All That Fills Us

Autumn Lytle

The idea for All That Fills Us came to me around 4am one morning when I was making my way to the bathroom. 



I still have the note I jotted down on my phone after than fateful bathroom trip. It starts out, “An anorexic girl whose family has left her (died? Moved aboard?) is hospitalized for her condition. While she’s there, she sees a vision of the West Coast and an important person telling her to come…”



I didn’t go back to sleep after that, I just kept typing. As the glow from my phone mixed with the early morning light, I threw on a sports bra, tied my running shoes, and headed out for a long and thoughtful run. When I came back, full of endorphins and my brain flooded with ideas, I felt like I was really onto something.



All I needed now was a destination, inspiration, and plenty of help for my character along the way.



It wasn’t hard for me to pick a destination for Mel’s (The protagonist in All That Fills Us) thru-hike. My husband and I had taken our own cross-country trek (albeit, by car) to Mt. Rainier National Park the year before. I know it sounds a little lame to say the experience was transformative, but it totally was. I had never seen mountains like that, never seen water that shade of emerald, never felt so okay with feeling so small beneath towering trees. My character Mel is a lot like me a few years back when I was battling my own disorders, so I knew exactly what she needed. She needed to find restoration. She needed somewhere she could follow like a beacon, somewhere where she could feel overwhelmed by God’s beauty and somewhere that would make it nearly impossible not to recognize that same beauty in herself. So, off to Mt. Rainier she went.



Now, most people would say that setting out for a 2,000-mile journey on foot isn’t the safest thing for a young woman to do alone. Add in the fact that she’s anorexic and you may have some questions regarding her sanity, or perhaps the sanity of the author. But I knew the world of literature was severely lacking when it came to giving an honest portrayal of what living with an eating disorder looked like. Based on my personal experience with eating disorders and exercise obsessions, I felt like it wasn’t unreasonable for me to accept the challenge of filling that literary gap.



I think one of the biggest problems with portraying mental health disorders in literature is that most characters struggling with these issues lack the energy and the stamina for any sort of plot to develop. They are so wrapped up in their own darkness that they can’t always engage in the ongoing drama and character development happening around them. I didn’t want that for my character. I wanted my readers to have some physical representation of her journey towards healing. By having Mel set out on this enormous task, readers can see that even with her missteps and wrong turns, she’s still moving towards a greater goal. The journey towards healing is long and winding, so I hope readers get a sense of that while walking alongside Mel.



When I was cycling through all the different obstacles Mel could run into on her journey, I was careful to keep in mind the fact that in this story, Mel is her own worst enemy. Her dark thoughts, her eroded self-confidence, her obsessions that drain her life away… Those are the things she needs to fear most and those are what she needs to overcome. For that reason, I decided to gift her helpers along the way instead of adversaries. I wanted to remind her and the reader that this journey can’t be completed alone. I couldn’t hope to tell an honest story about healing without paying tribute to all those who helped me find my own way back to health. The number of times a loved one reached down to pull me out of the darkness of my own making is one I’ll never know.



I think people often want healing to look heroic. They want it to have a tidy start and finish line. They want big moments of realization and fireworks and motivational music playing in the background. They want to show the world they can get themselves out of this mess and stand victorious on the other side, ready to share all the life lessons they learned along the way. But at least in my experience, healing doesn’t work like that. It’s incredibly messy (no matter how often I’ve examined my life I can’t find anything close to a clear-cut reason that I stopped eating and started doing thousands of jumping jacks in secret). There are plenty of moments of startling realization, but that’s only because I always seemed to forget the epiphany entirely within the next few minutes and would have to relearn the lesson a dozen more times that week. I would try time and time again to crawl to that vague finish line of healing all by myself, always to fail unless someone swooped in right before my collapse and let me lean against their shoulder.



So, after a summer of frantically scribbling down notes of inspiration, a year of writing, and a year and a half or waiting and refining and rewriting, All That Fills Us looks a little different than what I first pieced together that morning so long ago, but the heart of it beats strong and beautifully. Life’s struggles don’t always produce tangible good, but sometimes we are blessed with seeing meaning of these events in this lifetime. And I hope it doesn’t sound too audacious to say my hope is that All That Fills Us can turn the darkest period of my life into light for even just a few others.



