Steven Spruill

Steven Gregory Spruill (born April 20, 1946) is an author of horror, science fiction, and thriller novels, best known for his "hemophage" novels: Rulers of Darkness, Daughter of Darkness, and Lords of Light.^[1] He has also written under the names Steve Harriman and Steve Lyon.

He was raised in Battle Creek, Michigan and lives in Virginia.^[2] He and his wife, Nancy Lyon, married in 1969.^[1]

Spruill attended Andrews University, where he earned a bachelor of arts in 1968, and Catholic University of America, where he earned a master of arts in 1979 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1981.^[1][3]

Spruill began his career as a novelist with science fiction, and transitioned to contemporary thrillers in 1991 with the novel Painkiller.^[1]

Spruill told Contemporary Authors, "As a novelist I'd like to do in another way what I attempt to do as a psychotherapist: to free a person for a few hours from the unhappier side of his life and turn him on to the constructive power of his mind".^[1]

Spruill's works have been met with mixed critical reception.

Before I Wake (1991) was reviewed by Kirkus Reviews as, "Slick and readable, but despite all the menace, there's not a real chill anywhere. Readers are likely to find themselves counting coincidences when they should have been too scared to notice".^[4] However, Publishers Weekly wrote that Before I Wake was a "first-rate suspense novel".^[5]

A Kirkus Reviews review of My Soul To Take (1995) said, "Spruill disappoints in his take-that/no- take-that plotting, less reminiscent of Dean Koontz than of Wile E. Coyote".^[6] Publishers Weekly wrote, "An intriguing concept--a microchip inserted in the brain to cure blindness that also allows certain recipients to see the future--falls short of its potential in this poorly paced, digressive thriller".^[7]

About Rulers of Darkness (1998), Publishers Weekly said, "By adding a noir-crime spin to his medical-horror formula, Spruill manages to grab hold of, and ride reasonably high on, the cape-tails of Anne Rice and the current vampire craze".^[8] Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Terrific plotting—fresh indeed—and the hospital background shines in a seemingly unresolvable love story".^[9] Its sequel, Daughter of Darkness (1999), Kirkus Reviews wrote as having "less energy and richly layered excitement than before, but still notable in its field".^[10] Publishers Weekly noted some strengths of the Spruill in its review of Daughter of Darkness, including "his credible rendering of supernatural beings as members of a dysfunctional family with conflicting ideas about how to manage their problems shows a delightfully oddball sense of topicality, yet he is never less than sympathetic and balanced in his portrayal".^[11]

Nightkill (1997), published under the name Steve Lyon, was called "sure-fire" entertainment by Publishers Weekly.^[12]

• Keepers of the Gate (Doubleday, 1977)
• The Janus Equation (1980)
• Hellstone (Playboy, 1980)
• Painkiller (St. Martin's, 1991)
• Before I Wake (St. Martin's, 1991)^[4][5]
• The Genesis Shield (Tor, 1993)
• My Soul to Take (St. Martin's, 1995)^[6][7]

• The Psychopath Plague (Doubleday, 1978)
• The Imperator Plot (Doubleday, 1983)
• The Paradox Planet (Doubleday, 1988)

• Rulers of Darkness (St. Martin's, 1998)^[9][8]
• Daughter of Darkness (St. Martin's, 1999)^[10][11]
• Lords of Light (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 1999)

• Nightkill (with F. Paul Wilson) (Forge, 1997)^[12]
• The Gift Moves (Houghton Mifflin, 2004)^[13]

• Sleeper (Berkley, 2003)
• Absorbing Spongebob: Ten Ways to Squeeze More Happiness Out of Life (Berkley, 2005)
• Ice Men: A Novel of the Korean War (2009)

• St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. (Detroit: James Press, 1996).
• Booklist, February 1, 1994, p. 995.
• Library Journal, January 1994, p. 165.
• Library Journal, July 1995, p. 124.

• Official website