Steve Bates
Steve Bates is a science fiction writer. His latest novel, "Virtual," will be published in spring 2026. We discover that an advanced Artificial Intelligence has gone rogue. Cybersecurity expert Lucas Ahmed is plunged into the virtual world in a quest to discover who killed his wife and whether this rogue AI could be responsible.
His previous novel, "Castle of Sand," is available on Amazon and from Barnes & Noble in paperback and Kindle formats, as well as other e-book outlets. His first novel, "Back to You," is also available on Amazon. Steve's short stories have appeared in more than a dozen print and online publications.
Before turning to fiction, Steve was a reporter and editor for The Washington Post as well as for other newspapers, magazines and the web.
Steve has won numerous awards for news and feature writing, including a Jesse H. Neal Award for business journalism in 2009 and an investigative reporting award in 1990. In 2023, he received The President's Volunteer Service Award.
Artificial Intelligence is a major theme in Steve's work. In "Virtual," a cybersecurity guru chases down a rogue AI while seeking clues to his wife's untimely death. "Castle of Sand" follows a soccer mom and others who are tasked with establishing a colony on a remote world, despite the fact that their minds have been uploaded into robotic bodies.
Steve's first novel, "Back to You," is a humorous science fiction story in the mold of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." His nonfiction book, "The Seeds of Spring: Lessons from the Garden," was published in 2010.
His blog, “In Sight”, was launched in 2013. He has published several works of short fiction in print and online, including:
Steve has covered national political events and has written many hard news articles. In addition, he excels at writing human interest stories.
He learned of two boys who needed life-saving transplants. A surgeon in Philadelphia sliced an adult donor’s liver in half and saved both boys’ lives. But there was more to the story. Steve related the inspiring manner in which the two very different families—one from Bolivia, one from rural America—bonded while their children were in surgery.
