Alten, Steve
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1959- ) US author who is perhaps best known for the Meg sequence, beginning with Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997), which is premised on the survival of a megalodon, an extinct species of giant shark reputed to be the most powerful vertebrate predator (see Evolution) ever to exist. The tale, and its sequel, full of Scientific Errors and Pseudoscience shortcuts, clearly attempts to demonstrate the chthonic power of Horror in SF. Alten has apparently claimed that his novels are "factions", a phrase which evokes not so much scientific credibility as conspiracy theories about hidden knowledge, here revealed. The Domain series beginning with Domain (2001) applies this tactic to prehistoric Religion, the secrets of one of which threaten the End of the World if they are revealed. Of Alten's singletons, Undisclosed (2017) hints that scientific discoveries, deposited at Roswell by UFOs, may in the Near Future threaten Homo sapiens, or not. [JC]
Steven Robert Alten
born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 21 August 1959
works
series
Meg
- Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (New York: Doubleday, 1997) [Meg: hb/Larry Lunn Design]
- The Trench (New York: Kensington Publishing/Pinnacle Books, 2000) [Meg: pb/]
- Primal Waters (New York: Tor/Forge, 2004) [Meg: hb/]
- Hell's Aquarium (Cabot, Arkansas: Variance Publishing, 2009) [Meg: hb/]
- Nightstalkers (New York: Tor, 2016) [Meg: hb/]
Meg: the Loch
- The Loch (Mayfield Heights, Ohio: Tsunami, 2005) [Meg: the Loch: hb/Erik Hollander]
- Vostok (Las Vegas, Nevada: Rebel Press, 2015) [Meg: the Loch: hb/]
- Generations (New York: Tor/Forge, 2020) [Meg: pb/]
- Purgatory (New York: Tor/Forge, 2022) [Meg: hb/]
Domain
- Domain (New York: Tor/Forge, 2001) [Domain: hb/Drive Communications]
- Resurrection (New York: Tor/Forge, 2004) [Domain: hb/Matt Hermann]
- Phobos: Mayan Fear (New York: Tor, 2011) [Domain: hb/Erik Hollander]
individual titles
- Goliath (New York: Tor/Forge, 2002) [hb/Erik Hollander]
- Grim Reaper: End of Days (Cabot, Arkansas: Variance Publishing, 2010) [hb/Erik Hollander]
- The Omega Project (New York: Tor/Forge, 2013) [hb/]
- Sharkman (Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014) [hb/]
- Undisclosed (West Palm Beach, Florida: A & M Publishing, 2017) [hb/]
links
previous versions of this entry