And that’s my greatest hope for All That Fills Us- That it makes those of us on the road to recovery and the ones walking alongside us feel seen and a little less alone.

Autumn Lytle identifies with a strange group of humans who enjoy running long distances and writing even longer books. Along with being a forever-recovering anorexic and exercise addict, she is a weirdly good checkers player and finder of four-leaf clovers. 

She spends her days thinking up stories and trying to figure out this whole parenting thing with her son. She can often be found out exploring her hometown of Seattle, Washington, with her family in tow. 

Learn more at www.AutumnLytle.com.

Natalie Walters Answers The "What If?"

Natalie Walters

The plot for Fatal Code came about, I think, like most stories do when an author comes across a bit of information that makes them ask, “What if?”



That exact moment happened to me while visiting a family member who lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico. If you’re not familiar with Los Alamos that’s the location where the atomic bomb was developed and created. It’s also the location of the Los Alamos National Laboratory—a top secret, government facility that continues to design projects in the fields of science, technology, and engineering.



I had the opportunity to visit the museum and learn about the history of the laboratory, the contributions made by the scientists, engineers, and developers, and how seriously they protect the work happening there. Working at the labs requires top secret security clearances and if a scientists leaves, they (and their home) are thoroughly investigated to make sure no secret leaves with them.



And this was my moment! What if a scientist was working on a project that never fully became developed. It was left unfinished but the parts…the plan was still there? How could I make this happen? Through research I did discover that there have been a few cases in which top secret plans have been stolen from the labs and so with that as my guide I began brainstorming my plot.



With the plot in mind, I knew the next thing I needed to figure out was, were there characters who would be smart enough to figure out what they stumbled upon when they discovered the unfinished project. Enter, Kekoa Young, a former Navy Cryptologist and cyber-genius (according to him and his team) who grew up cracking codes as a junior sleuth and Elinor Mitchell, an inquisitive aerospace engineer who was raised by her physicist grandfather.



When I began creating Kekoa’s character, he started out as this fun, no-worries, kind of character who didn’t take life too seriously. I needed him to take this plot seriously, the fate of the world was at hand…okay, a bit dramatic but also kind of true. I had to figure out why Kekoa was the way he was and soon discovered that his boisterous confidence happens behind the safety of his computer. Put him in a position of having to protect someone and he is reliving his worst nightmare. Make him lie about it, well now I’ve put him on a ledge.



Especially if the person he’s lying to already struggles with trusting others. I knew I needed my heroine to struggle with trust and what better (or awful) way than to give her two parents who willingly dropped her off with her grandfather because they had more important jobs to do than raise her. This abandonment causes Elinor to question what she did or why she wasn’t good enough for her parents to stick around and leaves her to guard herself against relationships for fear of driving them away too.



In writing Fatal Code, the story that started out as plot-driven, quickly became character-driven as I weaved the insecurities of both characters into a plot that would force both of them to confront their flaws and then decide how to overcome it. It’s that conquering moment, when the characters defeat the lies that hold them back that make me as a reader and writer happiest.

Natalie Walters is the author of Lights Out, as well as the Harbored Secrets series. A military wife, she currently resides in Texas with her soldier husband and is the proud mom of three. She loves traveling, spending time with her family, and connecting with readers on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more at www.NatalieWaltersWriter.com.

For All Who Have Grandchildren!

 

Kay Swatkowski

More Grandmother's Prayers the follow up book to the original A Grandmother's Prayers from grandmother and pastoral counselor Kay Swatkowski. 

This involved grandma invites you to pray for your grandchildren and gives you practical ways to encourage their faith through these 60 devotions.

You'll read inspiring stories, find Scripture-based prayer prompts, and discover new and fun ways to connect with your grandchildren in person or from afar.

Kay Swatkowski holds a degree in elementary education and a master's in pastoral counseling. 

Grandmother of nine, Kay draws on her own life experiences and years of working with families in church settings as she writes to encourage grandmothers.

Kay and her husband, Ray, have nearly five decades of ministry and leadership experience.

