Len Handeland has always been drawn to the creative. When he was a model in Manhattan during the early 1980s, he decided to study fashion illustration at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology.) Later on, he made the transition to the hair industry. With 27 years of experience in the field, Len had a successful career as a hair stylist, hair colorist, and salon owner. Over the years, Len has owned several hair salons, including one in San Francisco's Union Square for nine years and two in Sonoma (Wine Country) for eight years. In 2021, he retired from the hair industry to become a full-time writer.
Len is a renowned author of fictional books and has won numerous awards for his work. His writing primarily focuses on vampires, the paranormal, murder, crime, and drama novels. He has been passionate about writing since middle school and has taken several creative writing classes to improve his craft. Len was inspired to write his first book, "The Darkest Gift," after attending the San Francisco International Writer's Conference in 2017. The book became a finalist in the American BookFest contest in the fall of 2021 and received 5-star reviews from readers and professional book reviewers.
In 2022, Len's novel "The Darkest Gift" won first place in the Bookfest 2022 awards in the category of Fiction/Horror, and his book and author interview were featured in the fall literature issue of "DeMode" magazine, where it was named one of the ten must-read books of 2021. Len's second novel, "Requiem for Miriam," won the 2022 Literary Titan Award for fiction/horror, and his third book, "Tales from the Chair," won the Firebird award in 2022 in the beauty category. His fourth novel, "Transplanted Evil," was released in November 2023 and has been well-received. Len has just finished writing his fifth novel, the sequel to his first called "The Darkest Passages." It should be released in May of 2024. The author started his sixth novel, titled "The Haunting of Wellsley Manor" which he hopes to release in the fall of 2024.
The author lives in Palm Springs with his husband, Byron Hancock, and their two cats, Felix and Felicia (siblings). When he's not writing, Len enjoys outdoor activities, including hikes in Joshua Tree, and the many hiking paths in Palm Springs, biking, walking, playing billiards, and vegetarian cooking. He has retired from his former profession of being a hairstylist and salon owner and is enjoying living in beautiful Palm Springs. Additionally, Len's first novel, "The Darkest Gift," is currently being considered for adaptation into either a mini-series or motion picture with one of the live-streaming networks, including HBO, Paramount-Plus, Sony, Warner Brothers, the CW network, and Netflix.
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