Steven Brust - Literary Guest of Honor
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos. Brust has written ten novels in the series, which is proposed to run to nineteen novels. Though read as fantasy, there are hints to science-fiction elements in his work.
Writing and Creative Work
Brust has written a number of other novels, including To Reign in Hell (1984), which details the revolt of angels in Heaven from a point of view that is primarily slanted towards humanizing Satan. The novel is heavily influenced by John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Other notable books include Brokedown Palace (1986), which Brust describes as "Your basic combination of Hungarian Folktales and Grateful Dead song lyrics," and The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (1988) a novel that the writer considers to be his most personal and his own explanation for "why he does what he does."
A Rose For Iconoclastes, (1993) Brust's only solo record, consist of "politically incorrect" folk music that owe much to his Trotskyite politics, and his hobbies as an enthusiastic amateur player of drums, guitar, banjo, and poker.
Steven Brust's novels have been translated into German, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Czech, French, Spanish and Hebrew, as of 2006.
Prizes
Brust's short story When The Bow Breaks was nominated for the 1999 Nebula Award.
Five Hundred Years After was nominated for the 1995 Locus Poll Award (Best Fantasy Novel). Brokedown Palace, The Gypsy, Agyar, and Freedom & Necessity were also nominated for various Locus Poll Awards.
Dragon was a Finalist for the 1999 Minnesota Book Awards in the Fantasy & Science Fiction category. Freedom and Necessity was a 1998 Finalist for the same category, while The Phoenix Guards was a Finalist in 1992.