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February 27

Jay Stevens

Writer Jay Stevens recently died and his death has yet to be reported. I assume it will be reported soon. In the interim, I've been trying to cleanup his bio. I noticed something a bit unusual and perhaps someone could help me out. In 1999, a sequel to his book Storming Heaven (1987) was released. It was called Burning Down the House.[1] I remember, because I borrowed it from the SFPL at that time and read it. Fast forward to 2025, and all references to the book are gone. Nothing on OCLC that I can find. Nothing anywhere except that cite on Google Books. Some backstory that might help anyone responding to this: when Stevens initially released Storming Heaven it was hugely successful, but his publisher refused to have anything to do with it, a predictable problem during the 1980s when publishers kowtowed to Reagan and his so-called "war on drugs". In any case, the publisher let Stevens buy back the remaining copies and he did very well for himself selling it online as the internet took off. Now, back to 1999 when he released the second book in the series, Burning Down the House. Where did it go? Viriditas (talk) 02:55, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If it hasn't been reported, how do you know about it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:41, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

All of his close friends have posted their condolences on their social media pages. Why is this surprising to you? Viriditas (talk) 07:29, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are some people in the world who do not monitor the social media for all of Jay Stevens friends. Why is this surprising to you? 68.187.174.155 (talk) 11:25, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's not how any of this works. Stevens' "friends" are high profile people with hundreds of thousands of followers. News of his death was amplified to hundreds of thousands more. I don't follow or monitor any of them. Viriditas (talk) 19:33, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I can find "At present he is finishing two companion volumes to "Storming Heaven" entitled "Burning Down the House" and "Consciousness Wars", and reader comments on Amazon that "I loved this book and am deeply disappointed that the promised companion books BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE and CONSCIOUSNESS WARS were never printed". in 2004 "Burning Down The House: Ten Narratives, a companion volume to Storming Heaven, is on its way to the publishers. DuncanHill (talk) 20:47, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Burning Down the House was printed. I read the book, and I offered the ISBN up above in the first link ISBN 0316816868; ISBN 9780316816861 That comment refers to the reprint of Storming Heaven that says "Burning Down the House and Consciousness Wars, are forthcoming". He never released Consciousness Wars, that is true. My question is what the heck happened to Burning Down the House? Can anyone track down those ISBNs? John Markoff acknowledges that Burning Down the House was published in his 2005 book What the Dormouse Said. Viriditas (talk) 20:56, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

All indications are that I'm having a Mandela effect moment. Are there usually ISBNs of books that have never been printed? I remember reading the book. This is all very weird. Viriditas (talk) 21:02, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As if that wasn't weird enough, I just listened to a rare interview with him on YouTube that is surprisingly good (I didn't know what to expect), and some of the things he talked about directly contradicted what was said about him in his profile in Contemporary Authors (1998). Viriditas (talk) 21:08, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) I have certainly encountered ISBNs of works which never saw the light of day. I've seen books listed in publishers' catalogues, with publication dates, which were never published, and I've even seen them listed for sale on Amazon and Abebooks. But when you try to buy them the bookseller says "we seem to have made an error in cataloguing". As for reading a book which has never been published, were you perhaps having a "confluence of drugs, culture, and history in America" at the time? DuncanHill (talk) 21:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have a copy of Burning Down the House sitting next to a first edition of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy on my bookshelf. Viriditas (talk) 21:13, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(I see what you did there, Viriditas :-).)

I concur with Duncan Hill. As a former bookseller and publisher, as well as book collector, I know from experience that (1) books are routinely planned, listed in the trade press, and advertised to the public – all of which usually involves an ISBN – many months before their intended publication date or even Manuscript completion; and (2) several things can subsequently cause the publication to be cancelled (or significantly postponed). I have even held in my hand, in my shop's stockroom, copies of a book that had (for legal reasons) to be returned to the publisher only a week or two before its release date. (Bookshops routinely receive new books several weeks in advance of publication, for logistical reasons.)

The way ISBNs work is that a publisher is from time to time allocated sequential blocks of numbers within the scheme to apply in future as they wish; a particular number might be attached to a forthcoming title that never gets published, or might even never be used at all. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.123.129 (talk) 23:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, that's very helpful. I just noticed that the editions of other books containing Stevens' prefaces have disappeared. This includes a book called Aquarius Revisited (1987) which Stevens wrote a preface for in 1991 for Citadel Editions. Google Books has a copy of this unique edition still online.[2] OCLC has the records as well.[3] But the only extant versions available are the 1987 and 2007 versions which don't have the preface by Stevens.[4] I'm guessing Citadel chose to remove it from newer editions. I'm still looking for a copy of it. Viriditas (talk) 23:28, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Having an ISBN does not mean that a real book exists. Anyone can purchase an ISBN. Then, the ISBN exists with a book title, author, and publisher. For example, I can go to any ISBN retailer like Bowker and purchase an ISBN for "Where Can I Find Burning Down the House?" by Viriditas, published by "Random Guy on the Internet Publishers." The ISBN will exist, but there is no book. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 11:16, 28 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I looked on Newspapers.com, and the last reference I found to Stevens in Vermont is in 2018, an obituary of his mother.[5] Maybe he's just not very well known overall. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:51, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Some encyclopedic information about Stevens can be found here. (I have not examined the reliability of this source.) If you like his writing, you may also be interested in these digital albums. ‑‑Lambiam 10:40, 5 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but that’s just a mirror of the Contemporary Authors cite I mentioned above. Viriditas (talk) 13:28, 5 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]