ABOUT The Author
Ken Luber
Ken Luber attended the renowned Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, after having graduated from Ripon College. In his early years, he travelled around the world, mostly hitchhiking and studying the world cultures. Ken received a Writer/Director Fellowship at the American Film Institute and has written and directed for film, television, and theatre. His recent young-adult time-travel novel, “The Sun Jumpers,” has been optioned by a major animation studio for a TV series. “Esperanza: the Musical of Hope,” for which he wrote the book and lyrics with music composed by Saverio Rapezzi, had its world premiere in Palm Springs, CA, in 2015. His other published books include his novel “An Angel, A Dealer, The Deal,” “Saving My Ancient Life” and the children’s book “Tejan and the Magic Soccer Ball.” Born in Wisconsin, Ken has worked as a house painter, pizza maker, door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, tele-marketer, and ESL teacher. He has a son and daughter, and now lives with his artist-writer wife Kathleen, in Southern California.
Screenplays
Road Goddess
She’s 35 yr old, dumped by her husband and stuck with selling an 18 wheeler – until she learns to drive it across America and finds another lover on the road.
(Under option, in pre-development.)
The Cleaning Lady’s Son
Two women of disparate backgrounds uncover murder & a sex-trafficking ring. They find themselves captives, struggling to survive. An ex-GI son & a fearless daughter risk their lives to save them.
That Planet is Dancing
Wally’s an ex-TV fitness guru selling jewelry and trying to get voice-over jobs. Q’s a wannabe rapper driving a cab. Strangers to each other, what are they doing together on a spaceship saving a planet 446 thousand miles from Earth?
Teach Me to Dance
Children don’t know everything. An interracial love story that dances across the ages.
TYRONE (TY), 35, single, is the success-driven Black COO of the major downtown Performing Arts Center. CATALINA “CAT”, (30ish), Latina, never married and is totally absorbed in her art and work (Supervising a city-wide After-School Arts Program). Both Ty’s mother, Rose, and Cat’s émigré father, Diego are, with the passing of their spouses, settled comfortably into sedentary lives… until both, at the urging of their siblings, unaware of each other, are persuaded to join a Senior Center. That’s when the tumult starts. As they meet and move on victoriously, in a dizzying array of Senior dance Contests, Cat has convinced Ty’s Performing Arts Center to sponsor a fundraiser for the District Arts Program. It’s also possible that Ty and Cat are falling in love. But who’s to say Rose and Diego aren’t? And when will the 30’somethings find out their parents are dating? And who knew Ty’s obsessive secretary would murderer the Performing Arts major benefactor? Or that Ty, recovering with Cat from a car robbery, would risk falling down a mountain to save his future father-law’s dancing shoes minutes before the final championship dance. It’s a story of misunderstandings, love for the ages (literally) as well as a coming together of different races, of people of an age you never thought could love again or dance, exhibit the torrid tango... and it’s Valentine’s Day!
Hold Everything
A cash-strapped East-coast university, an aging Black football coach a young, Black drama Professor, a Russian gangster billionaire, an LA home invasion, and a doomed marriage – stuffed into an action-comedy with a sweet, romantic touch.
Howzer
(Writer-director)
the story of two westward bound runaways, twelve and fourteen, who leave the comforts of their Midwest home to seek the adventures of Los Angeles and beyond, attempting to explore the secret world of adult life."
(Warner Bros. distribution)
Heartsong
1929 - At an abusive Catholic Boarding School on a South Dakota Indian Reservation, a defiant Black nurse joins forces with teenage students loyal to their heritage and finds herself enmeshed in a murder mystery - inspired by true events.
(Producer: Sonny Skyhawk)
Field Trip Lost in Space
Six hundred years in the future, from an elite military academy, celebrating their h.s. graduation, the class zooms into space for their final field trip. But things go terribly wrong. They crash-land on an unknown planet, inhabited by giant, deadly spiders and a band of ruthless kidnappers. The Field Trip students are lost and doomed, with no communication to Earth and Central Command. Finally, after a great deal of pressure, Cole West, the country’s greatest intergalactic pilot and grandfather of one of the graduating students, is released from prison to find the Lost Field Trip.
