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 A direct descendant of Horace Greeley who said "Go west, young man, go west" (Greeley stayed east, founded The New York Tribune, fame and fortune) Stephen Williams began his career as a poet.
First published at 19, he studied with Marshall McLuhan, Northrop Frye and Irving Layton. Shortly thereafter, he got a job picking books in the Toronto warehouse of Oxford University Press
After picking many cherished and rare volumes for his own library he became a bible salesman in southwestern Ontario.
Mr. Williams specialized in Oxford's Bride's Bible, the white edition. His affinity for books and bibles led him to be assigned field editor. After a stint with Holt Rinehart, he finished his publishing career as the Editor-in-Chief of Clarke, Irwin.
Having made the acquaintance of many poets, writers and painters including Joe Rosenblatt Patrick Lane, William Ronald, Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, Robert Kroetsch, Robert Markle, Barry Callaghan and Tom Hedley, Mr. Williams proceeded to guide certain manuscripts through the publishing process.
He was the agent for books by at least three recipients of the Governor General's Award including Patrick Lane for his "Collected Poems" published by Oxford University Press.
JOURNALISM
Mr. Williams was appointed "Literary Editor" of Toronto Life magazine. He also began to get writing assignments.
His first published work, "Me: A Magnificent Obsession" is alleged to have been the prototype for Tom Wolfe's "The Me Generation."
Williams began to pursue the dark visions he saw emblazoned on the sallow skins of a generation of amazing narcissists. Titles such as "The Ultimate Failure of the Self-Made Man" attacked the fabric of false realization that weaves every man's fantastic version of his chances.
"The Way We Die Now" examined the Renaissance idea of Grace against the modern, technologically inspired reality of the End.
"Adventures in the Loneliness Trade" was about a strange, sadomasochistic, exotic, suicidal Sylvia Plath-like creature one might find in a pornographic Paul Auster novel whom the author met when he answered a personal ad.
He wrote a number of profiles, all written as confessions. For example, "The Confessions of Leonard Cohen," "The Confessions of an Ex-Priest," and "The Confessions of Guy Lafleur" - these portraits remain definitive today.
Mr. Williams was twice nominated for the prestigious National Magazine Award; once for "The Confessions of Leonard Cohen" and again for "Sympathy for the Devil," his unrelenting portrait of the pedophile and murderer, Saul Betesh. The investigation into the Shoeshine Boy Murder and Saul David Betesh took him into prisons and hospitals for the criminally insane; where he studied the idea of the psychopath with psychiatrists and lawmakers, and so became an avowed watcher of this largely fictional construct both in and out of prison.
INVISIBLE DARKNESS
Newsweek Magazine dubbed Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka "The Ken and Barbie of Murder and Mayhem." Little Brown & Co published Williams’ definitive book about the case entitled Invisible Darkness in hardcover on September 3, 1996.
In June 1997, the book was issued in a mass paperback edition by Little Brown (Toronto) and Bantam Books (New York) and has remained on the national bestsellers’ lists since.
CBC, MSNBC, COURT TV, HBO, LAW AND ORDER
On April 15, 1997 the CBC's "Fifth Estate" aired an hour-long program based on Mr. Williams' book and research. The program achieved the highest rating in the "Fifth Estate's" 30-year history. Court TV purchased the "Fifth Estate" program a year later and it has since run hundreds of times on that cable network in the United States.
With Mr. Williams collaboration, MSNBC made their own hour-long documentary, which began running in 2001 to equally good ratings.
HBO also produced a short segment for their “Autopsy” series and Law and Order created an episode loosely based on the story.
Invisible Darkness has been optioned for feature film.
KARLA: A PACT WITH THE DEVIL
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