BIO: Dennis C Mariotis
Born in Queens, New York to Greek immigrant parents Maria and Costas Margiotis, I am the 6th of 7 children. In 1980 I graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Nearly a 30-year career in Healthcare Finance I reached the position of CFO. I always loved writing stories. In college I wrote a short story that was selected by my professor (an honor) to read to the class. It was a comedy about a hit by a Hit Man which is the same storyline I used to create the screenplay and book for the movie 'Monique'. Our professor, who usually maintained great self-control, had a hard time reading it because he could not control his outbursts of laughter while reading my story to the English Lit class. He told me after class that if I could make him do that, then I should consider a career in writing. I'm not your typical accountant though. I found my niche in Health Care Finance and while that provided a great income source for me and my family, I always found myself 'entertaining' the staff. Anything from impersonating Elvis at Employee Appreciation Day celebration (the Administrator ordered me to do an encore performance for 3rd shift) to keeping the employees morale high through humor and other entertainment. Always believe hard work should include fun, otherwise it's dull and boring. I learned a hard work ethic from my parents and work for me started at the age of 8. My first published book, "The Swatch," was a labor of love. While my youngest sister was suffering from her 3rd, stage 4 cancer, I traveled over 700 miles, one way from North Carolina to New York, to stay by her hospital and home bedside and supported her in any way possible. My family has always been very close, and miles never mattered. We kept contact almost daily by phone. I needed to be with her as much as she needed me at her bedside. During one visit, we discussed the sister we never knew. Her name is Vasiliki and she died in Greece just a few months before my family immigrated to the US. It was heart-breaking for my parents. But it was so private that they did not mention her, at any time, during our childhood. When I visited her in the hospital, I made up a story about, what life would be like IF our older sister lived. This entertained Vicky and she loved it. She made me promise to someday write and publish that story and share it with the world. So, I kept my promise. My sister's 3rd cancer was the one that finally resulted in her death less than 2 years after her diagnosis. I wrote "The Swatch" in my little sister Vicky's honor. My family is so glad that I wrote it that some read it several times. Since 'The Swatch' I wrote and published 6 additional books. A romantic comedy titled 'The King & Queen of Hearts,' as well as a hilarious dramatic comedy titled 'Posthumous Accolades', 'Before The Flower Withers', Letters From My Battle Buddy, 'MONIQUE', a mob story made into a movie, and 'Escape from Hell's Kitchen,' a story of escaping the sinister clutches of the underage prostitution trade.
In December 2022 I completed and published my 7th book 'Escape From Hell's Kitchen' which is now available on Amazon for your reading pleasure. Although the story is fiction, the story came from my real-life experiences when I worked in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen for my brother-in-law during my teenage years in NYC. Many characters in the story are people who I met and knew. Kelly, one of the main characters is based on a young lady I met only one time.
I plan to write and publish my next 2 books sometime in 2024. I have 5 additional books outlined and ready to be written. All fiction and some different genres. I hope anyone who reads these books truly enjoys them.
Best wishes to all. Thanks for reading my bio. Great health and long life to you!
God Bless and Remember to: Live - Laugh - & Love always,
Dennis C Mariotis
TO THE READERS: I ask that readers please post good ratings so that my books continue to get picked up and distributed by worldwide companies. Thank you very much for your time and support! Dennis
MOVIE UPDATE 2024
For 3 years now I awaited news regarding the release of the movie for the original script I wrote titled 'Monique'. So far, I have NOT heard anything about any release date. I have been kept totally in the dark and out of the loop. The truth is the promise made to me regarding the financial aspect of my portion for the movie was broken and cast aside. Every time I requested a written contract, I was told the attorney was working on it, but it never materialized until I was given a contract which was totally contrary to our original handshake agreement of a 60/40 profit (not loss) split. Instead, the contract I was presented with after the movie was filmed was to relinquish my copyrights to the movie's manuscript and the movie. I had to sign off my movie rights IF the movie was going to be made available for public viewing. However, I kept the rights to my book. I was told that our "handshake agreement was meaningless." Fortunately for me I have enough life experiences and saw this coming. I hoped this would not be the case and I was prepared to market the book 'Monique' in the event of the handshake verbal agreement being broken. I am a man of my word and I kept everything I verbally agreed to do. I spent countless hours every day to get this project done and received nothing for all my work and time. It's very disheartening and it's with much frustration, aggravation, and hurt for more than a year of my life's work invested into the movie manuscript and production that I regret to say I don't believe the movie will ever be shown on any platform for anyone's viewing pleasure.
If you would like to contact me regarding my books please do so at dmgeneral @ windstream net
Thank you, Dennis C Mariotis