Adapted from the book By LaDonna Harrison
OUR DIVIDE: Two Sides of Locked-In Syndrome
In this true story bio-pic, set in a small triangle of Minnesota lake-country towns, twenty-year-old LaDonna, already once divorced, falls madly in love with Cleve Harrison, six years older and a six-year Navy vet. Two months after their race- to-South Dakota marriage, her life changes with a terrifying hospital call. In the following three years, Cleve would never again say a word, never acknowledge hearing or seeing LaDonna or their child. Kept alive until his death with drugs, breathing and feeding tubes, he’s fatally trapped in the “locked-in syndrome.”
But LaDonna is alive and a mother, having given birth to their baby girl seven months into Cleve’s coma. How long do you stay loyal to a PTSD husband who cannot acknowledge your presence, even with an eye-blink, or kiss the daughter he is the father of? Pushed to do something with a wasting life of serial love affairs, drinking, partying, settling with the baby in cabins and trailer parks, she finally enrolls in a community college. LaDonna, the young woman who had no idea a semester was three months or how she would ever get the babysitting money to cover her time in class, goes on to receive Masters Degrees in English, Rhetoric and Depth Psychology, become a published author and practice over thirty years teaching in college and university classrooms throughout the United States. …
TV Series
“Club Soda”
“Bring back the ‘40s!”
The faces were young, as were those of the Junior Hostesses, drawn from sororities, church leagues and other volunteer agencies - girls whose best intentions were to show the guys a good time, fill their loneliness, soothe their fears, listen to them, love them, remind them that someone would be there when they got back, that someone cared very deeply about them. “For all we know” became the anthem of a generation.
“It’s My Money”
ANDY FRANK is a thirty-six-year-old, Black ex-football terror in the NFL until a heart transplant operation tackled his career. Now settled with his seventy-three million dollars in an old Victorian mansion, Andy is persuaded by a business partner to take on a boarder, Boshay, a saleswoman with a seven-year old Tibetan/Chinese son, Ming-Ming. She likes the idea of having a male role model for her son. Andy likes the comfort of a ready-made family and, of course, the real, practical need of having someone near to help out with tasks he is limited in doing or simply can't do. Andy is also a convenient baby-sitter for Ming-Ming when Boshay has out-of-town sales trips. Supporting characters in-and-out of the mansion are Andy’s sister, Janelle, who runs his foundation and programs mentoring high school student-athletes, Lou Capota whose deceased wife’s heart rests in Andy’s chest, his doctor who likes to bet on ball games, and an assortment of comedic football buddies still in the game.
“Chapel Bells”
Created by Ken Luber & Art Arutyunyan
Close by the Baltimore waterfront, a 100-year-old building that decades ago was a bordello, is now the home of a fashionable wedding shop “Chapel Bells,” catering to men and women of all ages with wedding gowns, tuxes, all the accoutrements of the ceremony and festivities, as well as the “totally-off-wall” requests. Facilitating this blissful day are sisters, Deidre (Dee), mother of ten-year-old, Sohphie, and Kit, recently returned from a high-end software job in Boston and a torrid romance with a female hairdresser. Kit’s twin brother, Kyle, still dreams of rock n’ roll glory, while playing local Baltimore bars and college parties… The Chapel Bells support team includes Tai, the stylish Black salesgirl/night-time college student, Ronnie Cruz, street smart, former gangbanger, who drives the delivery van and takes wedding party photos, Xavier Hendrikson, sixty-five yr. old seamster/ fitter, who earlier in his career had worked the grand fashion houses in Europe, and Carlotta, the ghost who haunts Chapel Bells and decades ago worked in the waterfront bordello. So mankind comes to Chapel Bells, arriving with its own baggage of myriad hopes, shadows, and dreams, without giving a moment’s thought that the couple are entering the world of a family, filled with the demands of raising a child, of running a highly competitive business, and of riding their own waves of disappointments, struggles, and loves… The waters can get rough.
Novels
Saving My Ancient Life
Imagine going to sleep in the comfort of your room, only to wake up the next morning in a completely unknown place, surrounded by strangers speaking unfamiliar languages, dressed in different clothes, and living in a world that seems utterly foreign. The sheer disorientation and bewilderment would be overwhelming. This is the experience of one of the protagonists in author Ken Luber’s book, Saving My Ancient Life. This science-fiction novel blends multiple genres, including romance, historical fiction, sci-fi, and mystery thriller, creating a rich and immersive narrative which keeps readers on the edge of their seats....
Palmetto Publishing
http://www.palmettopublishing.com/
(Book Review by Diane Donovan: Editor Bookwatch)
From encounters with spirits to two worlds whose various characters intersect and interact, Saving My Ancient Life provides much more than an uncommon mix of time and place. It considers the culture, influences, and struggles of characters whose special interests and worlds reach out to very different individuals to entwine them in a journey to find truths and family.
