Sean Pauzauskie
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie
Author of Stage of Fools
Stage of Fools is a haunting and evocative literary novel that explores the fragility of identity, the weight of legacy, and the redemptive possibilities of love and memory. Set at the intersection of high-stakes ambition and deeply personal reckonings, the story unfolds from the unlikely vantage point of Steven Levinson—a powerful San Francisco business magnate rendered silent by a near-fatal accident, and now trapped in a coma in intensive care.
As his body lies inert, Steven’s consciousness drifts through memories, regrets, and long-buried secrets. The recent estrangement from his daughters weighs heavily—their love seems to have turned to resentment, and he fears that their once-iron bond has corroded beyond repair.
A new experimental treatment, ultrasonic thalamic stimulation, offers a glimmer of hope for awakening. Meanwhile, Steven projects his own shadow onto Thomas Mariner—who finds himself at a personal crossroads, attempting to navigate the uncharted waters of San Francisco.
As the novel weaves between past and present, consciousness and unconsciousness, a larger picture emerges—of lives knotted by ambition, trauma, and the longing for connection. Along the way, new insights arise about the decisions that shaped not only Steven’s fate but that of those he holds most dear. Through his search for meaning, the story charts the universal struggle to reconcile the past with the possibility of a better future.
Echoing the tragic resonance of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Stage of Fools offers a modern meditation on power, forgiveness, and vulnerability. With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Stage of Fools captures the rhythms of contemporary life while drawing timeless connections between fathers and their children, mentors and protégés, and youth and age.
As memory blurs with imagination and reality folds into dream, Stage of Fools is a meditation on whether healing is ever truly possible—and what it means to awaken, in both mind and heart.
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie
Author I draw inspiration from:
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
William Shakespeare
Ian McEwan, Atonement
Garbriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red
M. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage
Jack London, White Fang
Leo Tolstoy, The Cossacks
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
My backyard or recliner in my library
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Charles Kinbote, Pale Fire
I'd ask him a simple question and he'd go on a fifty page detailed tangent about how he is the deposed monarch of the Kingdom of Zembla.
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
Probably after I read Huckleberry Finn in middle school.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback -- love the kinesthetic experience; can be hard to lug on a long journey
Paperback -- kinesthetic experience and convenience; tatters quickly
Ebook -- great for elliptical reading; inferior kinesthetic experience
Audiobook -- great for commuting and helps me visualize; too many digital distractions these days and no kinesthetic experience
The last book I read:
Who's in Charge? By Michael Gazzaniga
I really like the premises and how clearly he explains his experiments with the brain and what it means for consciousness.
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
Computer and old-fashioned keyboard. I set my laptop on a small table in front of me and use a keyboard meant to imitate the old-school typewriters that would shunk there way back and forth across the page. Hand-writing always seems too slow-going, though I do enjoy the process with a smooth pen and paper. I tend to have a good idea of the total shape of the work before beginning, so as to avoid writer's block, which I view as primarily a deficit of planning. When I'm finished writing the manuscript I usually print it off and spiral-bind it, then going back through with a pen to make corrections and edits. This process has seen my through nine manuscripts.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Colonel Aureliano Buendia, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
We're both have a fighting spirit, but in the end just want peace.
Author Interview - Sean Pauzauskie | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Scientist who studies music
Favorite decade in fashion history:
The 1980s were pretty wild, so maybe this.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Egypt, because I'm fascinated with ancient history
My signature drink:
Nonalcoholic Guiness
Favorite artist:
Thom Yorke
Number one on my bucket list:
Scuba diving with octopi
Anything else you'd like to add:
I'm very committed to the reader's experience as a primary focus. I want you to come away having felt and thought something you enjoyed, or that changed you, like my favorite books did to me.
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About Sean Pauzauskie:
Sean Pauzauskie
Dr. Sean Pauzauskie is a hospital neurologist in the University of Colorado system and the Medical Director of the The Neurorights Foundation. In addition to completing medical training in the University of California and Texas systems, he holds an honors degree in literature from the University of Kansas, and has written five novels, a collection of short stories, an autobiography and a work of drama. He lives with his wife and Siberian husky in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where he enjoys fishing, sports, traveling, composing piano music, and mountaineering.
