Steven Bauer - Editor
Intuitive, expert editor with 30 yrs experience teaching fiction writing at a major university. Well-published, knowledgeable, honest, kind.
Request a quote
Verified identity
Overview
I love sentences. I love the music of words; John Updike was said to admire the phrase "four-door Ford," and--really--who could not? I love words' endless combinations and recombinations, the process of subordination, through which we instantly recognize what is at the heart of a particular sentence and what is ancillary to it. I love the way that sentences can be rewritten or restructured to change the emphasis. Word order is everything, though not everything is word order.
Annie Dillard writes, in the opening of The Writing Life, "When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, a woodcarver's gouge, a surgeon's probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow." She is right in this--though wrong about other things--and I like the precision of the tools she mentions. They are physical tools to deal with the physical world, and I love the physicality of words and the physical world they create. I love to help other writers say as clearly and cleanly and directly as possible what it is they want to say. Or, alternately, I love to help writers discover and celebrate their own particular vision of the language, their own way of writing sentences, their style.
I'm an expert developmental, line and copy editor.
I'm also the author of SATYRDAY (Putnam's), THE RIVER (Ace), AMAZING STORIES 1 & 2 (Ace), DAYLIGHT SAVINGS (Gibbs Smith), THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL STORY OF ROBERT MCDOODLE (THE BOY WHO WANTED TO BE A DOG) (Simon &Schuster), and A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR (Random House/Delacorte).
Annie Dillard writes, in the opening of The Writing Life, "When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, a woodcarver's gouge, a surgeon's probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow." She is right in this--though wrong about other things--and I like the precision of the tools she mentions. They are physical tools to deal with the physical world, and I love the physicality of words and the physical world they create. I love to help other writers say as clearly and cleanly and directly as possible what it is they want to say. Or, alternately, I love to help writers discover and celebrate their own particular vision of the language, their own way of writing sentences, their style.
I'm an expert developmental, line and copy editor.
I'm also the author of SATYRDAY (Putnam's), THE RIVER (Ace), AMAZING STORIES 1 & 2 (Ace), DAYLIGHT SAVINGS (Gibbs Smith), THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL STORY OF ROBERT MCDOODLE (THE BOY WHO WANTED TO BE A DOG) (Simon &Schuster), and A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR (Random House/Delacorte).
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Middle Grade
Short Story
Young Adult
Certifications
- M.F.A. in English, 1975. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Thesis: Plugging in the Flowers, poems. Director: James Tate B.A. with Honors in English, 1970. Trinity College, Hartford, CT.
- Books: A Cat of a Different Color, a novel. New York: Delacorte, 2000. New York: Dell Yearling, 2001. The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle (The Boy Who Wanted to be a Dog), a children’s book in verse. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. Daylight Savings, poems. Layton UT: Gibbs Smith,1989. Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories. Volumes 1 and 2. New York: Charter Books, 1986. London: Futura, 1986. Paris: Presses de la Cite, 1986. Munich: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, 1986. Tel Aviv: Or’Am Schatz, 1986. Tokyo: Shinchosa, 1986. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, 1986. Hoganas, Sweden: Bokforlaget Bra Bocker, 1986. The River, a novel based on a screenplay by Robert Dillon and Julian Barry. New York: Berkley Books, 1985. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1985. London and Sydney: Sphere Books Ltd., 1985. Paris: Presses de la Cite, 1985. Munich: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1985. Amsterdam: ECI, 1985. Satyrday, a novel. New York: A Berkley/Putnam Book, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980. London: Souvenir Press, 1981. New York: Berkley Trade Edition, 1982. Antwerp: Het Spectrum Utrecht, 1984. New York: Berkley Books, 1985. Munich: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1986. Stories and essays: “Take That, Will Rogers,” an essay. Dog People, ed. Michael Rosen. New York: Artisan/Workman, 1995. “Fixing the Furnace,” an essay, Hopewell Review, Vol. 7, Sept. 1995. “A Man Who Cooks,” an essay, Glamour, June 1995. “The Price of Resurrection,” an essay, Harrowsmith/Country Life, May/June 1994. “Fired,” a short story. The Dickinson Review, Vol. IX, 1994. “Becoming a Gardener,” an essay. My Poor Elephant: Twenty-Seven Male Writers at Work, ed. Eve Shelnutt. Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1992. “Wild at Heart,” an essay. Harrowsmith/Country Life, May/June 1992. “Teaching Creative Writing,” an essay. Mississippi Review, Vol. 19, nos. 1-2, 1990. “Farmhouse Blues,” an essay, Home, Vol. 23, No. 10, Oct. 1986.