Luber's attention to detail, from the Highland brogue that El exhibits to the fact that young Billy needs to become a better horse rider if he's to follow her in her journey to find her missing son, brings the story to life in a story replete with thought-provoking insights that encourage pause for thought:
"You still haven't told me. Is it far?"
"How far is the journey of any life to find your heart?"
Book clubs and readers used to more linear thinking in time travel experiences will delight in the effort Luber makes to not only inject realistic backgrounds and dilemmas into his characters' encounters, but to document character-building moments into the tale that brings unexpected facets of the concurrent journeys to life.
Chapter header notes about shifting places might provide readers with an even stronger foundation for absorbing these changes; but even without them, Saving My Ancient Life is a moving story powered by evocative descriptions of a mystical past come to life:
"He was beginning to believe in El's mystical world, the world of a mother's voice rising from the flames of a hearth and of a dog-tag flaring light in a faraway meadow. And staring into the flames she had just created, it struck him that with wormholes and expanding universes, TV transmission and trips to the moon, was his world any less mystical? Yes, there were formulas and statistics, but were they any different then the mumbo-jumbo, indecipherable words of an ancient world as passionately connected to the universe?"
Libraries and readers interested in a fantasy journey that juxtaposes romance, impossible dreams, intentions of courage and rescue, wormholes that connect disparate worlds, and characters who move into different milieus that test their resources and mettle will welcome Saving My Ancient Life’s journey and diverse themes.
The novel's ability to not only entertain, but stand out, also makes it a top recommendation for book club discussion.
"...is time any different for any of us, going back and forth through the worlds in our minds and in our hearts, searching for the truth of who we really are?"
The Sun Jumpers
He thought of Sita, the beautiful kanta-wing who had captured his heart. Like Ty , she was born on the banks of the river, and like Ty she believed in a world greater than the warren of caves, cliffs and forest in which they dwelled. Her vivid smile spoke to her name, Sita, which in the Kishoki language meant “heart smile.” In her dreams she traveled to places Ty had never been. She called it star-stepping. But even she did not know of the plan that consumed her teenage lover’s thoughts, a plan that hurtled them into the 21st Century. Nor could he know that someday she would be a shaman.
(on Amazon; paperback and e-book)
(TV series optioned by G7 Animation)
An Angel, A Dealer, The Deal
She picked him up in a beachfront bistro. He thought he was going to Seattle. She knew he was beginning the longest journey of his life. He didn’t know when he got in her car that she was an angel. She didn’t know when he bought her a beer that she had loved him four hundred years ago. Nor did she know that together she would risk her angelic rank to save this drug dealer’s soul. Their journey spans centuries and continents, terrifying forests and raging seas as their love takes hold and the secret of human transformation is explored.
Children’s Books
THE LITTLEST SEED
Lost in a summer storm, the littlest seed flies across the world in the beak of Mr. Ronnie, a black crow, helping the littlest seed find his mother tree.
TEJAN’S MAGIC SOCCER BALL
Seven-year-old Tejan, crossing the sea with his best friend Aminata to find his lost soccer ball he made out of rags and a junkyard inner tube, finds in his search an even greater treasure.
(published by Heartshine Press, on Amazon)
Lynn Ryan
SCOTTY’S GREATEST TREE TRICK
A brother and sister find Scotty the squirrel dying on a river-raft and bring him home, where his greatest tree tricks save the family from poverty.
Lynn Ryan
MOLLY and MILTY – A Love Story
When Mr. Duparlo brings home Milty, a big floppy rescue dog, the house cat, Molly, freaks out, until a hero rises out of the flames to capture her heart.
Plays
HEAVEN ON THE LOOSE
A Metaphysical Comedy in Two Acts
The Almighty Creator – His Majesty, aka Izzy – looks down on Earth, His creation, with despair and severe disappointment. Seeing the mayhem, hatred and warring mankind, His initial reaction is to dump the Earth and start over… But not so fast. His Soul Consort, Lady Gina – equal to Him in every aspect of power and dimension – demands that He abandon His plan. He finally relents on the condition that three good people can be found on Earth. Chosen for this mission is the recently deceased Mexican gardener, Marcos, but when Marcos gets distracted, Izzy’s loyal assistant, Sameer, the deceased Indian soul from Mumbai, is sent back to Earth to find Marcos. Amidst this confusion, the 18th Century Scottish soul, Diana, confronts Lady Gina with the profound questions of life and death. How the world is saved, through humor and pathos, is at the heart of “Heaven on the Loose.”
