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Ron Goldberg ’80 has advanced one step further in realizing his greatest dream – having one of his books published.
Using the pen name Raz Steel, Goldberg is one of four contestants who have advanced via voting by the public to the fourth round of “American Title,” an online contest patterned after “American Idol.” Goldberg was chosen to compete from among thousands of author hopefuls by Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine.
Voting for the fourth round, which focuses on Best Dialogue Scene, is taking place on the contest web site through Feb. 4.
Goldberg always wrote, but never realized it was his passion until about 10 years ago. He’s written young adult fantasy, a murder mystery, a psychothriller, and, for something completely different, a textbook on fiction writing. The final work was to help him teach at his son’s elementary school, where he volunteered.
Romance makes up more than half of the fiction published today, though sometimes it’s difficult for the genre to be taken seriously. Especially for a male writer.
“I’m the first man to be a finalist in this contest,” he says. “For a long time, romance writers haven’t been considered ‘real writers,’ but it has a lot of the same qualities as other writing.
“Some guys who want to be taken seriously as writers don’t think they will if they are romance writers.”
Still, Goldberg is drawn to romance writing — he’s done four book-length manuscripts so far — because of the upbeat nature of the genre.
“Writing romance is far and away the most fun,” he says. “All of my books have a happy ending – that is part of what defines the market.”
“Writing has become such a passion,” he says of the ongoing contest. “I want to get published so badly.”
He started as a student at Lafayette in 1972, but when the untimely passing of his father left the family shoe store without management, Goldberg left to mind the family business. At nights he continued to take courses and he returned to Lafayette to graduate with a degree in philosophy.
What he learned in the major “gives me a different way of looking at the world,” he says.
Goldberg’s “Pass the Kryptonite” is entered in the online contest and different aspects of the story are voted upon each month. The grand prize is having the book printed by Dorchester Publishing.
Oh, and what about that pen name?
“R is for me, A is for my son, and Z is for Zorro. I used to watch ‘Remington Steele’ and I always liked the main character.”