Sol Stein

Professional secrets from a renowned editor, prize-winning author, and award-winning instructor make this book the #1 practical choice for fiction and nonfiction writers of all levels of experience.

A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

Stein On Writing

A guide to writing a novel by one of the most popular writing instructors in America describes common pitfalls in writing a novel, showing how to avoid them and offering many tips on how to improve one's writing skills. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them

How to Grow a Novel

U ber das Schreiben

In ths book, Sol Stein, one of the greatest editors of our time, offers help on the most important recurrent problems novelists encounter when learning their craft. With numerous examples from the work of both established bestselling authors and talented newcomers, combined with detailed analysis, he reveals the secrets that can lift a piece of creative writing and give it that spell-binding quality that holds the reader enthralled. The need to give the reader a unique experience, the necessity for conflict between characters, the importance of instant attraction, what makes a character compelling and a plot gripping; why dialogue should never mimic spoken conversation and how misplaced or unnecessary words can slow down the narrative - all this and more is conveyed in this entertaining yet practical book that provides all the benefits of an individual tutorial.

Secrets of a Master Editor

Solutions for Novelists

Aimed at writers of all standards, this book presents practical guidance on how to create interesting pieces of writing. Sol Stein''s book includes advice on how to use techniques of fiction to enhance works of non-fiction.'

Practical Craft Techniques for Fiction and Non-fiction

Solutions for Writers

The Childkeeper

Ulla H. de Herrera

Tür an Tür (Other people, dt.) Roman

"It's good to be ambitious. Only remember, the nearer you get to the front of the line, the more people with knives can see your back." That's Louie Riller giving advice to his son, Ben, who happens to be the most successful producer on Broadway. Louie Riller himself happens to be long dead. "Joan of Arc heard voices," Ben Riller's secretary tells him. "Why shouldn't you?" But Ben isn't just hearing voices; he's having a running argument with the late Louie about life, love, and Ben's newest production, The Best Revenge, a play that has already gobbled up too much of other people's money and is in danger of closing before it opens. When, on Louie's advice, Ben visits his father's master shylock, Aldo Manucci, we are suddenly involved with two generations of wonderful underworld characters. One of them pulls the trapdoor under Ben's feet, forcing him to choose between his moral and financial ruin. In turn hilarious, poignant, and profound, The Best Revenge takes us on a vastly entertaining excursion behind the scenes of the Great White Way, where the drama is often more suspenseful than anything that happens onstage and where the best revenge is, of course, success. In The Best Revenge, the author of the million-copy seller The Magician, out-triumphs all his previous work. Saul Bellow has said of The Best Revenge, “It reads itself.” And The New York Times affirms, “If you bury yourself in a Sol Stein novel while walking, you’ll walk into a wall.”

The Best Revenge

This is a tale of two magicians, of high school extortion and violence, and of a criminal trial in which the guilty go free. Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club, The Magician has sold over one million copies. Webster Schott wrote in the New York Times Book Review, “I cannot recall a novel of this type with greater pleasure. Beautiful and gripping.”

The Magician

As one of the characters in this enthralling novel remarks, “The Russians play chess, Americans play checkers.” Into this arena, as if into a trap, walks George Thomassy, a brilliant defense attorney coerced into defending a gifted young man accused of murdering America’s most prescient Russian expert just as he is about to finish his major work on the U.S.S.R. Thomassy’s lover, Francine Widmer, an attractive, bright, politically aware woman, understands what Thomassy doesn’t: in this, His greatest trial, watched by the world’s press, his more formidable enemy is his own innocence of the world outside the courtroom, where there are crimes worse than murder. Thomassy, whose skill is winning, faces a decision no lawyer can walk away from. The Touch of Treason is a multilayered love story, a profound entertainment of acute suspense that we might expect from an American Graham Greene. Its strobelike insights into man, love, crime, and human relationships open up a century that has trapped both its characters and its readers in what surely must be both the best and worst of times. And its excitement, its pace, its surprises are the glorious trappings of a novel rich in characters and ideas.