BLU WATER
MICHELANGELO, PERHAPS HISTORY’S GREATEST SCULPTOR, famously said: “I SAW THE ANGEL IN THE MARBLE AND CARVED UNTIL I SET HIM FREE.” … So it is with Blu Water, the Native angel/ spirit who rises out of a massive stone Shawn is working on. The arrogant sculptor dismisses her as a bag lady, refusing to believe in her wisdom and power and threatens to call the police… Until an ex-girlfriend drops by, in town for a film audition, and feels the intimation of Blu Water as a soul-sister. And the wealthy philanthropist who commissioned the sculptor arrives, insisting that it be moved to a more visually accessible place for his hospitalized grandson and reluctantly reveals his pathway to wealth and the disturbing torment it has brought him and his family. Mr. Kitzler, the jaunty Black Hospital Building Supervisor arrives, bringing with him his Ethiopian-born mother. The brew of psyches and hearts, stirred by the presence and aura of Blu Water, draws people to reveal their willingness to survive and live, and enlightens Shawn with a new pathway to continue his artistic and spiritual journey, even as jaunty Mr. Kitzler and Shawn’s ex-girlfriend fly off to Spain together.
ESPERANZA – THE MUSICAL of HOPE
From winning glory and gold on the field to losing it all in terrible life choices, STREET, the once great running back, STICK, the once can’t-miss baseball slugger and PEARL, the one-time tennis phenom all find themselves stuck with each other in a rundown sports bar. Each is waiting for the bar phone to ring, hoping a call will change their destinies. But the joint is going to be foreclosed at midnight, just as were the service plans on their cell phones. The cagey bar owner, a former mouthpiece for the mob, is coming back to throw them out, box-up papers that might indict him and toss the key to the bank. Not so fast. Enter, TAJ, Street’s high school sweetheart, now a mature, divorced woman, who won’t let Street forget his betrayals. Enter LALO the broke Chilean sports publisher who has loved Pearl since he first saw her on TV when she was a tennis wunderkind. Enter Stick’s doddering, nearly blind, one-time sports agent RITZO about to inherit thirty-five mil from his hospice-challenged mother. Bouncing back and forth between the agent and the bar is HOPE FLANAGAN, the street-savvy ex-hooker-chanteuse updating Stick on the condition of the agent’s dying mother. So it is that out of a rundown sports bar, on the rough side of town, Esperanza is born, powered by the music of hope for those who have played the game, and for those who have lifted their spirits out of the ashes of defeat to rise-up once again.
SISTERS IN LOVE
Set in Venice, California, on New Year’s Eve, Lil Montana, a single parent and one-time aspiring artist-turned day school art teacher, is frantically preparing dinner and getting dressed for her dinner guest, Hirsh Bennet, a charming Office Supply salesman. Intruding on her pre-dinner preparations is her downstairs neighbor, Robert Graves, a gay Black man in need of several items to complete his costume for a New Year’s Eve party. At the same time, Lil’s younger, estranged sister, Charlene Whittley, a San Francisco lawyer, unexpectedly arrives en route to Washington D.C., having just been named Legislative Director for California’s senior Senator.
Beneath the glow of happiness for Charlene’s success is a sibling rivalry fraught with jealousy and years of festering bitterness.
Lil’s nine-year-old son, Danny, the offspring of her marriage to a self-destructive, deceased musician, is spending NY’s Eve at a friend’s house. Charlene ends her brief, fractious visit before Lil’s dinner guest arrives but, when her own dinner plans are abruptly cancelled, she reluctantly returns to Lil’s apartment moments before Hirsh Bennet knocks on the door. Soon after dinner, Robert, disappointed with unfolding events at his party, returns, as well, but not before a devastating series of revelations echo the thunderous rainstorm that engulfs the tiny flat.
Sisters In Love is a play of clashing reprisals and heart-rendering confessions, ultimately striking at the heart and soul of each character. New Year’s Eve turns into a perilous challenge to claims of love and acts of betrayal.
What people are saying …
HEAVEN ON THE LOOSE
“Heaven on the Loose, a new play by Ken Luber, is a glass of champagne, witty and funny… perfectly timed for our current political culture, divided and uncertain.”