Awards
- Effective Educator Award, Miami University Alumni Association, Miami University, 2003. • Outstanding Professor Award, Associated Student Government, Miami University, 2001. • Parents’ Choice Foundation, “A 2000 Fiction Recommended Winner” for A Cat of a Different Color. • E. Phillips Knox Teaching Award, for excellence and innovation in undergraduate teaching, Miami University, Oxford, OH 1997. • Distinguished Educator Award, College of Arts and Science, Miami University, 1995. • Outstanding Teacher Award, Associated Student Government, Miami University, 1991. • Peregrine Smith Poetry Prize for Daylight Savings, Gibbs Smith, Inc. 1989. • Master Artist Fellowship Award, Indiana Arts Council, Indianapolis, IN., 1988. • Strousse Award for Poetry, Prairie Schooner, University of Nebraska, 1982. • ALA Best Book Award for Satyrday, 1981. • Allan Collins Fellowship in Prose, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT., 1981. • Writing Fellowship, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA., 1978-79. • Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, 1975.
Work experience
Owner/Editor
Self-employed
July, 2009
–
Present
(over 10 years)
Professor of English and Creative Writing
Miami University, Oxford, OH
August, 1982
–
July, 2009
(almost 27 years)
Taught creative writing, fiction writing, contemporary literature, and courses on the publishing industry
Lecturer and Assistant Professor
Colby College, Waterville,ME
August, 1979
–
June, 1982
(almost 3 years)
Taught poetry writing, fiction writing, and American literature
Portfolio (29 selected works)
Feast of Sorrow: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Crystal King
Set amongst the scandal, wealth, and upstairs-downstairs politics of a Roman family, Crystal King’s seminal debut features the man who inspired the world’s oldest cookbook and the ambition that led to his destruction.On a blistering day in the twenty-sixth year of Augustus Caesar’s reign, a young chef, Thrasius, is acquired for the exorbitant price of twenty thousand denarii. His purchaser is ... read more
Wake Up, We're Here
Dallas Hudgens
In these collected stories of deeply human, flawed men and women in search of connection, consolation and better odds, Dallas Hudgens once again taps into the powerful and resonant view of ordinary lives made less so that has earned him national praise for his novels, Drive Like Hell and Season of Gene. In a Nation's Capital fully occupied by the ninety-nine percent, going about the business o... read more
The League and the Lantern
Brian Wells
AFTER A DISASTROUS SIXTH GRADE, Jake Herndon is anxiously awaiting his Big Do-Over, starting with his new school's notorious seventh grade sleepover. Awkward team-building games and forced fun quickly become the least of his problems, however, when a dangerous organization invades and the night takes a shocking turn. Jake and two new classmates, Lucy and TJ, barely escape, only to find themsel... read more
Set against Arizona’s political and cultural vortex at the start of 2010, "The Intersect" explores the issues of the day by weaving together the lives of disparate characters striving to survive in a world where the strongest link, and most lasting connection, is made among strangers. When Dave and Charlie relocate from the Bay Area to Phoenix, tensions ratchet up in their relationship as Char... read more
What Missing Means
Bonnie Stanard
Letters from Germany keep the Reinhart family connected to a son serving as a soldier in 1945. An empty mailbox is a worry. Though they are a tight-knit clan and look out for one another, there are subterranean angers and resentments, missed opportunities and lingering regrets—all of which thirteen year-old Lily only vaguely comprehends. When a marriage unravels, more relatives move into the R... read more
Curva Peligrosa
Lily Iona MacKenzie
