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Key West Story
Hemingway reincarnate, Havana and hurricanes enliven this romantic island tale of love and redemption. In modern-day booze-soaked Key West, former best-selling author Con Martens finds himself down, out and in the bottom of a bottle. Stalked by a jealous lover and a propensity for trouble, Con needs an intervention. And intervention he gets in the form of the young Ernest Hemingway, an angel emissary sent from Writer's Heaven to help Con get back on track as a writer and a man. Blending past and present, the two young renegades forge a friendship as Con quests to recover his talent and integrity and find for himself a home. In Key West Story, we glimpse Key West life from the mangroves to the mansions, and a dark Havana, while spending quality time with Hemingway in his prime, hearing his timeless take on life, love and literature.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Rick Skwiot
11 books42 followersRick Skwiot's critically acclaimed novel "Fail: A Carlo Gabriel Mystery" was re-released by Antaeus Books in fall 2020 in both paperback and Kindle versions. Skwiot is the author of three previous novels--the Hemingway First Novel Award winner "Death in Mexico," the Willa Cather Fiction Prize finalist "Sleeping With Pancho Villa," and "Key West Story"--and two memoirs: the highly praised childhood memoir "Christmas at Long Lake," and "San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Memoir of a Sensual Quest for Spiritual Healing." His new novel "The Bootlegger's Bride" is slated for July 2025 release by Amphorae Publishing Group.
He's taught creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis and served as the 2004 Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. A veteran journalist, he also works as a feature writer and editor.
He's taught creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis and served as the 2004 Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. A veteran journalist, he also works as a feature writer and editor.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 31, 2012
I thought that Rick Skwiot did an excellent job in this novel about a writer living in Key West, Florida, who has somewhat lost his writing mojo. Enter a young Ernest Hemingway from the land of suspended belief who becomes a mentor to Con, the writer in peril. Con receives advise from this new friend about writing, life, and women. With a trip to Cuba thrown into the mix, Con's education expands to the political. The element of a hurricane serves to stir things up a bit more. I especially enjoyed the setting of this novel, as Key West is a favorite place of mine to visit, and Skwiot excelled at describing and hitting upon some of the well-known places in this island paradise. Whether or not it is really Ernest Hemingway who befriends Con doesn't matter, as the trip down Hemingway's memory lane is an interesting one indeed. All in all, Key West Story was a good read.
September 28, 2013
"Imagine a literary heaven, a place where good writers gather posthumously for their due and drinks." I fell in love at first sight as I read the fabulous opening line of Rick Skwiot's gem of a book, KEY WEST STORY. Rick seems to be talking to me, writer to writer. As someone who came to Key West on vacation in 1983, stayed on and became a local writer, I never tire of hearing about the unique place our island -- a three-mile rock that is part sweat lodge, part bordello, and part literary salon -- holds in the minds and hearts of other writers.
But, after arriving in Key West, many a would-be Hemingway never gets out of the bars. One day the writer fades away or is lost at sea;someone will say he moved to Mexico or Montana. Will the writer in this book follow the path of least resistance or will he get his mojo back?
There's a story on every street corner, and Rick's characters, carved with the master's scalpel, prove the point. Con (short for Constantine) is "shackled" to his writing and ambivalent about his marriage-minded girlfriends: Cat, a gun-toting writing student; and Eva, a Polish beauty in search of a green card. He narrowly escapes getting shot, seeks refuge at Schooner's Wharf Bar (he knows he can get served without shoes, shirt, or a wallet), and is befriended by 40-year-old Nick Adams, a mysterious, dark-haired stranger with a pontificating manner and a boat named Pilar.
The reincarnate Hemingway is tonic for the jaded writer who has "lost his compass." Whether Nick is ghost, delusion, or literary trope doesn't matter; he appears in a richly comic context. It's Hemingway Days, and there's fecal material in the water off the beaches. Nick offers an adventure to Con, and off they go to Cuba, where the dangerous gig is smuggling a Cuban naval officer and his charts of a Spanish wreck out of a decaying country and away from its blank-faced people. The officer's sister Aurora is the mermaid of Con's dreams, and she predicts he will return. The last part of the book is set up for Con's choice. Will he make up with Cat, oblige Eva, or return to Aurora? Is his internal compass aligned ?
