Stephen's long-awaited mystery story, "Water Hazard", will finally be released in a short story mystery anthology, Murder in the Rough, coming out in the spring of 2006. Murder in the Rough will be published by Otto Penzler's Mysterious Books, an imprint of Warner Books. Publication of the anthology was held up due to a lawsuit between Penzler and the original publisher. Penzler won the suit and the right to publish. Some of the star mystery writers whose stories will appear in Murder in the Rough include Lawrence Block, John Sanford, Ian Rankin, and Laura Lippman. Stephen is thrilled to be in their company.

"Water Hazard" is told from the point of view of Annie Bridget, the reigning "bad girl" of women's professional golf. What Anna Kournikova is to tennis, Annie is to golf. The story takes us to the final round of a LPGA Tournament outside New York City that Annie is leading by a single stroke. If she can hold her lead, it will be Annie Bridget's fourth consecutive major title, tying Tiger Woods' seemingly unbreakable record of four straight PGA wins. But as Annie heads into the last holes, demons are coming back to haunt her. Long in denial about a crime committed against her estranged husband, Annie struggles to maintain her lead while her life passes before her eyes...and her imagination.

Stephen feels confident that no reader will foresee the end of "Water Hazard" until the last page is turned.

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Stephen has an essay in the recent book If You Had Five Minutes With The President, published by Harper, Collins and edited by Ron Reagan, son of the late president. Celebrities such as Caroline Rhea, Joe Pantoliano, Sean Astin, Kenneth Cole, Fran Drescher, Charles Grodin and some fifty others each contributed their fantasy of what they'd say if they had a few minutes alone with the president. Stephen also contributed a piece to a book called Letters to J.D. Salinger, in which other writers such as W.P. Kinsella, Tom Robbins, and the late George Plimpton offer messages to the reclusive Salinger. Letters to J.D. Salinger is published by The University of Wisconsin Press and edited by Chris Kubica and Will Hochman. Both books are available at Amazon.com.

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Stephen's new short story, "Ace's Big Entrance," is featured in the June 2004 Fathers' Day issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, on newsstands now. Stephen wrote "Ace's Big Entrance" at the urging of Los Angeles radio producer Cedering Fox, and was read aloud by Stephen as part of an evening of short stories called "Life After Birth," produced by Ms. Fox's Word Theatre in Hollywood.