"Grandmothers will find encouragement and biblical guidance in how to pray for and meaningfully interact with their grandchildren through 60 days of devotions"

This book is published by Daily Bread Publishing and released in June 2022.

 

The original A Grandmother's Prayers book description is:   Have you ever thought about how much a praying grandparent impacts future generations? If you want to play a pivotal role in your grandchildren’s lives through prayer, this devotional prayer guide is for you. With inspiring stories, Scripture-based prayer topics, and practical ideas for fostering loving relationships, A Grandmother’s Prayers presents a sixty-day journey of prayer for your grandchildren. In the pages of this devotional prayer guide, you’ll find insightful and uplifting daily readings, sample prayers, activities and conversation starters, and questions for reflection and application.

Michael Connelly~ One of the Most Successful Writers Working Today!

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of over thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today.

Connelly was a former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction.

His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly's 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. 

His most recent New York Times bestsellers include The Law Of Innocence, Fair Warning, The Night Fire, Dark Sacred Night, Two Kinds Of Truth, and The Late Show.

Michael is the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, "Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story' and 'Tales Of the American.' He spends his time in California and Florida.

Just released, in April this year, The #1 New York Times–bestselling author brings you into the world of the LAPD’s Harry Bosch, and the history that shaped him with his book
Hieronymus Bosch: A Mysterious Profile .

In this short work, Michael Connelly delves into the origins of his famed police detective,—how he faced down the horrors of his childhood (a background story that was based on the life of another renowned crime writer); his past as a tunnel rat in Vietnam; and why jazz is his soundtrack. Connelly also shares the story of how his character Hieronymus Bosch came to be named after a fifteenth-century Flemish painter, and how his own youthful experiences of fear led to his literary creation. Those who have followed the cases of this tough cop more interested in justice than ambition will find much to enjoy and to ponder in this behind-the-scenes account.

The Chicago Tribune said,  “No writer exploits Los Angeles—its geography, its historical power wars, its celebrity culture, its lore—as compellingly as Connelly.”

"Tears Are Often. . .

 

Never fill bad about tears for sometimes through them you will find the answers your soul seeks. MSR

Bill Browder Exposing What Putin Did to Sergei Magnitsky

 Bill Browder, author of Freezing Order. Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses. Before founding Hermitage, Browder was vice president at Salomon Brothers. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

Chris Schluep, Senior Editor at Amazon who specializes in History and Nonfiction has written words about this new book. I think Chris has certainly written the best blurb for this book.He said, "There might not be a more timely or compellling nonfiction book in this moment, as Browder describes his efforts to go after the Russians who killed his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. Intrigue, murder, money laundering-and in the end, Putin himself."

Freezing Order is a true story of money laundering, murder, and surviving Vladimir Putin's wrath.

Bill Browder chronicles how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.
When Bill Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail, Browder made it his life’s mission to go after his killers and make sure they faced justice. The first step of that mission was to uncover who was behind the $230 million tax refund scheme that Magnitsky was killed over. As Browder and his team tracked the money as it flowed out of Russia through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas, they were shocked to discover that Vladimir Putin himself was a beneficiary of the crime.

As law enforcement agencies began freezing the money, Putin retaliated. He and his cronies set up honey traps, hired process servers to chase Browder through cities, murdered more of his Russian allies, and enlisted some of the top lawyers and politicians in America to bring him down. Putin will stop at nothing to protect his money. As Freezing Order reveals, it was Browder’s campaign to expose Putin’s corruption that prompted Russia’s intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.

At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most ruthless villains in the world—and win.

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022!

Tara M. Stringfellow

“Readers will come to see that Stringfellow is demonstrating the erratic movements of history, the false starts and reversals and, yes, the moments of progress that are reflected in our haphazard march toward realizing King’s vision for America. . . . With her richly impressionistic style, Stringfellow captures the changes transforming Memphis in the latter half of the 20th century.”—The Washington Post

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.

“A rhapsodic hymn to Black women.”—The New York Times Book Review

“I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Oprah Daily, Essence, Glamour, Business Insider, Marie Claire, The Millions, She Reads, Book Riot, Bad Form

Who is the author every one is talking about?

