Marlan Warren is a journalist, novelist, editor, playwright, screenwriter, blogger, website designer, and publicist. She is the author of the fictionalized memoir, Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All’s Not Fair in Love or War and the AIDS memoir, Rowing on a Corner. She reviews for Midwest Book Review. Marlan is also a filmmaker.
L.A. Writers Conference Alert! I'm excited to announce that I'll be speaking on expert panels at the Digital Author and Indie Publishing #WritersConference in Los Angeles on Nov. 9 and 10. Come take advantage of all the information, education, and inspiration you need to succeed as an Indie Author. Plus you can meet and pitch literary agents looking for fresh talent with a polished manuscript.
"Communicating with the dead has been a secret part of my life for many years." –Judith Fein
Judith Fein’s fourth deep travel memoir, HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD AND HOW CULTURES DO IT AROUND THE WORLD, invites us along on her decades of investigations and explorations of the final frontier: Death.
For most of her life, Judith Fein has seen and heard dead people. Not all the time, thank goodness, or it would not leave much time for this prolific journalist to write about her soul-searching globetrotting with her ever-skeptical photojournalist husband, Paul Ross. "Judie and Paul" are the "Nick and Nora" of the travel adventure-supernatural set. She can see a ghostly figure in the middle of nowhere and believe it to be a specter. He can be right next to her, eyes huge, and afterward admit “maybe” it was real. Their yin-yang bonding and love adds to the delightful humor of this Odyssey.
HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD signals a coming out of the woo-woo closet for Fein. The Oxford dictionary defines "woo-woo" as "unconventional beliefs regarded as having little or no scientific basis, especially those relating to spirituality, mysticism, or alternative medicine…" Throughout her illustrious career as a journalist, Fein has occasionally penned articles about seeking healers and rituals in “exotic” locales; although mostly she has flown under the radar as a gifted intuitive herself. This book puts the spotlight on Fein’s spiritual truths as she has lived them, revealing how she has embraced and been embraced by others around the world who perceive those truths without shame.
There is no navel-gazing in these stories that take us from her father’s untimely death (and her first stunned awareness that she could hear him beyond the grave) to her late mother’s skepticism that she and her daughter could communicate after her transition (and how wrong that turned out to be) to various vortexes of cultures and religions that accept death as a fact of life that does not end the soul.
Fein’s passion to communicate with her living readers shines as an honest desire to help others move through their grief and fears to an understanding that death itself is not the final word on existence.
A discussion guide ends the book with such thought-provoking gems as:
"Would you like someone to contact you after you die? Why or why not?"
No matter what the answer, I’m willing to bet it won’t be boring. Fein invites readers to discuss the most taboo topic in America, as if to say:
Event: Book Talks and Signings Program Apocalypse Blues: Two Authors, Two Views Date: Monday, July 1, 2019 Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm Place: Philosophical Research Society, Auditorium 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027 Phone: (323) 663-2167 Website: http://www.uprs.edu/events.html
In the mood for a "Zombie Talk"?
Three days before Independence Day, on Monday, July 1 at 7:30 p.m., the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) of Los Angeles will host book talks by authors Thomas Allbaugh, author of the dark humor novel, Apocalypse TV, and Dahlia Schweitzer, author of Going Viral: Zombies, Viruses, and the End of the World, in the PRS auditorium.
Playfully entitled “Apocalypse Blues: Two Authors, Two Views,” the program will feature two views—one fiction and one nonfiction—of “Apocalypse Anxiety” in the 21st Century.
Apocalypse TV was recently named to Judd Apatow’s “Best Reality TV Show Books of All Time” list. The novel focuses on a mild-mannered intellectual professor at a Christian college who has to fight for his life as a participant in the reality TV game show, Race to the Apocalypse. Forced to struggle with reality, religion, and his own authenticity, will he take up arms against the troubles unleashed upon him by unseen production forces or end up slaughtered as the show's designated "sacrificial lamb"?
