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Scott Stein

@sstein.bsky.social

4.2K followers 320 following 8.2K posts

Latest novel: THE GREAT AMERICAN BETRAYAL "Best Comedy Books of 2022" —Vulture English professor, novelist, satirist, father, husband, dog owner, gardener, liker of good beer https://scottsteinonline.com

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · Dec 3

If you're a literary/film agent or work in animation, television, streaming, comics, video games, my novels are available for adaptation. They've been compared to Douglas Adams, Twin Peaks meets Futurama, Monty Python meets Sam Spade. See reviews from Publishers Weekly (starred), Vulture, Kirkus.

screenshot of Publishers Weekly starred review of The Great American Deception. Full text at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-946501-21-9
Excerpt: “Stein delivers a madcap sci-fi take on the hard-boiled detective genre in this fun, near-future romp that’s chock-full of rapid-fire wit, tongue-in-cheek literary allusions, and playful futuristic absurdity… Stein keeps the stakes high and the laughs coming … Sure to appeal to fans of Douglas Adams, this zany, uproarious mystery is a constant delight.”
More info about the book at https://scottsteinonline.com/books/the-great-american-deception/

screenshot of Kirkus Review of The Great American Deception full text at https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/scott-stein/the-great-american-deception/

An amusing SF private eye/coffee spoof chock-full of silicon circuits and served with laughs.

In a giant, futuristic mall, a coffee machine with artificial intelligence excitedly narrates the exploits of its new owner, a retro-style, hard-boiled gumshoe.

Stein’s (Lost, 2019) satirical SF detective yarn at least initially owes much to Douglas Adams before the material finds its own humorous tone. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans may recall Adams’ ancillary detail of robotic home appliances with “Real People Personalities,” often annoying, single-minded entities. And coffee machines were among those conveniences so accessorized. Arjay, the first-person (or first-gadget?) narrator here, is such a device, an ever upbeat, persistent, and talkative “top of the line” coffee maker. Arjay gets delivered to Frank Harken, a private eye of the old school, whose beat is the Great American, a fortresslike, coast-to-coast shopping/dining/entertainment/residential mall (shades of Somtow Sucharitkul’s Mallworld). The mall is a consumer paradise and haven for the elite in an otherwise ill-described (but doubtlessly unpleasant) future United States. Because of a prime directive to serve coffee in any circumstance, Arjay is mobile, resourceful, multilimbed, and filled with extra goodies such as laser cutters. The AI becomes sidekick to bemused tough-guy Harken. The chipper appliance recounts their initial case together, a missing custom-dentistry heiress named Winsome Smiles, connected to shady characters and now apparently kidnapped. Arjay’s enthusiastic narration takes readers through not only the standard private investigator clichés (mobsters, clueless authorities, duplicitous dames), but also bizarre boutiques and services (“legstentions”), literary references encompassing The Princess Bride and Edgar Allan Poe, a…

screenshot of review of The Great American Betrayal in Vulture.com naming it one of The Best Comedy Books of 2022
full text at https://www.vulture.com/article/best-comedy-books-2022.html

screenshot of books selected by Vulture.com as The Best Comedy Books of 2022. Full list and text at https://www.vulture.com/article/best-comedy-books-2022.html

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 10h

Gritty of the soul

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 10h

Great writers are all hinge, no door.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 11h

I guess I have to buy the labradoodle extra treats.

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 13h

Today I learned there is such a thing as National Boss's Day, and that allegedly it is this Thursday and I SWEAR TO GOD that if I find out any of you have participated in such a craven act of subservience to the ownership caste I will find you and give you SUCH a noogie

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 11h

Or that's what your memoir claims.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 11h

Speaking of. bsky.app/profile/sste...

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 7d

It’s only week three of fall academic quarter, but I’ve picked the required books for my winter quarter course, “Major Authors: Franz Kafka”

Two books on a wood table. The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka and The Trial by Franz Kafka. Schocken Books for both.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 12h

I mean, I'm definitely not for the fa.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 12h

People who think Kafka is only depressing are missing the jokes.

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 12h

I'm currently designing a core course for our MFA program about structuring the novel. I like this way of thinking about it. When you have cooked a lot and really understand what your ingredients are doing, you don't need someone else's recipe.

Mary Robinette Kowal @maryrobinettekowal.com · 13h

My hot take is that none of these are structure. These are all recipes that describe structure.

Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing.

3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes.

You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.

Mx. D. D. Ward (they/them) @ddwardiswriting.bsky.social · 1d

So #WritingCommunity how do we feel about structure?

Do you use the 3 act structure? The 5 act?

Hero's Journey? Save the Cat? Super Structure Method? Story Genius Method?

Something else?

What have you got?

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 17h

It's like camping in the woods and realizing that the bears live there and we're just visiting.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 18h

I wrote this a few weeks ago whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2025/09/03/o...

Other songs interpreted by people who think “Born in the USA” is jingoism

“Fortunate Son” No one is luckier than Americans fortunate enough to fight for their country, especially in a popular war like we had in Vietnam. &nbs

whenfallsthecoliseum.com

Reposted by Scott Stein

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 1d

Trying to explain how the academic/faculty job market works to someone outside of the field makes you sound like a crazy person. #academicsky

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 1d

“Ratio me.”

a man in a suit and white shirt says it was my understanding there would be no math

ALT: a man in a suit and white shirt says it was my understanding there would be no math

media.tenor.com

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 1d

Sounds like the kids are arguing for a strong third party.

Reposted by Scott Stein

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 2d

People who didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize
whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2025/10/10/p...

People who didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize

Vladimir Putin Skeletor Norman Bates The guy ahead of you in the kindergarten pickup line whose truck has a “Fuck Your Feelings” bumper sticker

whenfallsthecoliseum.com

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 1d

Trying to explain how the academic/faculty job market works to someone outside of the field makes you sound like a crazy person. #academicsky

2 4 11

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 1d

Northern Mockingbird on my sister’s porch on Long Island.

Northern Mockingbird on a post with a white car behind it

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 2d

It is. I started school there the year after Singer left.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 2d

It was late in Singer’s life, after the harem, I think. Singer was “co-teaching” with Goran at the University of Miami.

Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 2d

My former professor/mentor, the late Lester Goran, was one of Singer’s translators. He wrote a book about their relationship called The Bright Streets of Surfside.

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Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.social · 2d

People who didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize
whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2025/10/10/p...

People who didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize

Vladimir Putin Skeletor Norman Bates The guy ahead of you in the kindergarten pickup line whose truck has a “Fuck Your Feelings” bumper sticker

whenfallsthecoliseum.com

Reposted by Scott Stein