When Curva Peligrosa arrives in Weed, Alberta, after a twenty-year trek on the Old North Trail from southern Mexico, she stops its residents in their tracks. With a parrot on each shoulder, a glittering gold tooth, and a wicked trigger finger, she is unlike anything they have ever seen before. Curva is ready to settle down, but are the inhabitants of Weed ready for her? Possessed of an insatia... read more
Nine Facts That Can Change Your Life
Ronna Wineberg
In this stirring new collection, Ronna Wineberg explores our essential bonds to partners, children, parents, and friends. Intimacy, marriage, parenthood, adultery, divorce, and the legacies left by the past unfold in these beautifully written stories. Men and women search for happiness and love, yet face longing, disappointment, and loss. The characters in Nine Facts That Can Change Your Life ... read more
Breaking Bread in Galilee - A Culinary Journey into the Promised Land, by Abbie Rosner, takes the reader along a journey the author has made, exploring local foods and age-old culinary traditions that are described in the Hebrew Bible, and still being practiced in the Galilee today. In the process, she, and the reader, experiences how sharing foodways is a powerful means for overcoming suspici... read more
A riveting love story that plays out against the background of one of the most intriguing chapters in aviation history. David Dennington weaves a fascinating web of romance, courage, tragedy and shattered dreams and gives the reader a front row seat to eye-opening, high-stakes political battles on two continents. A real page turner with the constant feeling that something new and unexpected is... read more
The Loved Ones
Sonya Chung
In this masterful novel of inheritance and loss, Sonya Chung (Long for This World) proves herself a worthy heir to Marguerite Duras, Hwang Sun-won, and James Salter. Spanning generations and divergent cultures, The Loved Ones maps the intimate politics of unlikely attractions, illicit love, and costly reconciliations. Charles Lee, the young African American patriarch of a biracial family, seek... read more
Faint Promise of Rain: A Novel
Anjali Mitter Duva
Shortlisted for the 2016 William Saroyan International Prize for WritingIt is 1554 in the desert of Rajasthan, and a new Mughal emperor is expanding his territory. On a rare night of rain, a daughter, Adhira, is born to a family of Hindu temple dancers. Fearing a bleak future, her father―against his wife and sons’ protests―puts his faith in tradition and in his last child for each to save the ... read more
The Blue Monk
David Emery Bricker
In 1989 Dave Bricker set off across the Gulf Stream in a small sailboat with $30 in his pocket. His voyages aboard The Blue Monk through the Bahamas and across the Atlantic to Gibraltar are recounted in vivid prose. The Blue Monk is a journey of self-discovery set in a world of saturated colors, remarkable people, hazardous reefs, and transcendent beauty. Bricker chronicles a little-known frag... read more
On Bittersweet Place
Ronna Wineberg
On Bittersweet Place is the powerful coming-of-age story of Lena Czernitski, a young Russian Jew whose family flees their homeland in the Ukraine after the October Revolution. The story unfolds in Chicago during the Jazz Age of the 1920's, where Lena's impoverished family has settled and where she must traverse the early years of adolescence. Lena's new world is large and beautiful and full of... read more
On the Verge
Garen Glazier
Art, demons, and death. Seattle is On the Verge.2016 BookLife Prize Quarterfinalist"The sinewy plot...provides a solid matrix for imaginative insights into the relationship between art, creativity, and myth that hold the tale together." - Critic's Report, 2016 BookLife PrizeFreya is just a university student worried about grades and tuition until a gorgeous succubus interrupts her post-exam la... read more
Kedzie: Saint Helena Island Slave
Bonnie Stanard
