Santa Fe Trail, Two Dot/Globe Pequot (Guilford, CT), 2008.

Florida Studies Proceedings of the FCEA, editor, 2005, executive editor, 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Steve Glassman once told CA: "I write because I cannot not write. If I could stop, I would have long ago. Long ago I was a Hardy and Faulkner fan. More recently, I have been profoundly affected by the nonfiction writing of John Lloyd Stephens, an all-but-forgotten antebellum American writer.

"This is my writing process. I get up, turn the computer on and blaze away. If I don't have a pretty good outline I get terribly flummoxed. The outline [inspires my] creativity, rather than stifles it. It ties down the loose ends and allows me to concentrate on characters and the prose rather than figuring where the plot needs to be going.

"In the last ten years my nonfiction interest has been generally concentrating on following John Lloyd Stephens's trail through Central America and lower Mexico. From a scholarly and fiction-writing perspective, I have pretty much confined myself to the detective genre, which I feel is the perfect medium for the age. The genre allows a writer to examine contemporary society while not getting bogged down in the tedious literary movements of recent times."

Glassman later added: "My favorite books are On the Trail of the Maya Explorer: Tracing the Epic Journey of John Lloyd Stephens followed closely by The Near Dear Experiment. These books represent two wildly different genres. The Maya book attempted to repair the literary reputation of John Lloyd Stephens, one of the country's first best-selling nonfiction writers; his reputation as a historical and archaeological figure had already ascended to that of a major deity in the pre Civil War, below-the-border pantheon. Better people than me, notably Van Wyck Brooks, had tried this before with indifferent success, and though the publisher regarded the book as successful, I can't say my own goal for the book has yet been achieved. The Near Dear Experiment is a noir novel in the Florida loco tradition. I enjoyed writing it, and thanks to the many reviewers who liked reading it. Maybe I should revise this statement regarding my favorite books, because the truth is my real favorite is the next one. Let's hope that continues to be the case for a long time to come.