The Touch of Treason

Drawing on his own experience and that of others, the author offers an angry, critical look at American bankruptcy law and at the legal profession

Inside Chapter 11--an Exposé

A Feast for Lawyers

Trial lawyer Susan Whitcomb travels to Rome after her father--an army general--is assassinated by Italian terrorists and she too becomes a target and is drawn into deadly intrigue when a stranger offers help

A Novel

A Deniable Man

Norbert Wölfl

Der junge Zauberer (The magician, dt.) Roman

"Stein attains a new level of achievement that demonstrates his ability to write as well as, and perhaps better than, most of the novelists he publishes It's the sort of book you hate to stop reading." -John Barkham Reviews "If you bury yourself in a Sol Stein book while walking, you will walk into a wall." -The New York Times "Brilliantly conceived, highly recommended." -United Press International

Originally published in 1974, this landmark novel is available in ebook format for the first time. Shirley Hartman, at twenty-eight, was the star of Madison Avenue, a woman who'd made it to the top in the male-dominated advertising game. Beauty, brains, fame, love...yet there she was, standing on a lonely rooftop, contemplating suicide. Had Shirley pushed too hard and reached too far-or can this extraordinary woman break out to some living room beyond career success and the usual arrangements with a man? "Shirley Hartman is as much a feminist as Portia, Becky Sharp or Scarlett O'Hara. In her, Stein has created a heroine yearning for that living space that men and women need after social and financial triumph. The kind of novel one keeps on ready." -New Republic "A roller coaster reader ride. Shirley Hartman is a ball of fire you are not likely to forget." -John Barkham Reviews

Living Room

Peter Carmody is a man most people would envy. He has a successful career, an attractive wife, two children he loves and who love him. Yet Peter Carmody has been playing at a marriage that has run down over the years through emotional attrition and boredom. Sometimes, when the martinis come fast enough and the determined, frenetic gaiety of friends momentarily fills up the emptiness, the charade is almost convincing. But in the small, honest hours of the night, Peter recognizes his arrangement for what it is--the very opposite of living. In an explosive self confrontation, Peter gambles all he has against what he hopes to have in a life with Elizabeth, the woman he loves. Resented by his friends who lack the courage--perhaps the desperation--to break out of their own loveless arrangements, and humiliated by the American way of divorce that strips him of his children, property, and self respect, Peter touches despair before realizing that making an honest, joyful connection with Elizabeth is an affirmation of life worth any cost. The Husband is a very real and dramatic story of a man struggling to find the truth of his life. The Husband is someone you know.

The Husband

Roger Maxwell was a successful banker. He was the new owner of a beautiful old house in the country. He was the loving husband of a captivating and sensual woman. He was the proud father of four “great kids.” Then, on one long holiday weekend at his isolated home, Roger Maxwell began to learn the truth about his children, his wife, and himself—as his whole world of illusion came apart in bloody pieces…

A long-running argument over life, love, and the theater between playwright Ben Riller and his deceased father, Louie, acts as counterpoint to Ben's struggle in the midst of moral and financial ruin, personal redemption, and Broadway intrigues

A Novel of Broadway

Cliffhaven--Magnificent new resort near Big Sur. Surrounded by redwoods. Guarded by Oceanside cliffs. Protected from prying eyes. By reservation only. Cliffhaven--Founded by a man with very special interests, catering to a very special clientele. Margaret and Henry Brown, vacationing New Yorkers innocently driving down the sea-washed coast of California, are just the right sort of people. Cliffhaven--It has a spectacular entrance, a three-star restaurant, lavish accommodations--and no exit! "This novel should do for California vacation retreats what jaws did for swimming in the Atlantic."--"Los Angeles Times" Book Review "A thrilling nightmare...A Dante's "Inferno."..more than fulfills the remark "I read it all in one nail-biting session."--Eli Wallach "Not only a thriller...a parable and a warning to all who say 'It can't happen here.'"--"Jewish Post and Opinion"

Sol Stein

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