Steve Alten (born August 21, 1959, Philadelphia) is an American science fiction author. He is best known for his Meg series, a set of novels around the fictitious survival of the megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark. Alten holds a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University, a master's in sports medicine from the University of Delaware and a doctorate in sports administration from Temple University. Alten is the founder and director of Adopt-An-Author, a nationwide secondary school reading program promoting works from six authors, including his own. Some critics have pointed out that Alten's books feature poorly researched science and weak writing, while others have praised his character development, research and story-telling. Reviewer Steve Donoghue calls Alten's latest Meg novel (Meg: Hell's Aquarium) “the Moby Dick of giant killer shark novels.” Steve now resides in South Florida
Meg was originally optioned by Disney's Hollywood Pictures in 1996 without a film being made. Next, New Line showed interest in the topic, but again no film was realized.
In a 2008 interview producer Belle Avery spoke about doing preliminary work on film based on The Loch.