Of Books & Other Stuff, too



about the author

Scott Stavrou, writer, Losing Venice, a novel Scott Stavrou was born in Chicago then raised in San Diego and Las Vegas before graduating from Georgetown University. Since then he has lived and worked as a writer in San Francisco, Venice, Prague and the Greek islands, where he and his wife presently call home.

Stavrou has written fiction and non-fiction for numerous publications in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to the critically acclaimed novel, Losing Venice, (Short-listed for the 2019 People's Book Prize), he is also the author of the literary satire, Hemingway Lives: the Super-Secret, Never-Before-Published Blogs of Ernest Hemingway, the award-winning travel book Wasted Away, the original stage play Picketing with Prometheus as well as two original screenplays. He is a long time member of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association, the Hemingway Society, and the Georgetown Entertainment & Media Alliance.

He was awarded the PEN America International Hemingway Writing Award for his short fiction “Across the Suburbs”.

In addition to writing, he serves on the Board of Advisors for Write Away Europe, where he is also a Creative Writing Instructor.

In addition to his books and articles, more of Stavrou’s writing can be found on Medium and Twitter.

His novel, Losing Venice, can be found in paperback in select bookstores and in paperback and e-book at Amazon & other retailers here:

As a writer...

 

He's mostly in the third-person...

Stavrou has written fiction and non-fiction for numerous publications in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to the critically acclaimed novel, Losing Venice, (Short-listed for the 2019 People's Book Prize), he is also the author of the literary satire, Hemingway Lives: the Super-Secret, Never-Before-Published Blogs of Ernest Hemingway, the award-winning travel book Wasted Away, the original stage play Picketing with Prometheus as well as two original screenplays.

He is a long time member of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association, the Hemingway Society, and the Georgetown Entertainment & Media Alliance.

He was awarded the PEN America International Hemingway Writing Award for his short fiction “Across the Suburbs”.

As your Writing Coach...

 

You're always the First Person...

There are a lot of resources to tell you how to write a book. As an experienced personal Writing Coach and mentor, I’m here to help you write your book, your way. To help you take your concept from idea to completion and to develop the skills, confidence, and commitment to write your story to the very best of your ability.

As a writer I've written three books, two screenplays, a stage play, and hundreds of published pieces of fiction and non-fiction, so I’m well-versed in many mediums. As a Creative Writing Teacher, I’ve helped hundreds of writers find the right path to tell their stories and take them into the world.

There’s no one way to write a story — there’s only your way. And I’m here to help you navigate the path. I offer intensive one-on-one writing coaching, with feedback and weekly on-line conferences. Contact me below for a free consultation and see if we’re a good fit.


Contact me for a free consultation to see how Writing Coaching can help you...


More about Losing Venice

Interview, "Behind the Book"

In an itinerant life of crossing countries and continents, I have loved many places. Just not for long. The song of elsewhere was always strongest. But special places and experiences become both a part of our past and a part of ourselves. Things we carry with us forever.

Living in Venice was one of those.

Detailed Synopsis

A captivating journey of life, love and discovery abroad, with an inspiring contemporary love story that unfolds unfolds amidst some of the world's most inspiring locales, including Venice, Prague, Budapest and the Greek islands...

"...as richly textured as its fabled locales...dives deeply into the possibilities, perils, and pleasures of learning how not not to be lost."

Losing Venice

a novel by Scott Stavrou

Literary Fiction, Rogue Dog Press
Available in paperback or e-book at your favorite online retailer and select bookstores

Short-listed for the 2019 People's Book Prize

Scott Stavrou, award-winning writer, Losing Venice

"A remarkable novel... only someone who has lived in Venice could write with such vivid detail, clarity and affection about her charms and annoyances."
JoAnn Loctov, Dream of Venice

Surrounded by beauty, can you learn to live beautifully? Travel marketing specialist Mark Vandermar leads an itinerant life. Elsewhere is where he calls home, so it's no surprise when he's called to Venice to craft the Venice Tourism Council's new campaign to attract suddenly skittish American tourism.

Falling in love with the colorful campos and canals of Venice comes naturally but how far will he go to chase the love of the right woman? Mark's new life abroad unfolds against the rich history of Venice, Prague, and the Greek islands, where he encounters a cast of compelling characters that lead to life-changing consequences. The geography of his new life is marked with discovery and reinvention, but what he really seeks is to learn to live beautifully, to find a place and a person to call home.

