Jay Schiffman

Jay Schiffman is an award-winning writer and creator of games, animations, apps, and web experiences. He was a practicing attorney for several years and has been involved in a number of successful businesses in the digital, educational, and technology spaces. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Schiffman's debut novel is Game of the Gods.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply:

The last book I read—actually reread—was Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a classic dystopian novel, up there with George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Ray Bradury’s Fahrenheit 451. The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of woman who is forced by a near-future government to bear children for powerful leaders. Atwood masterfully addresses complex issues of gender, sexuality, and oppression, while weaving a simply written, yet elaborately told tale. Because of the unpretentious, but riveting prose, and the piercing moral questions it yields, The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my all-time favorite books.

I just started John Scalzi’s new book Head On. My debut novel, Game of the Gods, bends the sci-fi genre a bit, but it is very much in the sci-fi tradition of a dark future filled with lots of gizmos. For my next novel, I am considering writing a piece of speculative fiction that is less “science-y” and less futuristic. I have an idea brewing that is more of a procedural police story mixed with political thriller. Scalzi’s book checks many of these same boxes. It’s a near-future thriller about an investigation into the death of a professional athlete who plays a violent sports game called Hilketa. Scalzi follows FBI agents as they try to uncover the truth about whether the death was an accident or murder. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m really enjoying it.

Visit Jay Schiffman's website.

My Book, The Movie: Game of the Gods.

The Page 69 Test: Game of the Gods.

--Marshal Zeringue