Going Viral considers how fictional outbreak narratives and official sources have influenced the ways Americans relate to their neighbors, perceive foreigners, and regard social institutions. This book examines how outbreak narratives both excite and horrify us, conjuring our nightmares while letting us indulge in fantasies about fighting infected Others. Going Viral raises provocative questions about the cost of public paranoia and the power brokers who profit from it.
The evening will include a Power Point presentation by Dr. Schweitzer, and Q&A session.
The books are now on sale at the PRS Bookstore, as well as at Vromans in Pasadena, Barnes & Noble in Rancho Cucamonga, and online at Amazon.
Reviews:
“Apocalypse TV argues against the extreme notion that only members of a certain faith are favored by God, while making a case for spiritual salvation through love, faith, hope, service...and the willingness to persevere." - Midwest Book Review
"Going Viral explores how popular cultural narratives in official media sources heighten and perpetuate the fears created through the outbreak narrative." – Rebekah Buchanan, New Books Network Review
Reiki teacher and womb doula, Cindy Bonaparte, will
facilitate a free Reiki Level I certification class for lower-income “women of
color” onSunday, June 9 at Women’s True Healing (WTH), a center for holistic therapies
for female reproductive wellness in Redondo Beach, Calif. The class is made
possible by a Community Engagement Grant for Mental Health Awareness awarded to
Bonaparte by the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health.
The class is entitled “Ubuntu-Care Reiki I: Mending the
Heart-Womb Connection.”
Bonaparte (aka "The Womb Doula") credits a recent trip to Egypt with inspiring this
project: “’Ubuntu’ is a South African word that means ‘I am because we are.’ This
class is all about healing traumas that affect the womb, and healing that comes
through mutual caring.”'
His whole life has been a sham because he can’t
accept responsibility for his failure to live by his own
convictions.—APOCALYPSE TV
What do reality TV game show contestants,
religious fanatics, true believers, atheists, zombies, quarreling siblings, an
FBI agent, Elvis impersonator, and an almost-fired English professor at a
Christian college have in common?
They all come together to interlock as
essential players in Thomas Allbaugh’s tightly wound, often hilarious, debut
novel, APOCALYPSE TV.
Shakespeare today might muse that “All the world’s
a reality TV game show, and all the men and women merely players in their quest
for prizes amid layers of illusions and media hype.” It is upon this slippery
platform that Allbaugh has built a metaphor for our contentious world as viewed
through the lenses of good vs. evil, secular religion vs. spirituality, and
love vs. indifference.
The story kicks off when Christian intellectual,
Walter Terry, takes a leave of absence from his conservative college in
California to visit his dying father in Michigan. Walter has just been put on
notice for allowing students to express non-conservative viewpoints, and fears
his job is on thin ice.
Walter and his sister are approached in a
Midwestern diner by a talent scout for a new reality TV show that claims to be
“an investigation into American religious ideas.” He describes himself to the
pretty interviewer as an “outsider in terms of religion,” but sees her write
down “soft and vulnerable.” This pigeon-holing is exactly what makes these
shows maddening, but also makes them fun for the fans.
Seduced by the promise of money and his own
rationalization that perhaps a show like this could use an educated analytical
thinker, Walter embarks on what will turn out to be a character-building
odyssey. After he is entrenched in “Race for the Apocalypse,” Walter hears the
producer refer to him as the show’s “sacrificial lamb.” And after that…all bets
are off.
WC2 Presents Genre-LA Creative Writing Conference (Culver City) (3/29-31) Now in its 22nd year, WC2 West Coast Writers Conferences presents the Genre-LA Creative Writing Conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Friday, March 29 through Sunday, March 31. The conference features best-selling authors, editors, publishers, literary agents, publicists, and film industry experts.
