Novels
- Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires (1997)
- Deprivers (2003)
- The Killswitch Review (2009)
- Severed Wings (2020)
Collections
- I Should Have Stayed in Oz (2011)
Graphic Novels
- The Irregulars (2005)
Anthologies edited
- The Touch (1996)
Novels Book Covers
Collections Book Covers
Graphic Novels Book Covers
Anthologies edited Book Covers
Steven-Elliot Altman Books Overview
Deprivers
In the future, there will be a new reason to be paranoid: Sensory Deprivation Syndrome.
The Killswitch Review
In the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World comes a terrifying postmodern vision…
Steven Elliot Altman and Diane DeKelb Rittenhouse ignite a powder keg of scientific and religious controversy in The Killswitch Review as they explore, and explode, the arguments over prolonged life through Stem Cell technology as it heralds America into a new class system offering forced sterility, birth restrictions, mass unemployment, and a final solution through government sanctioned, technology assisted suicide. Along with DeKelb Rittenhouse, Altman, best known for his War Of The Worlds style faux medical epidemic that he launched with his best selling novel DEPRIVERS, and his critically acclaimed all proceeds dedicated to AIDS and Cancer research anthology THE TOUCH, has again touched every societal sore spot imaginable in this exploration of the not to distant future where many of us are still alive, and no one looks a day over thirty, and showed no fear in taking on both sides of the heated scientific and religious debates that are clearly headed our way, and that most of us have yet to even consider…
Imagine living forever or, if not forever, indefinitely always looking the age you want to, with all your vitality intact. Medical progress and technology have eliminated disease. The only reason to die is because you choose to most frequently the result of boredom, loneliness or bankruptcy, and then there is a simple, efficient, legally mandated way to do it. The problem is that while the world’s population has increased, its natural resources have diminished. Species once essential to human survival are now extinct. All food is cloned. The United States has closed its borders. For the rest of the planet, poverty and disease are everyday realities. To save itself, India has allowed its people to have computers implanted in their skulls that permanently connect them to cyberspace, to serve as fortunetellers for bored U.S. citizens entertainment. Sex with androids is acceptable. In the U.S., forced sterilization is a matter of law. Couples must apply for permission to have children. But only the right couples need apply, and those approved can bear only one child. Now imagine you are one of those children, growing up without brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles in a place where no one who has work will voluntarily leave it. Opportunities are nonexistent unless you choose to be mutated and participate in violent arena sports guaranteed to kill you if the mutation doesn t do it first. At least you ll die rich and famous. For the rest of Generation Zero as the youth of America self proclaim themselves there is nothing but time. Time to wait. Time to despair. Time to lose yourself in oblivion. Imagine a place where an entire generation might just decide they re better off dead and a system that might agree. All it needs is a trigger. Welcome to NewVada. By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed her borders, instituted compulsory contraception, and made technology assisted suicide readily available. Yet in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity. Jason Haggerty is an investigator for the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld devices that record a citizen’s final moments. When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now he must uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they re better off dead and a system that might agree. All it needs is a trigger.
The Irregulars
A madman stalks the streets of London’s Whitechapel slum, leaving a trail of grisly murders in his wake. The police have only one suspect: a prominent and respected physician named John Watson! The master detective Sherlock Holmes, in order to solve the most fantastic mystery of his career and save his greatest friend from the gallows, employs a band of young street urchins to infiltrate the alleys of Whitechapel. They can go everywhere, see everything, overhear everyone. They are the Baker Street Irregulars! Join The Irregulars in the most fantastic and terrifying adventure of their lives, as they uncover an evil unlike anything Sherlock Holmes has ever faced!
The Touch
In the tradition of Coma and The Andromeda Strain comes the ultimate biological terror…
A Depriver is someone who, for reasons still under scientific investigation, possesses and employs a defense mechanism that can drastically incapacitate other human beings. They are prohibited by law from touching anyone due to the inherent adverse effects of their touch. Some people, unfortunately, don’t know they’re Deprivers. Therefore, a brush with someone on a bus could have life threatening consequences. If you have come into direct physical contact with a person suffering from this syndrome, you can be deprived of sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, memory, pain, balance, or sense of direction…
indefinitely. The Touch documents over twenty cases of Deprivers Syndrome outbreaks which will keep you in suspense until the final shocking page. STAY SAFE! DON’T TOUCH STRANGERS!