St. Helena Island slaves speak English, but African drums still throb in their veins; they hear the whispers of their ancestors. From this arises a girl of unusual strength, whose pampered life ends when her kindly mistress dies, and she moves to a shanty in the quarters. Kedzie soon learns that the punishing fields aren't nearly as grim as her master's abuse. Enter Rio, a young man without a ... read more
Master of Westfall Plantation
Bonnie Stanard
It is 1857 and Tilmon Goodwyn wields absolute power over his plantation on St. Helena Island, South Carolina which hardly makes a profit because of his profligate spending and gambling. He has maneuvered to secure financial benefits from his wealthy widowed mother. When she becomes interested in a Charleston artist who has his eye on her fortune, Tilmon meets head-on with a threat to his inher... read more
A bold, mesmerizing novel that interweaves the story of two slaves with the characters in Bonnie Stanard’s previous novels, Master of Westfall Plantation and Kedzie, Saint Helena Island Slave. Slavery was a system that separated black families. Even benevolent plantation owners in the old South were responsible for taking babies from their mothers. The story of Sonny is not documented history,... read more
Luba's Travels: Travels of the Heart
Luba Ruzicka
LUBA’S TRAVELS is the first-person account of Luba Ruzicka. The daughter of an eminent Slovakian cardiologist, she is born on Christmas Eve 1940 in Bratislava and spends her earliest years in the shadow of World War II. LUBA’S TRAVELS is much more than the classic immigrant’s story and will appeal not only to the millions of people who have traveled from far away to make America their home. It... read more
With Malice Toward None is the self-portrait of a young medical student grappling with the turmoil of the American South during the late 1960s. Peter Rogers leaves Ohio to study in Memphis at a time when civil rights marches, workers' strikes, and institutional segregation create an atmosphere of conflict and division. He attends a KKK meeting and experiences the full force of ignorance and in... read more
Dancer And Spy
Michael Myers
Jay Hall needs more than her pepper spray and cue ball on a chain. Sergei Shannin is watching when she puts moves on a Silicon Valley CEO. Sergei promised to deliver the CEO's trade secrets to an offshore client, but can't get inside the company. He makes Jay an offer. She knows a kept woman is one kick away from a graceless exit, and so follows him into the shadows of espionage. Jay believes ... read more
White Bird
Ruta Sevo
Thomas lands bewildered in Kathmandu, to find a place to scatter the ashes of his older brother Paul, who was a Peace Corps volunteer decades before in Nepal. He meets an American cohort of Paul’s and her parents who work with Tibetan refugees. Things happened after Paul left. His friend Helen stayed and became a Buddhist nun. His encounter with them is awkward but his mother in Seattle is thr... read more
Time Change: Time Travel Series Book 1
Alex Myers
Imagine what would happen if you made different choices..."This sci-fi historical novel... is great fun and an awesome read." (James A. Anderson, Amazon reviewer)"...combination of styles such as HG Wells and George Lucas." (Tesla, Amazon reviewer)"An absolute must have for lovers of time travel! Fascinating look at pre-Civil War America." (Crystal, Amazon reviewer)HE MAJORED IN SCIENCE AND MI... read more
Dream Cat
Kat Lowe
Praise for Dream Cat: "A smart, sassy tale, skillfully told, that will make kids excited about history. It's a book that cries out for a porch, a swing, and some lemonade on a quiet afternoon. Enjoy." STEVE BERRY, bestselling author of historical thrillers, including The Jefferson Key. Dream Cat synopsis: Elizabeth is about to get a terrible surprise birthday present. Lucifer is going to send ... read more
Called to Serve
Tom Weiner
Stories of men and women confronted by the Vietnam War. Contains personal stories of Vietnam War Veterans, people who fled the country, people who refused to go to war, people who beat the draft, people who obtained Conscientious Objector status, and people who loved and supported them.
