The Origin of My Pen Name

Authors take pen names for a variety of reasons. Some because they write in different genres and want to keep their readerships separate. Some because they just don't want their real name out there. Some because they're men who write romance, and romances are supposed to be written by women.

Authors choose pen names in kinds of ways. They want to honor a particular person. They use their middle name instead of their last name. They use a name likely to land at eye-level on an alphabetized bookshelf.

I came to my pen name in a roundabout kind of way.

I sold my first novel back in the 90s. The publisher (Baen) liked my book but got mad at me because I dared to hire an agent. It was a two-book contract, and they deliberately tanked my second book. They also had an option on my third book. I struck back by writing a proposal for a book I knew Baen wouldn't want. They rejected it, ending my relationship with Baen.

My agent sold the book (series) to Penguin (now Penguin Random House), but they said that since my real name was tied to low sales of my second novel, they wanted me under a pen name so the bookstore computers would see me as a new author, and order books accordingly. I begrudgingly started writing as Steven Harper, and have used that name for nearly all my novels.

At first, I didn't like this. I wanted MY NAME on my books. Since then, I've realized my pen name is probably for the better--few people can reliably spell or pronounce "Piziks," (it rhymes with "physics," for the record), and it's easier for readers to find Steven Harper than it is for them to find Steven Piziks.

I started using Harper as my unofficial middle name when I appeared at conventions or conferences, introducing myself as Steven Harper Piziks so people would know Steven Harper and Steven Piziks are the same person. Eventually--in no small part because I hate my birth middle name but also because I got married--I legally changed my name to Steven Harper McClary-Piziks.

So instead of my middle name becoming my pen name, my pen name became my legal middle name! Life takes us into strange places.