She is Tara M. Stringfellow. A Southern Storyteller. Stringfellow is a poet, former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and semifinalist for the Fulbright Fellowship. Tara M. Stringfellow has written for Collective Unrest, Minerva Rising, Jet Fuel Review, WomensArts Quarterly Journal, and Apogee Journal, among other publications. After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington DC, she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors.

What is her book, Memphis about?

Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.

Be sure and follow Tara at: https://www.tarastringfellow.com/

Happy Friday!

HAPPY FRIDAY

 

TIME AFTER TYME - ADDING SPICE WITH SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Kay DiBianca

I had always intended that each book in my cozy mystery Watch series would stand out with an originality of its own. I had thrown some pretty serious issues at the main characters, Kathryn Frasier and Cece Goldman, in the first two books, and I wondered how I could keep things fresh.

So, in the third book, I decided to create new secondary characters to add spice to the story. At the same time, I had decided to dedicate the book to my cousin Joan, my best friend from childhood. While I was mulling over these two lines of thought, it dawned on me to combine them. Thus, ten-year-old Reen Penterson and her nine-year-old cousin, Joanie Finelson, were born. And, oh goodness, did they add spice to the novel.

The story takes place on the campus of fictional Bellevue University, and the plot revolves around mysterious codes left in the prayer box in the university chapel. Suspecting the codes might contain a clue to the recent death of Mr. Tyme, the university librarian, the chapel minister enlists the help of Kathryn and Cece to try to decipher the codes.

But when Reen overhears a conversation that convinces her the university librarian was murdered, she recruits Joanie, and they dive into their own “investigation,” with occasional hilarious results. Their all-out, no-holds-barred curiosity had me laughing out loud.

Contrasting the two teams of female sleuths added depth to the story. The adults, Kathryn and Cece, were analytical and responsible in trying to understand the meaning of the codes and how they related to the death of Mr. Tyme. On the other hand, Reen and Joanie turned the campus upside down with their “interrogations” of people. In the end, both teams contributed to solving the mystery and finding a killer.

Now that the book is published, I look back and realize that writing the story had taken me back to an era of innocence and childhood that I had almost forgotten. The antics, occasional disagreements, but unabridged trust between best friends in childhood is a special bond that lasts forever. And this is one of the reasons I find novel-writing to be so fulfilling. We as authors are renewed and edified by our own writing. Old experiences combine with new thoughts to lift us up to a new understanding of ourselves and others.

I may have to write Reen and Joanie into their own series as main characters. If they bring as much joy to others as they have to me, they would be a gift to the world.

Kay DiBianca is a former software developer and IT manager who retired to become an award-winning author of cozy mysteries. She loves to create literary puzzles for her readers to solve, and her characters come to life as they struggle to solve murders and create relationships amidst the ongoing themes of faith and family.

Kay is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, and the Collierville Christian Writers Group. She is also a regular contributor to the Kill Zone Blog. An avid runner, she can often be found at a nearby track, on the treadmill, or at a large park near her home. Her background in software development fuels her fascination with puzzles and mysteries, and her dedication to running helps supply the endurance and energy she needs to write about them!

Kay and her husband, Frank, live, run, and write in Memphis, Tennessee.

You can connect with Kay through her website at https://kaydibianca.com.

 

 

Pulitzer Prize Winner, Writer of Classic Film The Verdict and Wag The Dog!

David Mamet


From David Mamet comes a new book, non fiction, titled

Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch by David Mamet

“Savagery appeased can only grow. Once you give in to it, it must escalate, like a fire searching for air.”

The man who won the Pulitzer Prize for GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, who wrote the classic films THE VERDICT and WAG THE DOG sounds his alarm about the Visigoths at our gates.

In RECESSIONAL he calls out, skewers, mocks, and, most importantly, dissects the virus of conformity which is now an existential threat to the West.

A broad-ranging journey through history, the Bible, and literature, RECESSIONAL examines how politics and cultural attitudes about rebellion have shifted in the United States in the last generation. By screaming down freedom of thought and expression, Mamet explains, we kill invention and democracy – the foundations of security and growth.

A wickedly funny, wistful and wry appeal to the free-thinking citizen, RECESSIONAL is a vital warning that if we don’t confront the cultural thuggery now, the commissars and their dupes will transform the Land of the Free into the dictatorship at which they aim.

