Scriptoria is a digital bookseller and creative studio founded in July 2025 by novelist Robert Cavaliere and filmmaker-writer Daniel Hietala. It curates and presents character-driven fiction rooted in mystery, wonder, and existential exploration—across genres ranging from speculative fiction to historical prose.

Scriptoria draws inspiration from the monastic tradition of craftsmanship—treating storytelling as a sacred, humanistic art form. We curate immersive literary experiences through fiction, cinematic trailers, reflections, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the creative process.

Scriptoria was founded by Robert Cavaliere, a visionary novelist with a diverse literary portfolio, and Daniel Hietala, a writer, screenwriter, and filmmaker known for his psychological thrillers and historical fiction.

Scriptoria specializes in character-driven fiction—spanning genres like speculative fiction, suspense thrillers, contemporary and urban fiction, historical novels, and literary drama—each steeped in atmosphere, mystery, and emotional depth.

No. Scriptoria functions more like a creative gallery or digital scriptorium—curating, adapting, and presenting works by its founders and selected contributors. While publishing is part of our work, we are not a traditional press.

Scriptoria currently focuses on digital and downloadable formats. However, we provide links to external platforms such as Amazon, Apple Books, and Audible where physical or audio editions may be available.

You can explore and download titles directly from Scriptoria’s site. For other formats (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), we include links to our listings on Amazon, Apple Books, and Audible.

“Scriptoria” is inspired by medieval monastic scriptoria—quiet chambers where monks transcribed and preserved sacred texts. We channel this spirit into a modern context: revering storytelling as a timeless and sacred endeavor.

Currently, Scriptoria showcases the works of its founders:

Robert Cavaliere, known for suspense, speculative fiction, and urban existential drama.

Daniel Hietala, a writer-filmmaker exploring psychological and historical fiction.

Other Authors include actor and country singer —recently inducted into the South Dakota Country Singer Hall of Fame, Jerry Allen Hietala

Classic authors whose work will live on are also being added—Look for authors like J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s immortal, gothic vampire novel Carmilla —reimagined and adapted to modern prose and setting by the novelist Robert Cavaliere.

Each title is accompanied by cinematic trailers, excerpts, writers’ reflections, and behind-the-scenes content that immerse the reader in both the world of the book and the creative spirit behind it.

While Scriptoria is currently focused on developing and presenting works by Robert Cavaliere and Daniel Hietala, we are open to new voices. Submission guidelines will be announced as we expand our offerings.

Not at the moment. All books and bonus content are individually available. However, future subscription options may include exclusive features, early access, or serialized content.

Yes. The trailers are created in-house or in collaboration with filmmakers to visually interpret the themes and tone of our featured works—offering a bridge between cinema and literature.

Bonus features may include author commentary, early drafts, writing process videos, character sketches, thematic essays, and more—designed to enrich the reading experience.

Yes. Some titles are available in audiobook format through platforms like Audible. Links to audiobook versions are provided within each title’s listing.

While direct contact is limited, we encourage readers to follow the authors on their respective social media or reach out via Scriptoria’s contact form for inquiries and feedback.

Scriptoria aims to become a sanctuary for storytelling—expanding to include other visionary writers, adaptations of classic texts, serialized digital releases, and collaborative multimedia projects.

Yes. Daniel Hietala brings his experience as a filmmaker to produce documentary films and trailers that complement and expand upon the written works featured on Scriptoria.

Robert Cavaliere is also a podcaster —currently producing the Phenomena Case Files Podcast, and is making forays into audio and film documentaries.

Subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on social media, or check back frequently. Scriptoria is a living, breathing studio—always crafting something new for readers who seek depth, mystery, and meaning.

Robert Cavaliere is a novelist, storyteller, and literary visionary whose work cuts across genres and explores the deepest questions of the human condition. With novels ranging from science fiction epics to intimate literary fiction, Cavaliere’s voice is original, urgent, and unafraid to confront the existential.

His writing combines the scope of speculative fiction with the soul of literary prose. His work is richly thematic, character-driven, philosophical, and often existential in tone. Cavaliere favors sparse but evocative language, internal monologues, and characters navigating vast outer worlds as metaphors for their internal struggles.

From the mind of Robert Cavaliere, Sage is a post-apocalyptic epic that portrays a world decimated by nuclear catastrophe. Yet beneath the ruin, it explores how memory, love, and fragments of human nobility endure. It’s less about survival than about the spiritual remnants of civilization, and the eternal longing for meaning.

Borderlands is a futuristic, neo-noir cyberpunk novel where mankind has become passive consumers of AI-curated reality. Writers have disappeared—replaced by artificial “therapists” and machines. But one man resists, searching for meaning in a hollow, tech-saturated culture that teeters on collapse.

A departure from genre fiction, Panfried Dialogues is a deeply personal literary novel centered on a man grieving the death of his brother. It’s a meditation on mortality, memory, and identity—told with painful honesty, occasional absurdity, and poetic restraint.

Set in the far future, Chron is an epic science fiction novel that blurs the lines between time and consciousness. It explores the disintegration of time as a linear concept—and follows characters attempting to grasp their place in a fragmented, post-temporal reality.

