Limited Biography: S.P. Grogan

Creative Writing Adventures

SP Grogan (Stephen Patrick Grogan) started his writing career early becoming Editor of the high school creative writing magazine and winning a $25 prize for his one act play on the Beatles. In college Stephen became editor of the Westminster Columns college newspaper in Fulton, Missouri, and later was co-founder of the Colorado University Perspective newspaper. He gained an A in Creative Writing during summer school at Harvard University. During another summer he worked in the Denver Post Library, alongside future mystery writer John Dunning. Stephen wrote rock music reviews. Writing about his high school experiences working in the oil fields of Wyoming, he won the prestigious Shubert Fellowship in Playwriting at CU Boulder. He co-founded and was editor of the first underground newspaper in Denver, 'The Teleidscopic Collage'. His first job out of college was as an account executive with a PR firm continuing his writing into the business world.

In 2008, he published his first novel, Vegas Die, about the murder of retired mobsters in Las Vegas with the Mayor the #1 suspect. Stephen gained recognition for this work because he wrote it as a 'Quest Mystery', leaving clues within the story which would lead a 'Questor' to find a dagger hidden somewhere in the Vegas Valley worth $25,000 when found and redeemed. The search for the dagger became a moderate national fascination and book sales and the fan base were strong. Another Quest Mystery with a hidden Hawaiian war club worth $5,000 appeared with the publication of "Captain Cooked" (2010). Both books have been republished with a 2.0 revision of a new Quest Mystery treasure hunt for 2024 onward.

(left) Author with surrealist island artist, Brad ‘Tiki Shark’ Parker, illustrator of “Atomic Dreams” at crowded book signing at the Kona Art Gallery, Big Island of Hawai'i.

In 2019 UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives established the Stephen P. Grogan Papers Collection (MS-00867) to house the business and creative writings of the author-businessman.

In January 2019 academic publisher, Histria Books, decided to add fiction to its publishing goals and signed a contract with author Grogan to reprint all of his past catalogue of which the current novels are as follows:

Vegas Die, a Quest Mystery-- hard cover, softcover & E-book (2020) republished Special 15th Anniversary Edition ISBN 978-1-59211-042-1 (won an IPPY Award for 'Best Regional Fiction') Also available in audio CD at Books In Motion.

Lafayette, Courtier to Crown Fugitive (2019) ISBN 978-1-59211-031-5

Captain Cooked, Hawaiian Mystery of Romance, Revenge (2020-2021) Special 10th Anniversary Edition ISBN 978-1-59211-065-0 (won 2 awards at 2022 Gourmand International Cookbook Awards, including 'Best Food Novel')

Atomic Dreams at the Red Tiki Lounge (2015, republished softcover August, 2023)

Cookbook Passion (also as 'My Cookbook Passion') by Pamela Kure Grogan (Edited by S.P. Grogan) Hardcover 2021, and Softcover 2023--Won 'Special Award' for Best in the World from Gourmand International Cookbook Awards in 2022 ISBN: 978-1-59211-117-6

Crimson Scimitar, Attack on America, 2001-2027, Including the Official Proceedings of the Capture & Trial of Osama bin Laden (originally published as "With Revenge Comes Terror") Totally rewritten and republished September, 2023. ISBN 978-1-59211-331-6

He is working on a new murder mystery, and a Quest Mystery to be published sometime in the future.

Note: Whether being called ‘Steve’ or Stephen is fine in social settings, but in literature a name must be valued and guarded. ‘Steve’ went to ‘Stephen’ when in youth he was faced with two ‘Steve Grogans’, one a famed NFL quarterback, another an infamous member of the Charles Manson gang. In marketing strategy, it was easier to seek maturity with S.P. Grogan as the author nomenclature, as it was thought whether right or wrong, that women were the major buyers of mystery-romance genre, and they would tend toward purchasing from a writer they thought of as having the intellect and empathy of a female protagonist, strongly portrayed in several of the author’s stories.

Political/Community Activity

From his public relations stint and later as Public Affairs Administrator to the State’s largest bank (now Wells Fargo), Stephen was drawn into community services. He was selected by the Denver Mayor as Adult Advisor (20 years) to the Mayor’s Youth Council, later appointed to the Denver Planning Board, and thereafter, at the time, elected the youngest city councilman-at-large with the most votes gained out of seven candidates running. Later, he was active in the passage of limited stakes gaming in Colorado, and served as the first Executive Director of the Colorado Gaming Owners Association. During this time his writing career continued as he created a newsletter on Colorado gaming, later expanded nation-wide, to become a trade industry magazine, The Grogan Casino Report.

(SPG Far Left: With Colorado State Governor signing the legalization of gaming)

With his move to Las Vegas, he was appointed to two terms (8 years) on the Las Vegas Arts Commission, two years as Chairman. Active in his community he served nearly 10 years as President of his historic neighborhood association consisting of 200 homes of the mover-shakers in city politics.

Business Career

His resume will not be here fully enumerated or illustrated but over the course of his business career he gained an expertise of starting companies and corporate management practices and had over-all business acumen to be active in casino gaming, energy, trucking, banking, securities, real estate, and construction, among several of his qualified interests. Under his company, Navegante Growth Technologies, he continues to consult for businesses when called upon. Within his career he has been a CEO, President, COO, CFO, Vice President of over ten corporations, several of them publicly traded.