Lakewood Ranch author takes new profession by storm

Country Club’s Peter Moscovita sat in his recliner in his living room with soft music playing in the background.

He typed away on his laptop, adding paragraphs to his second book, which is somewhat odd because he never intended to publish a first.

However, “The Following Storm” was published in June on Kindle, and Moscovita isn’t about to stop. 

As a boy, he listened to his father, Amilcari, who would share stories of his experiences as an Austrian maritime officer who left his ship without permission in 1936 to go to Vienna to get Amilcari’s mother, sister and nephew out of Europe. In 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany.

Amilcari Moscovita became a member of the European Brigade attached to the British Intelligence Service after seeking asylum in England in 1936.

“I was like a sponge,” Moscovita said. “I can remember things, but my father would never share too much about his past.”

For 25 years, Moscovita had his dad’s stories rattling around in his head.

Three years ago, Moscovita was diagnosed with lymphoma. He was spending a lot of time at home, so his wife, Martine, suggested he try writing a book.

In December 2018, Martine found her husband typing away in the lanai. He told her, “You know that book you’ve been bugging me about for the last 25 years?”

“I was having the time of my life in here,” Moscovita said, pointing to his head. “Before I knew it, I was at 96,800 words.”

Moscovita originally planned to write an autobiography about his father but didn’t have enough information to put together a full story, so he used the snippets he remembered from what his father told him and his imagination to write “The Following Storm.”

By June 2019, Moscovita had finished his book.

Moscovita had never planned on being a writer. He came to the U.S. in 1966 and was a mechanical engineer in aeronautics. He later started a company making vascular diagnostic instruments. He sold his company in 2010 and retired.

In 2011, the Moscovitas boarded their boat in Newport, R.I., and set sail with no destination in mind. The couple landed in Florida and lived on their boat for seven months before deciding to make Florida their permanent residence. They have lived in Lakewood Ranch for the past eight years.

Now an author, Moscovita said he never intended his book to leave the walls of his home, but Martine insisted the book should be available for others to enjoy.

Moscovita is working with the Unlimited Series of Kindle to promote his book and hopes to have a paperback copy available for purchase in August.

“I just get a kick out of the fact that something’s out there that I wrote,” Moscovita said.

His second book, “Without Doubt,” will continue to follow his fictional character, Karl Vita, as he works with the British Intelligence Service.