 DAVID MAMET is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, as well as a director, novelist, poet, and essayist. He has written the screenplays for more than twenty films, including Heist, Spartan, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, The Winslow Boy, Wag the Dog, and the Oscar-nominated The Verdict. His more than twenty plays include Oleanna, The Cryptogram, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Glengarry Glen Ross. Born in Chicago in 1947, Mamet has taught at the Yale School of Drama, New York University, and Goddard College, and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Debut Novel Becomes A Movie!

Delia Owen's Novel hits the big screen July 2022

                                                   

Delia Owens is an American author and zoologist. Her debut novel Where the Crawdads Sing topped The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers  32 non-consecutive weeks and was on the list for 135 weeks in total.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Delia Owens lived in some of the most remote areas of Africa for twenty-three years while she conducted scientific research on lions, elephants and others. Based on these expeditions and adventures, she co-authored three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in Animal Behavior from the University of California in Davis. She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, Journal of Mammalogy, The African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many others. She currently lives in Idaho.

Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel and has been made into a movie. Delia was born in southern Georgia, and grew up riding horses in the woods around Thomasville. Her mother, also an outside-girl, encouraged Delia to explore far into the oak forests, saying “Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing.” Her mother taught her how to hike without stepping on rattle snakes, and most important not to be afraid of critters of any kind. Delia went on to spend most of her life in or near true wilderness, and since childhood has thought of Nature as a true companion. One of her best friends.

Since her family spent some of every summer in the mountains of North Carolina, Delia has a special attachment to the wild and beautiful places of that state. Where the Crawdads Sing is based in the lush Carolina coastal marsh.

For more  information https://www.deliaowens.com/ 

See the movie trailer below.

It's Not Easy Being A Bunny!

One of the top three books on Amazon's Charts Most Sold and Read Fiction for last week was

It's Not Easy Being a Bunny

BY MARILYN SADLER

PUBLISHER: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

It was on the list for eight weeks. 

Meet P. J. Funnybunny in this humorous and touching Beginner Book by Marilyn Sadler and Roger Bollen. It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny tells the “tail” of P.J. and his quest to become something other than what he is. Is it more fun to be a bear, a bird, or a pig? Read along as P.J. tries to determine who he is—and where he belongs.


What a fun book to give your children and grandchildren. Even adults may enjoy the book after all, don't we as adults try to figure out who we are and where we belong?

In this book P.J. Funnybunny is not having a good day. His mom won't let him eat ice cream for breakfast. She won't let him hang upside down from a tree. She won't even let him watch a scary movie! P.J. visits Potts Pig, whose mom lets them do all those things. But when he gets a stomachache and has a bad dream, P.J. Funnybunny realizes that--while it's fun to be a pig--it's better being a bunny!

This new tale of self-discovery is the perfect Easter treat for beginning readers and bunny fans of all ages!

Marilyn Sadler is a children's book author, writer and television producer. Here is her story:

With a degree in Fine Arts, I assumed I would be an illustrator.


But when early in my career I was presented with the opportunity to write, I seized it and quickly discovered that I‘d found my true love. No sad, sappy stories for me, however. I liked to make myself laugh and my characters usually end up looking pretty silly for one reason or another.


My first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, I then turned my attention to a not so-perfectly-behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed for many years in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious "Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat" series.



My television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny and a show based on my children’s book, "Elizabeth and Larry", for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.



Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century” Original Movies based on my book, illustrated by Roger Bollen, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century” . Needless to say, I was “over the moon”. Each of the Disney Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century" and "Zenon the Zequel" among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel.



In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on an animated series created by me and Roger Bollen, titled "Handy Manny". "Handy Manny" premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time and averaged approximately 2 million viewers a week, generating consistent critical acclaim and developing a deeply loyal audience. In 2009, I was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of "Handy Manny" in the category of “Outstanding Special Class Animated Program."



In September of 2015, Eric Comstock and I introduced a 3-book "Charlie Piechart" mystery-math series which was launched by Harper Collins Publishers with the release of our first book, "Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice", and was followed by two subsequent titles, "Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Hat" and "Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Dog”.

Visit Marilyn at:  https://marilynsadler.net/