Title: Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst Subtitle: A Book of Poems to Feed the Soul Author: Artemis Craig
Genre: Inspirational and Religious Poetry
(Sale Sheet Info Below)
Reviewer: Marlan Warren
I have respect for anyone’s spiritual journey. And I have
a lot of respect for the poet Artemis Craig, whom I met at USC, while we were
both in film school studying screenwriting. We only met once, in the changing
room of the gym, but her feisty humor made a lasting impression.
“Before they’re done, this school’s gonna own the drawers
on my butt!” she said. I don’t know about her, but that school does own the
drawers on my butt. The one thing I
do know that we share is post-film-school depression. A not uncommon affliction
in L.A.
Now, a couple decades later, Craig has risen out of the
ashes of Hollywood as an evangelical poet who has walked through fire, and
lived to tell her story in the form of Inspirational
Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst: A Book of Poems to Feed the Soul.
With straightforward honesty and a gift for storytelling,
Craig has arranged the poems in this anthology as an odyssey washed in the
blood of heartaches, losses, and disappointments after returning home as the
Prodigal Daughter. All the elements that make “inspirational verse” inspirational are there
(finding and praising the Grace of God), woven into searing moments from Craig’s
life, told with her flair for dramatic prose and metaphor.
March 2006: Unpublished Feature for Newspaper in Marshall, Missouri by Marlan Warren
United Daugthers of the Confederacy visit first black
settlement site in Missouri:
"Our mother told us if there was ever a fire, grab a box of records and run..."
There isn’t much left
of Pennytown anymore. But when Virginia Huston looks at its vacant landscape, she
sees more than just meadows, a church and a house. She sees memories that must
be preserved.
Huston was the last
person born in Pennytown, a black settlement located eight miles southeast of Marshall that was started
by Joe Penny in 19871 when he managed to purchase eight acres for $160.
“What is unique
about Pennytown is that it was started by a freed-slave,” Huston said.
If you've never experienced Violetta Antnoia Sorcini's passionate artwork, you will have this exciting opportunity starting Saturday, April 21 at La Galeria Gitana in the San Fernando Valley. The show, which features local artists, closes Friday, June 1.
Sorcini is a veteran artist whose paintings, photography and collages often show at local galleries, including ChimMaya.
Born and raised in East L.A., the half-Latino artist is now preparing for what she anticipates will be a life-changing Art Odyssey to Central Italy to meet and live with the Italian side of her family for a month.
"The whole reason I'm going to Italy is to create an art book about my experiences with my relatives and the communities that I'll be visiting,"
Violetta explained during our interview in her charming studio. Although she and her Italian relatives have often been in touch, they have never met in person.
Mixed Media Collage by Violetta Antonia Sorcini
The central theme of Sorcini's non-abstract paintings, photographs and collages is "story."
Señor El Sereno by Violetta Antonia Sorcini
"My artwork is composed of allegories that make statements about how I see the world," said Sorcini. "I invite contemplation while staying positive."
Yes, it was in July 2017, and no, I don't know why I didn't post any video clips or the gorgeous photos I received in January 2018 from actor/playwright/producer Ariel Kayoko Labasan's father before now. But they should not be invisible to the public.
For more video clips and photos of the play and the documentary that grew out of it, please visit: BITS OF PARADISE WEBSITE
SUMMARY:
Excerpt from staged reading of the One-Act Play "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders" by Marlan Warren with Ariel Kayoko Labasan at
Rogue Machine Theatre (July 2017) featuring Labasan as human rights
activist, Yuri Kochiyama, and Warren as a filmmaker who wants to
document the little-recognized war effort of girls and women behind the
barbed wire of the "Japanese American Internment" who called themselves
"The Crusaders" as they embarked on a letter-writing campaign to boost
the morale of the Japanese American soldiers who were fighting to prove
patriotism while their families were held in U.S. concentration camps.
Warren adapted verbatim the letters and circulars sent out to "any
soldier missing a letter" (the en masse correspondence was all written
by Yuri) from The Crusaders scrapbooks in the Japanese American National
Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and the Japanese American Museum
of San Jose.