The Boy from Hell's Kitchen: Growing Up in a New York Slum
John G Fleming
John Fleming grew up in the 1940’s and ‘50’s in Hell’s Kitchen, a New York City slum, now gentrified. He wanted to show how it was at that time, since no writer he was aware of had told this story with the voice of one who had lived the experience. In this candid and often humorous memoir, Fleming shows it all. The dark side includes dirt, roaches, alcoholism, promiscuity, fighting, bullying, ... read more
Mr. Memory and Other Stories of Wonder
Paul Michael Peters
Uttering the name Mr. Memory evokes the live performances and talk show appearances when he would impress the world with his abilities of recollection. His clarity of remembrance has kept listeners captivated for days while sharing the adventures of his life. In this collection of short stories, we learn the truth about Mr. Memory, the fantastic gone unseen, and a world of wonder which can ins... read more
Dust on the Bible
Bonnie Stanard
It is 1944, and on Grandpa's farm lives an extended family including twelve year-old Lily whose child-like understanding of her mother and family becomes more confusing as her sensibilities mature. When her uncle is drafted and sent to Germany, the family's worry about him heightens after a neighboring boy is killed fighting in Luzon. The presence of death hovers near when Clio the cow is shot... read more
Westfall, Slave To King Cotton
Bonnie Stanard
The ambitious and damned whites and blacks on Westfall plantation take us down the perilous path to an end of plantation life in the south as well as its customs and beliefs that involved the buying, selling, and exploitation of an entire class and race of people. Westfall’s owner, a man very much of his time and place, faces events that turn his world upside down, events brought on by an aggr... read more
The League and the Legend
Brian Wells
After a back-to-school night that became a frenzied fight for survival, seventh grade has finally settled down for Jake, Lucy, and TJ. Of course, there are still your basic Level Three humiliations: awkward hygiene challenges, toxic nicknames, and science fair debacles. But at least nobody is running for their life. That all changes when dangerous intruders descend on the historic Chicago hote... read more
Steven has 6 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
A great experience to work with Steven. His editing process was comprehensive, not only making corrections, but giving teaching points only the way. I would recommend his services without question to authors who desire to perfect their craft.
Shane Vlcek, June 2018
Steven Bauer has a knack for getting inside the author's head, but in an objective way that let's him fine tune the grammar and phrasing with the original writer's style in mind. He is highly professional and personable, which is a nice combination. I would use Steven again without hesitation. He became a partner in the process of writing a book.
Megan George, May 2018
I felt like Steven really understood exactly what I was looking for in an editor. He was excited about my work and showed genuine interest in what I was trying to accomplish. His edits were thorough, timely, and provided exactly the right amount of encouragement and critical feedback.
Morgan Broadhead, April 2018
I've worked with Steven on two novel manuscripts and cannot recommend him highly enough. He is thorough, insightful, and clearly loves the written word. He respects writers and understands the challenges of the writing life. He is generous, cerebral, witty - and gentle. It requires a delicate hand to give writers honest feedback, especially when a measure of painful truth is required. Steven m...
Read more
Susan Sheppard, March 2018
It was an absolute pleasure working with Steven. He was professional, thorough, and quick, with a sharp eye for detail balanced by a knack for keeping the big picture in mind. After incorporating his suggestions I felt confident my novel was ready for publication. He is a wonderful resource for authors looking to self-publish or for those wanting to submit their very best work to potential agen...
Read more
Garen Glazier, March 2018
Explore the Reedsy Community
Reedsy is a community of top publishing professionals. Join Reedsy today to browse 1000+ profiles.
Loma Halden
Friendly, efficient editor and researcher with a deep passion for books and authors. Reading is my pleasure as well as my profession.
London, United Kingdom
Nathan Bransford
Former literary agent, published author, creator of award-winning blog for writers. Has worked with NY Times bestsellers.
New York, NY, USA