Started in 2002 and completed in 2010, with sequels written in 2013 and 2015, Chron is an epic still reaching from the beaches of time for a publishing place in the 2020’s.

Coined by Cavaliere, Straight-Up Fiction is a literary philosophy that rejects formulaic, commercial storytelling in favor of raw, authentic, and character-first narratives. These are “rogue novels”—introspective, complex, and created without compromise or market dictate.

Cavaliere’s influences range from monastic traditions of artistry and existential philosophy to cyberpunk literature, sacred texts, speculative cinema, and postmodernist fiction. His work often reads like a dialogue between the mystical and the modern, the technological and the timeless.

Primarily a novelist, Cavaliere also collaborates with co-founder Daniel Hietala on cinematic interpretations of his novels—translating key scenes into short trailers and story reels designed to extend the world of the books beyond the page.

Cavaliere views fiction as a sacred space—one of the last sanctuaries for truth, vulnerability, and unfiltered human experience. For him, writing isn’t just storytelling—it’s soulwork, protest, memory, and spiritual confrontation.

Currently, his titles are available in digital format via Scriptoria, with links to physical, ebook, and audiobook editions on platforms like Amazon and Audible. Print editions may become available through CityScape Press or The Wildman’s Press in the future.

Cavaliere is currently developing a new series of “Straight-Up Fiction” novels, working on adapting select chapters into short visual narratives, and curating a companion book of essays on modern storytelling and the sacred in fiction.

Scriptoria is the literary centerpiece—a home for immersive, sacred storytelling. CityScape Press specializes in sleek, modern fiction rooted in existential urbanism, while The Wildman’s Press reimagines the stories of the American West showcasing contemporary, indigenous and Hispanic voices.

In turn, these brands are also the intellectual property of Editoriale Cavaliere —a publishing house with roots in Italy.

The two co-founders collaborate closely—Daniel Hietala often brings a cinematic vision to Cavaliere’s novels through trailers and visual interpretations. They also co-edit select titles and share a dedication to honoring voices outside the mainstream.

Scriptoria features exclusive access to Cavaliere’s works—along with excerpts, author notes, cinematic trailers, and reflections. Additional books are available through CityScape Press and platforms like Amazon and Apple Books.

He selectively engages in interviews, podcast conversations, and literary events. Requests can be submitted through the Scriptoria contact form.

The monastic tradition honored craftsmanship, faith, and reflection in every word. Cavaliere brings this reverence to modern fiction—emphasizing slowness, intentionality, and the sacred nature of the written word in an increasingly distracted world.

Daniel Hietala is a novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker, and co-founder of Scriptoria. His work spans historical fiction, psychological suspense, and literary thrillers—each infused with emotional complexity, moral tension, and philosophical depth. He brings a cinematic eye and a spiritual heart to every story he tells.

Hietala writes historical novels, psychological thrillers, and character-driven fiction that wrestle with identity, tradition, fatherhood, faith, and existential anxiety. His stories are layered, often gritty, and always rooted in emotional authenticity and moral conflict.

Hietala is influenced by the sacred stories of his Christian faith, the lore and legends of the American West, and classic literature that explores interior life. His work often meditates on the human struggle between duty and desire, between modern life and timeless values.

Yes. In addition to being a novelist, Daniel Hietala is an experienced filmmaker and screenwriter. His cinematic background influences the vivid pacing, structure, and visual style of his novels. He also directs trailers and short-form visual pieces that bring Scriptoria’s titles to life.

Hietala has an extensive background in literature and education, which informs the intellectual depth, moral questioning, and thematic integrity of his writing. His work often explores how people grow—or falter—under the weight of belief, history, and responsibility.

Daniel’s deep connection to his spiritual tradition shapes the questions his characters face: questions of faith, guilt, redemption, and truth. His novels often feature individuals caught between the divine and the ordinary, wrestling with their place in the world.

Deadman’s Hand is a Western historical novel co-written by Daniel Hietala and his father, Jerry Allan Hietala. It dramatizes the storied, dangerous life of the legendary gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok, exploring both the myth and the man behind the gun.

Jerry Allan Hietala, Daniel’s father, is a South Dakota Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, actor, screenwriter, and storyteller. His musical legacy, work ethic, and creative fire deeply influenced Daniel’s approach to narrative, performance, and historical storytelling.

Recurring themes include:

Faith vs. doubt

The burden of legacy

Moral tension in times of violence or decay

Fathers and sons

The sacred hidden within the mundane

Courage in the face of quiet despair

Not at all. While he has a strong body of work connected to Western themes, Daniel also writes contemporary psychological suspense novels, exploring modern settings where characters struggle with internal fragmentation, societal pressure, and moral ambiguity.

Daniel brings a cinematic, historically conscious, and spiritually infused lens to Scriptoria. His contributions range from curating literary works and directing trailers to co-editing titles and offering deep philosophical reflection through writing and film.

He is developing a series of psychological thrillers, a literary memoir, and an adaptation of Deadman’s Hand for screen. He is also collaborating with Robert Cavaliere on Scriptoria-exclusive content and working on new historical fiction projects.