– LaDonna Harrison, editor, author Our Divide
“A suddenly woke and deeply disappointed God wants to scrap it all and start anew, Can a Mexican immigrant and a wise-cracking woman save the universe?...funny and provocative.”
– Eduardo Santiago, award-winning author of Tomorrow They Will Kiss
“Heaven on the Loose, a feast of canny wisdom with the emotion of poetry and a little humor on the side … leaves you feeling comfortable talking with your creator and knowing the existence of enduring love.”
– Lisa Evans, poet and photographer
AN ANGEL, A DEALER, THE DEAL
“An Angel, A Dealer, The Deal … is a thrilling novel with all the components of the very best storytelling, rendered in beautiful, vivid and lyrical prose. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.”
– Natalie Bates, author and editor
“I found An Angel, A Dealer, The Deal… to be a very unique combination of a crime novel meets spiritual quest. A little Dashiell Hammett; a little Carl Jung.”
– Deborah Smaller, San Diego, CA
“I couldn’t put An Angel, A Dealer, The Deal down. I read it in two days and wanted more. Luber’s characters jump to life with his descriptive imagery. The character Traine is a great example of karma and hope. Can’t wait for Luber’s next book.”
– John T. Pederson, Milwaukee, WI
THE SUN JUMPERS
“The Sun Jumpers clearly showcases author Ken Luber’s genuine flair for creating a consistently compelling, original, memorable story populated by deftly crafted characters and replete with unexpected twists and turns. Highly recommended for school and community library Science Fiction and Fantasy collections.“
– Midwest Book Review
“A lighthearted romp that’s permeated by humor regarding adolescent antics, 20-something angst, and a wealth of inevitable culture-clash misunderstandings. But it also deals with some serious issues, including modern-day bigotry (the Kishoki are a dark-skinned people), the sometimes-troubled relationships between parents and offspring, and the need to find and follow one’s own truth.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“The Sun Jumpers is a smooth, perfectly paced novel with witty dialogue and incredibly endearing characters. The author combines the hilarity of four cave-teens transported to a modern world with the deeper themes of courage, integrity, loyalty, and love.”
– Reba Hilbert, editor
“A witty yet moving tale of teenage love, the power of friendship, and how bravery and a willing heart can save an entire people The Sun Jumpers clearly showcases author Ken Luber's genuine flair for creating a consistently compelling, original, and memorable story populated by deftly crafted characters and replete with unexpected twists and turns.”
– Children’s Bookwatch
“Fun, light-hearted, escapist fiction is what I was in the mood for, and this novel The Sun Jumpers fills the bill…. I also enjoy the lovely prose and the eloquent insights of Sita in particular. Even Ty has his occasional moving speeches with quotable quotes. In all, it's a story 21st Century YA readers are sure to enjoy.”
– Carol Kean… Goodreads
“Ken Luber’s The Sun Jumpers is a light young-adult fantasy novel …. the frothy fun of time travel to ponder whether supposedly advanced civilizations are as advanced as presented. … offers food for thought about how different cultures and experiences shape human experience and perception.”
– Susan Waggoner, Foreword Clarion Reviews
“I loved the story behind this book … a fun, very positive/happy read following the adventures of a group of teenagers who end up 10,000 years in the future… trying to get to grips with the modern world and is a story of deep friendship, love and acceptance in a sometimes difficult world. Luber is skilled at making you stop and think without …. ruining the light-hearted, playful theme.”
– United Kingdom Book Reviewer
HOWZER
“No one who sees Howzer will doubt that Laurence is a promising new filmmaker.”
– Reynolds, Hollywood Reporter
“Howzer shows Laurence more than able at presenting his material in literate and attractive visual terms … .adept at getting good performances from his cast.”
– Goff, Variety
“The fantasies about the world in the minds of youngsters is explored with delicacy and compassion in Howzer… this first film effort of Ken Lawrence, it’s writer-director … executed with polish and dedication.”
– A.H. Weiler, The New York Times
“In Howzer, Ken Laurence demonstrates an uncommon talent at casting and plot and person creating. Casting is extraordinarily good.”
–Winsten, New York Post
“In Howzer, Ken Laurence, a former Fellow at the AFI, uses his skill to elicit strong performances from the two young, unknown leads and a supporting cast of well-known character actors.”
– Bruce Rubin, Creator of Film, Whitney Museum
“Howzer is a film that unconsciously awakens morals…. No loopholes, no unjustified reactions, nothing except a firm and sometimes harsh look at the world of a twelve year old boy…”
– Today’s Filmmaker