NOTE: This show was also performed as a benefit for Founders
Metropolitan Community Church at the invitation of Rev. Kevin Downer and
FMCC Board. (July 2017).
[This play was originally produced in 2008 at The Marsh in a Reader's
Theater version, "Bits of Paradise" by Marlan Warren.]
Director: Marlan Warren
Producers: Marlan Warren and Ariel Kayoko Labasan
Special Thanks to Rogue Machine Theatre (Hollywood, CA)
and to Founders Metropolitan Community Church (Los Angeles).
Cast:
Ariel Kayoko Labasan............Yuri Kochiyama and Mary Nakahara
Douglas N. Hachiya..............Bill Kochiyama & Various Soldiers of
442nd Infantry
Jacky Jung..............Various Crusaders
Zoe Jean Kim..........Various Crusaders
Scott Shima............Various Soldiers of 442nd Infantry
Mack Wei...............Various Soldiers of 442nd Infantry
Marlan Warren.......Filmmaker
Theater Sound: Amanda Bierbauer (Tech) and Roger Owens (Sound Design)
Website: http://bit.ly/2tSXRto
Facebook: @YuriKochiyamaPlay and @CrusadersFilm
"Better go and doublecross yourself / Turn tail and run / In sickness
and in health / Something wicked this way comes..."
Monty Warren &
The Friggin' Whatevers tune "Doublecrosses" was aired by Steve Kelly on
his Kelly's Heroes show on Fylde Coast Radio (U.K.) on March 14, 2018.
It was an honor to be included in the 2 hour / 48 song lineup!
"Doublecrosses" was penned by Monty Warren and John Beemiller, for album
#3: "Far Out Close Up." Monty Warren leads a motley group of
"Whatevers" who hail from the South Florida / Raleigh, NC area -- all
veteran musicians who just plain love rock 'n' roll.
If you like us, won't you please get in touch or follow us? Here's some
more info:
Website: http://www.montywarren.com
EPK: http://montywarrenmediakit.blogspot.com
Facebook: @montywarrenandthefrigginwhatevers
CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/montywarrent..
Because I didn't get out to the Women's March 2018, I'm posting the music video I made of the "first" Women's March that happened after Trump's "election." Music is by Monty Warren & The Friggin' Whatevers. Anger and Humor and Desire for Positive Change is by the wonderful people--women, men and children--who gave their all for Democracy.
Remember: "Power never concedes without a Demand. It never has and it never will."
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*Celebrating 8 years of Service! *
*Book Publicity By Marlan is a subsidiary of Roadmap Communications.*
*MARLAN IS AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE OR GROUP COACHIN...
Kieślowski’s Pain
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A still from "Krzysztof Kieslowski, Trzy kolory"
directed by Natalia Koryncka-Gruz
Hard to believe that it has already been 30 years since Kieślowski’s
p...
Sausage on my nose.
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The worst pain is emotional. Sure I feel sorry for myself sometimes when I
think of things I used to do and can't now, but there's ten thousand times
the s...
ONE SHEET
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*Title: ROADMAPS FOR THE SEXUALLY CHALLENGED*
* [All's Not Fair in Love or War]*
*Author: Marlan Warren*
*Publisher: Roadmap Girl Publications*
...
INTRODUCTION: A Memoir-in-Progress
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Thank you for stopping by! If you'd like to read this unfinished memoir,
here's how: Click on the Chapters that are listed in the right margin.
Otherwise,...
Still Life with Bottles and Apples
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*January 2013 - Awarded First Place: Gallery 21 Small Image Show, San Diego*
*May 2012 - Awarded "Best in Miniatures": San Diego Watercolor Society*
L.A. CAT - BIKER CHICK
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"He's like this biker who rides in every now and then to date her, and
she's like this cloistered Uptown Girl," my neighbor Bill joked one day
when we wer...