His novels and visual projects are featured on Scriptoria, with links to digital versions, trailers, and companion features. Select titles are also available through The Wildman’s Press and external platforms such as Amazon and Audible.

Yes, Daniel occasionally participates in literary panels, faith-and-art discussions, and writer’s workshops. Inquiries can be made via the Scriptoria contact form.

Where Cavaliere’s fiction often explores the abstract, existential, and futuristic, Hietala’s writing is grounded in emotional realism, cultural memory, and spiritual reckoning. Together, they form a dynamic partnership—two voices searching for meaning in different corners of the human experience.

They co-edit each other’s works, brainstorm story concepts, and create cinematic trailers and Scriptoria-exclusive features that bring a multi-sensory experience to each story. Their partnership is built on trust, shared vision, and a reverence for the written word.

Daniel contributes as a writer, editor, and creative advisor. He plays a key role in shaping the press’s mission to retell American Western stories through fresh, inclusive perspectives, giving voice to overlooked histories and forgotten heroes.

Daniel believes that storytelling is both a form of truth-telling and soul-searching—that fiction has the power to reclaim the sacred, wrestle with the real, and make peace with the broken. For him, every story is a search for light through shadow.

Scriptoria was founded by Robert Cavaliere, a visionary novelist with a fearless, genre-defying literary portfolio, and Daniel Hietala, a screenwriter and filmmaker known for his deeply human and cinematically rich storytelling. Cavaliere’s work is eclectic and far-reaching, spanning post-apocalyptic science fiction, cyberpunk, existential literary fiction, and experimental prose.

His novels include the post-apocalyptic epic Sage, which explores the endurance of the human spirit amid a barren, devastated world; the neo-noir, cyberpunk thriller Borderlands, set in a future where authentic creativity has all but vanished, and characters must contend with technological alienation in a world teetering on the brink of nuclear collapse. His literary fiction includes Panfried Dialogues, a quiet but raw narrative of grief and loss told through the eyes of a man mourning his younger brother, and Chron, a philosophical meditation on time and identity set in the far future.

Cavaliere is also the founder of a literary aesthetic he calls "Straight-Up Fiction"—a movement centered on rogue, character-driven novels that reject commercial formula in favor of authenticity, vulnerability, and artistic freedom.

Scriptoria operates as a creative sister press to CityScape Press (which explores sleek, urban storytelling) and The Wildman’s Press, a bold brand committed to retelling stories inspired by the American West through re-imagined, inclusive narratives—elevating voices often silenced in traditional publishing.

A fearless and visionary novelist, Robert Cavaliere’s work ranges from post-apocalyptic epics to existential literary fiction. His fiction ponders the future of humankind, the nature of grief, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world.

What are some of Robert Cavaliere’s most notable works?

Sage – A post-apocalyptic novel about the spirit of mankind persisting in a barren world.

Borderlands – A neo-noir cyberpunk thriller where artificial intelligence has replaced real creativity.

Panfried Dialogues – A modern literary novel on grief and brotherhood.

Chron – A philosophical fiction that explores identity and time in a fragmented future.

What is “Straight-Up Fiction”?
This is Cavaliere’s personal literary movement—fiction that’s character-driven, raw, authentic, and unconcerned with trends or commercial appeal. It’s fiction that dares to be true rather than popular.

What inspires Cavaliere’s writing?
Cavaliere is influenced by monastic traditions of craftsmanship, existential philosophy, speculative fiction, and sacred storytelling. His work is equal parts introspective and visionary.

Does he publish anywhere else?
Yes. While Scriptoria is his creative base, his books may also appear through CityScape Press (urban fiction) and The Wildman’s Press (reimagined Western stories).

Founder | Novelist | Visionary of “Straight-Up Fiction”

Robert Cavaliere is a genre-bending novelist and the creative force behind Scriptoria’s literary identity. With a body of work that spans speculative fiction, cyberpunk, existential prose, and raw literary drama, Cavaliere crafts fiction that refuses to conform. His novels (Sage, Borderlands, Panfried Dialogues, Chron) ask the questions that matter: What remains of humanity when everything else is gone? What does it mean to write in a world where machines create and consume art?

Cavaliere’s storytelling is steeped in monastic reverence—rooted in the belief that fiction is a sacred human act. He is the founder of a literary movement he calls “Straight-Up Fiction”: uncompromising, character-first, soul-bared storytelling that breaks the mold.

Co-Founder | Writer | Filmmaker | Educator

Daniel Hietala is a novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose work bridges the historical and the psychological, the sacred and the cinematic. His fiction explores faith, morality, and inner conflict—through characters torn between tradition, modernity, and hidden grief.

Daniel brings to Scriptoria a rare combination of academic insight, spiritual depth, and visual storytelling. His latest works, including Deadman’s Hand (co-written with his father, Jerry Allan Hietala) and a series of suspenseful, character-driven novels, reflect a deep love for Western lore, family legacy, and unspoken truths.

With a background in education and filmmaking, Daniel creates immersive experiences for readers—through trailers, visual essays, and thematic features that make Scriptoria not just a bookstore, but a story chamber.