About
Steffan writes inspired fiction and non-fiction within multiple formats: novel, screenplay, poetry, short story, and essays. He’s currently based out of Georgia. His themes include cultural pursuits and how diverse groups interact, spirituality & faith, the paranormal, mysticism, self-discovery, and even hints of "magical realism" among others. He enjoys exploring the unknown and stresses in his writings via colorful characters and settings that there are possibilities beyond what we envision on the surface of our everyday lives. His characters are uniquely portrayed with a southern charm, but at the same time very mindful of an all-encompassing worldview, including players from all walks of life.
Professionally he is a Supply Chain/Logistics Executive & Consultant and an international businessman. He speaks fluent Spanish and some French. Beginning foreign language study as a young man in the fourth grade, and growing up in a culturally diverse neighborhood, we see themes of multiculturalism and the general unity of all people or “universal experience of life” appear in many of his writings.
Born in beautiful Savannah, Ga, he spent time also in South Carolina in Beaufort (another picturesque coastal town) as a very young boy, and Spartanburg in the upstate. During their time in Beaufort his parents were involved with the Beaufort Little Theatre and they spoke of meeting the great Pat Conroy.
Having parents who were ultra-literate, reading and writing were in his blood since childhood. His father Orvan Lee was a journalist, radio book reviewer, little theater actor, musician, magician, former television sports local news anchor, and radio personality. His mother Joyce was also a little theater actor, an English teacher, and a writer who wrote stories as a child and illustrated them herself. They were both also very avid readers. Steffan's uncle Joel Godard, also in the arts, is an actor, voice actor, and comedian formerly of the NBC/“Late Night With Conan O’Brien" show. As a result of this ongoing, rich exposure to literature, storytelling, and entertainment at a young age Steffan began reading fanatically and even wrote stories as a youngster.
This upbringing created a writer fascinated with grouping words together gloriously, always in pursuit of the cunning albatross for all writers which is eliciting a powerful emotional response and a strong connection between reader and story.
Upcoming works include the Canaan's Crossing Mystery series with three titles so far: Dead Reckoning (release 2022 or 2023), Island Casualty: The Wild Heron's Cry, and Native Echoes. The latter two are for future release. A fourth novel in the series is also in the works entitled Marsh Hen at Midnight. He's currently working on a stand-alone novel entitled Stranger in the Square set in historic Savannah, Ga.
Featured Work
Dead Reckoning
On a moonlit night in November of 1973 commercial fisherman Captain Alonzo
Smith and his first mate striker Bones pull up a dead body in their shrimp net in southern Blanding County, GA just south of Savannah. Thus begins a colorful tale of intrigue, thick Southern culture, beguiling characters, misguided trust, and mystery in the small coastal Georgia town of Canaan’s Crossing. Narrow creeks, marshes, swamps, and small hammock islands dot the landscape of this picturesque, historic hamlet, rife with Native American, Revolutionary, and Civil War history. Canaan’s Crossing holds secrets, sordid tales, and the ghosts of many residents, both temporary and permanent.
From the local shrimpers who see an opportunity to get into the “import” business
as a sideline, to the enterprising local characters, many have motives and all have their own particular interests at heart. The personalities of the locals and their “schemes” perpetuates an environment that is sometimes hazy, quirky, with folks unsure at times where reality begins and ends, and the locals aren’t shy about telling their stories at the corner stores where they congregate.
Giant, stately oaks dripping with moss, palm trees, palmettos, Spanish bayonets,
and the tidal waters have been host to many capers, some above board, many not. When most folks are into “under the table activities” and everyone is “in deep” with everyone else, it seems it's hard to trust anyone around Canaan’s Crossing. In this small coastal town dollars are hard to come by so most do whatever it takes, and ultimately, someone paid the highest price by getting in another’s way at the wrong place, wrong time. Perhaps they saw something they shouldn’t have, perhaps they were hiding something or knew too much, but in the end they paid dearly.
Secrets are a rare commodity in this borough where everyone knows everyone else, and along these sultry and beautiful coastal waters, if you can’t speak for yourself, you can’t tell tales. Inevitably some folks learn this the hard way as the dirt roads and narrow creeks around Canaan’s Crossing can sometimes dead end in a sinister fashion, and it's up to the prodigious Sheriff Gage Blackwood to find the killer.
Other Works
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Island Casualty: The Wild Heron's Cry
Upcoming
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Native Echoes
Upcoming
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Stranger in the Square
Upcoming
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Marsh Hen at Midnight
Upcoming