Readers who know Caoeso in their bones (or would like to) should not miss KEY WEST STORY, a rare treat of a read. Though not a guidebook, it points toward the southernmost town in America as it is and always has been, a writer's true north.
But, after arriving in Key West, many a would-be Hemingway never gets out of the bars. One day the writer fades away or is lost at sea;someone will say he moved to Mexico or Montana. Will the writer in this book follow the path of least resistance or will he get his mojo back?
There's a story on every street corner, and Rick's characters, carved with the master's scalpel, prove the point. Con (short for Constantine) is "shackled" to his writing and ambivalent about his marriage-minded girlfriends: Cat, a gun-toting writing student; and Eva, a Polish beauty in search of a green card. He narrowly escapes getting shot, seeks refuge at Schooner's Wharf Bar (he knows he can get served without shoes, shirt, or a wallet), and is befriended by 40-year-old Nick Adams, a mysterious, dark-haired stranger with a pontificating manner and a boat named Pilar.
The reincarnate Hemingway is tonic for the jaded writer who has "lost his compass." Whether Nick is ghost, delusion, or literary trope doesn't matter; he appears in a richly comic context. It's Hemingway Days, and there's fecal material in the water off the beaches. Nick offers an adventure to Con, and off they go to Cuba, where the dangerous gig is smuggling a Cuban naval officer and his charts of a Spanish wreck out of a decaying country and away from its blank-faced people. The officer's sister Aurora is the mermaid of Con's dreams, and she predicts he will return. The last part of the book is set up for Con's choice. Will he make up with Cat, oblige Eva, or return to Aurora? Is his internal compass aligned ?
Readers who know Caoeso in their bones (or would like to) should not miss KEY WEST STORY, a rare treat of a read. Though not a guidebook, it points toward the southernmost town in America as it is and always has been, a writer's true north.
February 14, 2014
In his new novel, "Key West Story," Skwiot reveals what life is like in this iconoclastic Floridian town, where roosters roam freely, and every third resident seemingly needs a green card. Despite the climate, it's not always sunny in Key West, but when spirits sag or hurricanes threaten, there is solace in fresh-caught lobster, ice cold beer, readily available sex and a touch of magic. Hemingway appears in this story and shares his writerly wisdom with Constantine, a talented former best selling author who is dealing with a stubborn case of writer's block, while trying to stave off homelessness and death threats from a seriously jealous lover.
As always, Skwiot creates wonderful characters like Eva, the illegal, but optimistic Czechoslovakian sex worker with a plan and, Aurora, a Cuban cabaret singer who Constantine meets in Havana, then helps smuggle into the U.S. An added bonus in this book is that Constantine's quick trip to Cuba allows the reader to experience the surreality of living in a nation full of broken dreams, rotting wood and Communist snitches.
As always, Skwiot creates wonderful characters like Eva, the illegal, but optimistic Czechoslovakian sex worker with a plan and, Aurora, a Cuban cabaret singer who Constantine meets in Havana, then helps smuggle into the U.S. An added bonus in this book is that Constantine's quick trip to Cuba allows the reader to experience the surreality of living in a nation full of broken dreams, rotting wood and Communist snitches.
February 26, 2013
Rick Skwiot's latest effort grabs the reader from page one...one wants to learn more about Cat and Con, each line flows seemlessly from the preceeding one, and I wanted more when it was over. I felt like hopping a plane to Key West! Economical, clear, concise writing is a joy to read and Mr. Skwiot delivers. I await his next novel.
June 3, 2012
A good read- with lots of flavor of Key West. The author tended to overdo, felt like I had some of it beat into my head. Lots of good quotes and things to think about- be true to yourself kind of morale.
June 8, 2014
A well-crafted book about what it takes to write a great story, set in Key West with inspiration provided by no other than Hemingway himself. Or is it Hemingway? And Key West is definitely represented as I remember it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews