Stephen Gold's Popular Nonfiction

These days, I write mostly fiction, but nonfiction has proven much easier to publish, and publication is what gives satisfaction.

"A Forty-Year-Old Con-Virgin Goes to WisCon" (short memoir)

A geeky guy explores the world's leading feminist science fiction convention and discovers what it's like to be a man in a feminist-dominated public space. (Appeared May 2007 in The WisCon Chronicles, Volume 1 from Aqueduct Press.)

"Joining a Cohousing Community - Risks and Rewards" (advice article)

Cohousing is a form of intentional community living with privately owned residences. If you'd like to live in cohousing, perhaps you can benefit from some lessons I've learned along the way. (Appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of Communities Magazine. Read or listen to the article online.)

"Journeying from Guilt to Love: A Toltec Dream of Masculinity" (interview)

Many men today feel guilty about their maleness. A spiritual master offers an explanation alternative vision of masculinity. (Appeared in the February 2003 issue of Common Ground Magazine. Read the article online.)

The interview has proven controversial. A prominent anthropologist chided me for leaving my "critical acumen" behind when I wrote it. If you believe that all spirituality is drivel, don't bother reading it.

I believe that people across all cultures have had interpersonal relationships and conflict in their lives, just as I do. Many of their insights still seem to apply, even if their efficacy cannot be proven scientifically. I like Allan's teachings because they strip away most of the mythology and iconography to reveal essential ideas that can make life more harmonious.

After the interview was published, I decided that Allan's model of masculine guilt diverged from my own experience. However, I still find value in his teachings and hope others will also.