Steven K. Z. Brust, P.J.F. by Samantha Star Straf
The first time I saw Steven, he was playing doumbek and guitar in a crowded and smokey con suite at Congenial in Wisconsin. I thought he was a great musician. The next time I saw Steven, he was in a hot tub drinking scotch and surrounded by good looking women. I decided he was a fan who knew how to party. When I got home from the convention and read my program book, I discovered he was a writer, so I picked up a few of his books. I found them quite entertaining.
If you are reading this at the convention and aren't allergic to smoke, I highly recommend you stop by the room next to con suite some evening and give a listen to his playing. If we are lucky he also brought his banjo.
If you are reading this afterwards his music is available through SteelDragon Press, P.O.Box 7253, Minneapolis, MN 55407. In addition to soloing on guitar and banjo, he plays traps for Cats Laughing (Another Way to Travel and the basement tape) and doumbek for Morrigan (Queen of Air and Darkness and King of Oak and Holly). You can now also listen to him in the smokeless atmosphere of your own home on his solo album A Rose for Iconoclastes.
His writing to date includes the "Vlad Taltos" series (Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla, Taltos, Phoenix, and Orca), The Phoenix Guards, 500 Years After, To Reign in Hell, Brokedown Palace, The Sun the Moon and the Stars, Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille, The Gypsy (with Megan Lindholm), and (my favorite) Agyar. He also has some short stories in the Liavek series edited by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull.
He lives in Minneapolis in a Victorian house with his dog Miska and the ever-revolving roommates. Fall usually finds him at the Renaissance Festival playing with Morrigan and drumming for belly dancers. The rest of the year when his bands aren't performing and he isn't writing, he can be found at Flash Girls or Boiled in Lead shows.
If you are trying to find Steven, he's the dark-haired Hungarian with The Hat. The best way to get to know Steven is to make an offering of LaPhroig single malt scotch, or tickets to a Grateful Dead show. He likes music, scotch, coffee, arguing, food, Minnesota Twins, hot tubs, and explaining to anyone who will listen how Hungarians invented everything good in the world.