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“Insightful, thoughtful, and engaging … a memorable and thought-provoking memoir filled with creativity and heart.” – Author Anthony Avina
“We have all felt condemned, depressed, outcast, confused, loved, and full of hope; Shari’s memoir captures all of it beautifully.” – Raschelle Mullette, book reviewer
In this special memoir told through a collection of earlier works including fictional short stories, non-fiction essays, and poetry, Shari Lopatin tells the story of her younger self—a millennial coming of age through the 1990s and 2000s while fighting to make sense of a world rapidly changing amidst The Great Recession and September 11. Touching on themes still relevant today, Shari shares deeply emotional pieces from her formative years about mental health, the search for home, the awkwardness of dating, love and heartbreak, and the effects of Antisemitism.
Included in this hand-selected collection are the fictional short stories “Pomegranates” about the power of kindness and connection; “A Call from Paris” about a young marriage falling apart; “Stone from HELL” about the effects of a monstrous society; and the namesake of this book, “The Condemned” about finding self-acceptance. Shari also included other personal essays and poems never before seen.
Ultimately, The Condemned: A memoir told through selected early works of short stories, essays, and poetry reveals one young woman’s struggle to find herself within a confusing and sometimes ostracizing world, and the messages of love, hope, and truth she now brings to others.
“A dark look at a future more closely in alignment with the present than Lopatin anticipated when she completed the first draft four years ago.” -Arizona Daily Sun
“A completely disconnected and probably schizophrenic society.” -Brad Horner, author of the Darkside Earther series
Nothing is ever what it seems in this riveting science fiction dystopia about a future society’s frightening overdependence on technology. A mind-bending, powerful debut from award-winning journalist Shari Lopatin.
“WHAT’S KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT CURIOSITY?”
The year is 2150, and bullied nineteen-year-old Flora can no longer ignore the burning curiosity to learn what’s behind the towering Wall surrounding her home state of Apollo. Citizens still read books, discuss philosophy, and send text messages, but questioning The Other Side is forbidden.
When Flora’s naïveté accidentally reveals a dark secret about Apollo, she’s forced into an isolated web of truth, lies, and survival. Fearing for her life, she leaves behind a clue for her childhood friend, Andrew, placing her last hope in their special bond.
The Apollo Illusion is a story for the hackers, the techies, the seekers, and the rebels of the world.