Notorious Poet. Fool. Born in Washington DC. Stavros was a writer and editor for The Independent Underground Magazine. Raised in Southern Maryland, he fled the Chesapeake Bay to the wilds of the New Mexican desert. He is a single father of two, whose poetic works have been published in several online and print publications, including Central Avenue, The Sword That Cuts Through Stone, Poets Against The War, Conceptions Southwest, The Mynd, Imagine: Creative Arts Journal, and Bartleby, where he won a specialty award for his poem, Blackbird.
In 1999, he won an Official Selection into the Writer’s on the Edge Festival for his play, The Redline. In 2001, he created the Poetry Television Project for public cable access in Albuquerque, NM. All eight volumes of Ptv’s ground-breaking show were broadcast to over 100,000 viewers on a network of regional PAC channels throughout the Southwest and Baltimore. He helped to launch Unpublished Magazine, sponsored the monthly poetry series, The Word Café, in the Duke city, and produced a political compilation, Poetic Democracy. In 2007, he released the award-winning documentary film, Committing Poetry in Times of War.
In 2010, he launched the production management company, Organic Ghetto, and released its first imprint, Crazy Duck Press, with his first novel, Blood Junky. Blood Junky received exceptional praise and review, even being called "one of the best vampire novels ever written," by Living Dead Media. The following year he helped to launch BioGamer Girl, undertook a bigger East coast tour where he began selling his original photographic art, and released two new novels through Crazy Duck Press. Dead Girl: A Romantic Zombie Tale of Revenge features a stunning full-color cover and twelve black and white illustrations from tattoo artist, Charles Hearn. Blood Junky’s sequel, Love in Vein, cemented the One Blood series with its continuation of the story, garnering such review as to claim that the book and the series is "comparable with, and at times surpasses, the 'Vampire Chronicles' by Anne Rice."
In 2012, Stavros joined forces with the Vampire Professor, Bertena Varney, M.A.M.Ed, to co-create the nonfiction annual anthology, Vampire News, and officially became a Fangsmith with the creation of Organic Ghetto's second imprint, Kaos Kustom Fangs. He rounded out the year by writing and editing screenplays for the One Blood Transmedia Project, recording Dead Girl as an audio book, and undertaking his biggest national marketing campaign, The Book & Fang Tour.
In 2013, he and the Vampire Professor released the second volume of Vampire News: The (not so) End Times Edition and is currently working on writing and growing his imprints. Stavros is also a musician who has scored commercials, film shorts, documentaries, and television programs.
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Collected & Edited by Stavros & Bertena Varney, M.A.M.Ed
Vampire News is a nonfiction annual anthology that collects all the tasty happenings in vampiredom. Straddling both the real and unreal realms of this most famous and hidden culture, Vampire News is the only anthology of its kind. Now with the release of Vampire News: The (not so) End Times Edition, this second installment of The Vampire News Network's annual anthology delivers even more undead goodness with just a twist of apocalyptic Mayan humor! So, whether you love the romantic, dangerous, or traditional vampires, whether you prefer a good book or to wait up late at night to catch the noir classics; or whether you stand anxiously in movie lines, blog, or are a member of a daring vampire community, drink blood, psychically feed, or support famous and up-n-coming authors, get vamp tattoos, make fangs, bite people, go to Cons, or are waiting in the wings of some dark dream, then Vampire News is for You!
With more articles, interviews, essays, and the largest Vampire Timeline ever compiled by man, Vampire Professor, Bertena Varney, M.A.M.Ed, and acclaimed author, artist, and fangsmith, Stavros, have established themselves with a truly delightful tome for vampyre/vampire fans of all ages! Researched thoroughly with love and dedication, Vampire News features some of the most insightful facts, tips, blips, quips, notes, essays, articles, interviews, art, news reports, weblinks, and radical thoughts from many of today’s leading authors, professors, fangsmiths, enthusiasts, musicians, models, photographers, and fun-loving nuts working within the vampire genre today!
Vampire News gives readers a unique look at what lies behind the biggest social subgenre of all time. It exposes the hype and uncovers the real-life world that awaits you just around the corner. So, enter and step into a world that you may think you know from the people that craft the stuff of nightmares and walk the twilight glade between this world and the stuff of dreams! We dare you!!!
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
Vampire News in an anthology that I co-produce and co-edit with the Vampire Professor, Bertena Varney. We each have essays and/or articles featured in it along with several other writers. In the new volume, The (not so) End Times Edition, she and I went head to head and reel to reel with our favorite Vampire film picks. It was a lot of fun!
Q) How long did it take you to write?
VN usually takes us about two months to go through all the submission, choose the entries, and get our layout down. But volume 2 took a bit longer due to Amazon’s ignorance over what constitutes graphic text, meaning words that are meant to be seen, rather than read, as images versus text that is just supposed to be read. They literally have taken the concept of art, layout, and design backwards over 100 years.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
That I can do it. I know that may seem simple and weird, but I like that I can twist words into sentences that will elicit an emotional reactions within another person that I have never met and may never know.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
My process. If left up to me it would be completely different. But no. I have to be alone. It has to be absolutely quiet. It can only be in the mornings and will only last for about half the day if I don’t catch a creative rhythm. If I miss this window…it’s nada, nothing, zilch.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
Stephen King - Because I would write and publish the most amazing critique and praise for each one of my novels. Just one word from him about me and my small corner of literature in the universe would change my life to where I could make a living as a writer.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
An unfinished jar of Pace salsa. Pace is crap. Ever since I moved to Georgia 7 months ago, I have not been able to find a decent salsa anywhere. Great peaches, but no salsa. It’s been in there since January. I’m still too disappointed to even remove it.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Well, I’m working with Sweet Revolt to bring the adaptation of my book, Love in Vein, (Book Two of the One Blood Series) to the big screen. I’m working on Book Three of the series, and finalizing the details with artist Charles Hearn, who did twelve illustrations for Dead Girl: A Romantic Zombie Tale of Revenge, to adapt the book as a fully fledged graphic novel. And I know I’m a bit late to this, but I’ve just gotten each book turned into an eBook, so I’m figuring out how to market and promote that, because I started out old school with print and paper and meeting people at book fairs and horror conventions, one on one.
Thanks Pembroke for having me here today!
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