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Stephan has been an avid reader all his life. He has read many the classics of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson and Frederick Pohl, with a touch of A. E. Van Vogt and Clifford D. Simak
Recent favorites have been Eric Flint and the Ring of Fire series, Mike Shepherd’s Kris Longknife and Vicky Peterwald series, and Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet and variations. On the fantasy side, Jim Butcher’s Dresden series is a favorite, along with various writings of L.E. Modesitt.
It seems harder to find true, quality science fiction nowadays. Most recent authors seem to prefer the fantasy genre, not really Stephan’s cup of tea with a few exceptions. Peter Hamilton and Charles Stross come to mind as recent exceptions to the fantasy rule, and even they have been in the business for a long time.
Stephan’s primary interests have always been “hard” science fiction and military history. He is especially interested in what might be called near-term hard sci fi- fiction about circumstances and events that may occur within the lifetime of today’s reader. But who knows how long today’s young readers may live? One can only hope.
Stephan is a regular reader of Scientific American. He is a supporter and frequent user of Wikipedia.
For comments, questions, or corrections, Stephan can be reached at sbesik@artiplex.net.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
Lightship is a work of fiction in the science fiction, adventure, and short story anthology subgenres, and was penned by author Stephan Besik. The work is intended for the general adult reading audience and contains mature content that is not suitable for those under the age of sixteen. Through four different stories of technology gone wrong, future-focused conflicts, and invasion from a whole new perspective, Besik delivers a delightfully spiky and kind of dark look at popular science fiction concepts we all know and love. The works each have a message like modern-day fables, and what results is a very engrossing collection of tales that are sure to keep readers coming back for more.
Author Stephan Besik has crafted a well-themed and cohesive collection with plenty of twists, surprises, and classic science fiction atmospheres and themes to offer readers. For me personally, I felt that The Old Man delivered the biggest surprise value of the four stories based on its intriguing and atmospheric build-up, but all of the tales have interesting plus points and ideas that stick in your mind long after you've finished reading them. The dialogue was also very effective, serving to display the unique traits of the characters and help us learn more about them in a short space of time while also moving the plot forward in a natural way, which can be difficult to do when there’s so much to cram into a short story. Overall, I would highly recommend Lightship to fans of interesting and conceptual science fiction shorts, cleverly-worded concepts and bright ideas, and for anthology fiction enthusiasts everywhere.
