Gary Braver

Gary Braver is the pen name of Gary Goshgarian, a science fiction and thriller novelist and professor of English Literature at Northeastern University, Boston.

As an Author

Braver is the editor of the short fiction anthology "Horrorscape" (1993), as well as the author of six novels, including "Atlantis Fire" (1980), "Rough Beast" (1995), and "The Stone Circle" (1997), all published under his real name, and "Elixir" (2000), "Gray Matter" (2004), and "Flashback" (2005), all published under his "nom de plume". "Flashback" won the 2006 Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction Honors from the Massachusetts Center for the Book. [ [http://www.massbook.org/massbooks2006.html 2006 Massachusetts Book Award] list of winners.]

Braver's next novel, "Skin Deep", will be released in 2008. [Braver, Gary. [http://www.garybraver.com Official Site] : 2007.] His previous work has dealt with subject matter as diverse as cutting-edge biotechnology, "a la" Michael Crichton, and the dark and sometimes sinister history of the Massachusetts and New England areas, "a la" H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.

As a Teacher

To his students, Gary Braver is known as Gary Goshgarian, and has a reputation as an affable and wryly humorous teacher with an encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction, horror fiction, and other popular fictional genres. His dedication to these genres sets him in contrast to those teachers, more prevalent in universities today, who tend to advance an appreciation of high-minded literary fiction to the exclusion and even denigration of other kinds of texts.

* At the beginning of a semester to a course in Science Fiction Literature he came to class and said: "This is the class for Medieval Romanian Church History, right?" And when a student arrived late to the first class of semester for a course in Horror Fiction, he said: "You're here for Advanced Astrophysics 101, right?"

* When giving the synopsis of a book where the main character wakes up after sleeping for one hundred years, he added as an aside: "Boy, I sure hope he brushed his teeth!"

* When discussing an historical figure whose testicles had been eaten by pigs, he left the class in stitches after he quipped, "It gives new meaning to the phrase 'hog wild.'"

* When talking about assisted suicide: "What is euthanasia, besides Chinese children of course?"

References

External links

* [http://www.garybraver.com Official Site] at www.garybraver.com.
* [http://www.english.neu.edu/people/faculty/gary_goshgarian Faculty Profile] at Northeastern University website.
* [http://www.massbook.org/reading_guides/Flashback_discussion_guide.pdf Reading and Discussion Guide] for "Flashback" produced by the Massachusetts Centre for the Book.
* [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/0765302519.asp Review of "Flashback"] by Roberta O'Hara at the Book Reporter website.
* [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0812570065.asp Review of "Gray Matter"] by Roberta O'Hara at the Book Reporter website.
* [http://www.wpi.edu/News/Transformations/2003Spring/gray.html Excerpt from "Gray Matter"] in the journal "Transformations".
* [http://www.wpi.edu/News/Transformations/2003Spring/fiction.html Interview and biography] by Joan Killough-Miller in the journal "Transformations".
* [http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-braver-gary.asp Interview regarding "Gray Matter"] at the Book Reporter website.
* [http://www.garybraver.com/WiggleFishInterview.htm Interview regarding "Elixir"] , formerly at the website of the zine "Wigglefish". The zine is now defunct, but the interview has been archived at Braver's official site.