"Like the finest expatriate novels, Losing Venice is as richly textured as its fabled locales and dives deeply into the possibilities, perils, and pleasures of learning how not to be lost."

Hemingway Lives: the Super-Secret, Never-Before-Published Blogs of Ernest Hemingway

by Scott Stavrou

Literary Satire/Humor, Rogue Dog Press
Available in paperback or e-book at your favorite online retailer and select bookstores

PEN Hemingway Award Winner

Scott Stavrou, Hemingway Lives, PEN Hemingway Winner

"Stavrou perfectly captures Hemingway's voice..."
Barnaby Conrad, best-selling author of Matador and Learning to Write Fiction from the Masters

Love him or hate him, Ernest Hemingway remains one of the world's most widely read—and divisive—authors. But what would this globe-trotting, self-aggrandizing titan of 20th Century literature have made of the world of today? Ever the insider, influencer, and self-promoter, Papa's perspective on the contemporary world would no doubt deftly dance across small screens everywhere, filled with the signature stylings of his own inimitable pithy and powerful prose.

Anyone even slightly familiar with Hemingway's writing and life, which is just about anyone who knows how to read, will automatically be in on the game in this hilarious collection of outlandish Papa parodies as Hemingway is gored by his own bull, and good and true and truly funny sentences and situations are let loose to roam Hemingway-styled hills of prose as ponderous as white elephants.

For all who love good parody and good Hemingway, even when it's bad, this volume is sure to entertain, amuse, and possibly even accidentally illuminate.


Selected Press & Author Reviews

"In Losing Venice, Stavrou takes the reader on an intimate journey... pulling the reader into the story... Losing Venice is clever, witty, and touching, its characters vivid and relatable, sprinkled with humor and self-irony... Most of all, Losing Venice is possessed of a strong narrative voice written in rich, picturesque language."
Panel Magazine (excerpted from full-page review)

"...a romp around Venice, but it is much more than that. The observations of place (mainly Venice but also Prague and Hydra ) are on point and perceptive... this novel is a little gem... it is well written and an enjoyable novel."
Trip Fiction

"Touching, involving — and very funny... a highly engaging novel ..."
Gregory Dowling, author of Ascension and The Four Horsemen (the Alvise Marangon Mysteries)

"This remarkable, beautifully written novel is packed with excitement and absurdity, longing and love, but its triumph is its narrative... therein lies its magic. Losing Venice is a wonderful book. A damned wonderful book."
Larry Francis, author of An Anthropology of Anonymity and Derrida's Toast

"If you’ve ever wondered why people still write novels, reading Stavrou’s, Losing Venice might answer your question. This funny, poignant account of failure that turns to success is beautiful. It captures a moment and place that, though in the recent past, seems as distant as Hemingway’s Paris and as important. A reminder of what the business of literature, of living is. All lovers of the art of writing and romance should read it. A wonderful book."
George Crane, best-selling author of Bones of the Master and Beyond the House of the False Lama

"A remarkable novel... only someone who has lived in Venice could write with such vivid detail, clarity and affection about her charms and annoyances."
JoAnn Loctov, author Dream of Venice

"I loved this book unabashedly... enjoyed his gleeful word-play, his sure sense of pacing and rhythm, his sprinklings of literary references. Stavrou delivers a paean to creating a life out of love and hope, and to giving oneself entirely to this choice. The story is beautifully realised. It’s even cathartic."
Sigrid Heath, author Far Cry, a novel

“I was drawn in from the start by this brilliant, clever, and insightful novel… Stavrou’s wry musings on life are so original, spot on, and sometimes downright hilarious.”
Libby Carty McNamee, author of Susannah’s Midnight Ride

“...a compelling voice and wit that kept me reading to see how he would repair the damage he had caused. We are dropped into lush descriptions of three glorious cities, gaining all three rather than losing any of them."
Kathleen Gonzalez, author Seductive Venice: In Casanova's Footsteps

Best Books Set in Venice List
Italian Notes

"...a funny, sweet, and amazingly well-written novel... An interesting, lively, funny read that will tug at the travel bug in all of its readers."
Sandra Ann Heath, author of Unrest: A Novel