Rovin, Jeff
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author, Editor.
(1951- ) US author who has written nonfiction on Videogames and on Fantasy and sf Cinema. His career began in the early 1970s at Atlas/Seaboard Comics – where he edited Movie Monsters 1974-1975 – and Warren Publishing. At Warren he soon became closely associated with Famous Monsters of Filmland, for which he worked in an editorial capacity until the end of the magazine's original run in 1983. He also contributed columns to Analog from 1976 and Omni from 1980.
Rovin has written a great many novels in various genres, some pseudonymous, many of them Horror or espionage thrillers. Among the standalones of sf interest are Vespers (1998), which deals with giant bats threatening New York; and Fatalis (2000), involving huge sabre-tooth tigers, prehistoric survivals which prey on Los Angeles (see California). The Unit Omega sequence opening with Unit Omega (2003) as by Jim Grand stars a Scientist leading a UN team that investigates strange phenomena; the first novel features the Loch Ness Monster and Time Travel, while in Operation Medusa (2004) as by Jim Grand the investigation is of people being literally turned to stone.
A Vision of Fire: Book One of the Earthend Saga (2014) – written with performer Gillian Anderson, whose name is far more prominent on the cover than Rovin's – combines many genre elements. Echoing Anderson's most famous vehicle The X-Files (1993-2002), various bizarre phenomena and mysterious events around the world may herald an invasion by Aliens or an approaching apocalypse, perhaps orchestrated by Secret Masters. This novel opens a projected series, The Earthend Saga. Coldwater (2015) is an immediately Post-Holocaust thriller set in ruined Los Angeles after the destruction by earthquakes of much of the US west coast. [GSt/DRL]
see also: Science Fiction Chronicle.
Jeff Rovin
born Brooklyn, New York: 5 November 1951
works
series
Unit Omega
- Unit Omega (New York: Berkley Books, 2003) as by Jim Grand [Unit Omega: pb/Danilo Ducak]
- Operation Medusa (New York: Berkley/Jove Books, 2004) as by Jim Grand [Unit Omega: pb/Tony Randazzo]
The Earthend Saga
- A Vision of Fire: Book One of the Earthend Saga (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014) with Gillian Anderson [The Earthend Saga: hb/]
- A Dream of Ice: Book Two of the Earthend Saga (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015) with Gillian Anderson [The Earthend Saga: hb/]
- The Sound of Seas: Book Three of the Earthend Saga (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016) with Gillian Anderson [The Earthend Saga: hb/]
Samuel Lord
individual titles (selected)
- Re-Animator (New York: Pocket Books, 1987) [tie to the film: Re-Animator: pb/photographic]
- Mortal Kombat (New York: Boulevard Books, 1995) [tie to the film: Mortal Kombat (see Paul W S Anderson): pb/]
- Return of the Wolf Man (New York: Berkley/Boulevard, 1998) [tie to the film: Return of the Wolf Man: pb/]
- Vespers (New York: St Martin's Press, 1998) [hb/]
- Fatalis (New York: St Martin's Press, 2000) [hb/]
- Conversations with the Devil (New York: Tor/Forge, 2007) [hb/Christian Misje]
- Coldwater (Los Angeles, California: Adaptive Books, 2015) [pb/]
nonfiction (highly selected)
- A Pictorial History of Science Fiction Films (Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1975) [nonfiction: hb/photographic]
- From Jules Verne to Star Trek (New York: Drake Publishers, 1977) [nonfiction: hb/pictorial]
- From the Land Beyond Beyond: The Films of Willis O'Brian and Ray Harryhausen (New York: Berkley Windhover, 1977) [nonfiction: hb/]
- The Encyclopedia of Superheroes (New York: Facts on File, 1985) [nonfiction: Superheroes: hb/Vincent Di Fate]
- The Encyclopedia of Monsters (New York: Facts on File, 1989) [nonfiction: hb/Vincent Di Fate]
- Adventure Heroes: Legendary Characters from Odysseus to James Bond (New York: Facts on File, 1991) [nonfiction: hb/Vincent Di Fate]
- Aliens, Robots and Spaceships (New York: Facts on File, 1995) [nonfiction: hb/uncredited]
links
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