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Dan Harary

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Noted Hollywood publicist Dan Harary is owner of The Asbury PR Agency of Beverly Hills, CA (since 1996), ( https://asburypr.com/ ) and the author of three books to date, FLIRTING WITH FAME, CARROTS, and AFTER THEY CAME. See www.danhararyauthor.com

Dan’s first book, FLIRTING WITH FAME recounts the following: A native of Ocean Township, NJ, Dan worked as Stage Manager at the legendary Sunshine Inn concert hall in Asbury Park in the early 1970’s, with such now iconic musicians as Bruce Springsteen, KISS and Fleetwood Mac. Dan graduated Boston University, worked at Columbia Pictures/New York, and relocated to Los Angeles in 1980. His first post in Hollywood was as the Campus Information Manager at the American Film Institute; he then landed in-house PR positions with the Playboy Channel, Columbia Pictures Television, and two top Hollywood entertainment PR agencies, before launching his own PR Agency in 1996. See: https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/01/hollywood-publicist-dan-harary-talks-50-years-of-celebrity-encounters-in-new-memoir/

During the course of the past 40 years, Dan has rubbed shoulder with hundreds of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars from film, TV and music - ranging from Steven Spielberg to Jerry Seinfeld to Arnold Schwarzenegger to Sylvester Stallone to Barbra Streisand to Kevin Costner, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Ann-Margret, The Who, Jay Leno, Hugh Hefner, Drew Carey, VP Al Gore, Alice Cooper, Micky Dolenz, Tom Hanks, Brian Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Howard Stern, and dozens more.

A recovering Sex Addict, Dan’s second book CARROTS has been embraced by many top U.S. Sex Therapists and chronicles his battles with – and recovery from – sex addiction. In the book, Dan is brutally honest and frank about his troubled history with the opposite sex, his troubled marriage, his post divorce-addiction to call girls and prostitutes, his clinical depression, and his recovery from sex addiction after having joined Sex Addicts Anonymous. See: https://www.sexpert.com/new-memoir-carrots-true-confessions-of-a-hollywood-sex-addict-now-available-on-amazon/

Dan’s new/current/third book AFTER THEY CAME is presently making an impact within the U.S. UFO Research community and has been endorsed by several top UFO experts including Nick Pope, Richard Dolan, Travis Walton, Chase Kloetzke, Lynn Kitei, Earl Grey Anderson, Lorien Fenton, and Kathleen Marden. Dan is a three time UFO Experiencer, a longtime UFO Researcher, and a member of the global MUFON/LA UFO Research Organization. Dan believes his late father may have been involved with UFO reverse engineering during his 45 years working as an Electronics Engineer for the U.S. Army at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. See: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11814769/Sci-fi-author-details-saw-enormous-silver-V-shaped-UFO-age-14.html

AFTER THEY CAME Cover
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

AFTER THEY CAME

BY Dan Harary • POSTED ON Feb. 27, 2023

A 70-year-old failed businessman is chosen to act as humanity’s spokesperson to a race of benevolent aliens in Harary’s SF novel.

Jonathan “JT” Tuckerman is estranged from his adult children. He lost his first wife in a car crash (which was his fault) and is acrimoniously divorced from his second. He has business debts. On his 70th birthday, JT sets out to drown himself in the ocean off Malibu, California. This, however, is the day the alien “Benevolents” reveal themselves to humanity. They rescue JT and fly him in their spaceship to Dodger Stadium, proclaiming him their representative on Earth. JT is to liaise with world leaders and interest groups and meet monthly with the 7-foot-tall male alien Jorthon and his 6-foot-tall female counterpart, Kalyssa, to request their help in solving problems that plague the world. JT is given an office at the United Nations. He and his team petition the Benevolents to eliminate a host of social ills, and the aliens intercede in each case. People worldwide hail JT as their savior, and the future looks bright for everybody. But what will happen when a second, less friendly race of aliens comes calling? The author’s prose is workmanlike but functions effectively to tell a multilayered story. Jorthon and Kalyssa’s interventions smack of childish wish fulfilment—some of their solutions are naïve, and little thought is given to the chaos of instantly transitioning to a world free of hunger and war—but Harary nonetheless succeeds in highlighting the issues in question. JT is not especially likable (“Interminably unfulfilled, JT was the survivor of a traumatic existence which held no joy for him”), and few readers will judge him worthy of adulation, but the turnaround in his fortunes suggests that there is hope for everybody. One important facet of the novel is the way the author extends JT’s team’s scope to countries and problems beyond the United States, presenting a diversity of religions, ethnicities, and genders. While individual characters don’t always act or speak in particularly distinctive ways, the spirit of togetherness and inclusivity lends additional appeal to JT’s journey.

A hopeful, wide-ranging exploration of loss, love, and salvation.

Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2023

ISBN: 9781958727027

Page count: 340pp

Publisher: Genius Book Publishing

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE

Carrots: True Confessions of a Hollywood Sex Addict

“CARROTS is about the many, many women I’ve loved and lost, wanted to love but couldn’t for various strange reasons, or was never able to love at all. In the book, I also talk about 25-year-long, undiagnosed depression, my troubled marriage, my 20-year-long struggle with sex addiction, and what I have become convinced is a Past Life Curse that was unfortunately bestowed upon me at birth.” In CARROTS, Harary details his early childhood traumas, each of which involving a young girl living in his neighborhood or attending his school; his obsession – from afar – with two College era ladies that mystified and eluded him; the unfortunate medical problems suffered by his wife throughout the course of their 11-year relationship; the countless “Really Bad Dates” that Harary endured when he became newly single in 1992; his de-volution into becoming a ravenous sex addict for a period of 20-years, during which time he wound up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “pay-for play” sex; his intimate involvement with quite a few important girlfriends, lovers and “friends with benefits;” and his ultimate resolution into evolving into a calm, peaceful man today, whose formerly insatiable sexual appetites have since been arrested. Here’s what several, top, U.S.-based Sex Therapists have said about CARROTS: “Imagine tossing Howard Stern’s book Private Parts into a blender along with Woody Allen’s script for Play It Again, Sam and Philip Roth’s book Portnoy’s Complaint. The result might be my friend Dan Harary’s book Carrots: Carrots chronicles Dan’s simple but lifelong challenge: how to navigate his desire and pursuit of alluring women while attempting to overcome crippling shyness and overwhelming self-doubt. Weave into that mix: a series of childhood traumas that affected Dan’s earliest perception of females; his 25-year-long battle with (untreated) clinical depression; an 11-yearlong marriage fraught with troubles; his wacky theory that he was cursed in a past life; a powerful sex addiction; and an endless series of ‘really bad date’ stories that quite often defy logic – or even belief. As a Clinical Sexologist and someone who’s known him since 1984, I can attest that Dan’s brutal honesty will leave the reader pondering: ‘How on Earth was he able to accomplish so much?” – Dr. Ava Cadell, Certified Love Coach, Clinical Sexologist, AASECT Certified Sex Counselor, and Founder of www.LoveUniv.com – Malibu, CA
Published: Sept. 18, 2023
ISBN: 1629339652

Flirting With Fame: A Hollywood Publicist Recalls 50 Years of Celebrity Close Encounters

Dee Wallace, star of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and a longtime colleague and friend of Harary’s, said, “I enjoyed Dan’s book because he is so open and honest about his encounters and adventures with celebrities–some very funny, some odd, and some even hard to believe–but all told from an ‘everyman’s’ point of view. In this book, Dan successfully encapsulates his 50 years of celebrity close encounters, all while serving the reader as a skillful narrator.” In FLIRTING WITH FAME, Harary cites hundreds of stories about his 50 years of interactions – between 1972 and 2022, and the ages of 15-65 - with well-known celebrities from the fields of film, TV, rock and pop music, politics and pop culture. Among the amusing anecdotes presented in FLIRTING WITH FAME: Dan literally “opened the door to fame” for Bruce Springsteen at a small concert venue in Asbury Park, NJ, in February 1973, years before “The Boss” became famous; While being introduced to actress Meryl Streep, Dan was so nervous, he called the actress – one of the world’s most famous women - BY THE WRONG NAME while shaking her hand! Bumping into Jerry Seinfeld at a car wash in 1981, LONG before the comic was famous, Dan told Jerry, “I’m your biggest fan!” to which Seinfeld replied, “Really? Gee, I didn’t know I had ANY fans”!! In 1973, Bruce Springsteen’s Sax Player Clarence Clemons asked Dan and his best friend Steve Walter (today the owner of New York’s famed Cutting Room nightclub) if they would go on the road with the E Street Band as their road crew. To this request, Harary replied, “Sorry, Clarence, we can’t. We’re only 16, we don’t even drive yet, and I’m pretty sure our fathers want us to go to college!” When meeting Steven Spielberg, Harary and the iconic film director discussed Spielberg’s mother’s blintzes! When meeting Billy Crystal, Harary and the famed comedian discussed Chinese food - when Dan met Bea Arthur, they were inhaling massive quantities of jumbo shrimp at a Beverly Hills party for Bob Hope and Steve Allen. And speaking of food, Dan had lunch with his childhood idol, Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz, in 1986 at Columbia Pictures – during which time, Dolenz asked Harary if he knew of “any mansions in Bel Air” for sale! While escorting SEINFELD star Julia Louis-Dreyfus on a red-carpet showbiz event, Dan realized the comedienne had a huge SALES TAG sticking out from the top of her dress! Harary quickly tore off the tag, before the entirety of Hollywood’s press corps would have memorialized that moment on film for eternity. While introducing his mother, Joan, to Mel Brooks, Dan told the legendary comic and director, “Mr. Brooks - you and my mother went to the same high school!” Mel and Joan then continued with a 15-minute conversation about growing up in Brooklyn. Dan Harary was born and raised in Ocean Township, New Jersey - a town just adjacent to the famous city of Asbury Park. Starting in 1972, at the age of 15, he began working with famous celebrities – including Bruce Springsteen - during his time as the Stage Manager and Lighting Director at The Sunshine Inn concert hall in Asbury Park. A graduate of Boston University, Dan relocated to Los Angeles in 1980, and has held in-house positions with Columbia Pictures, the American Film Institute, the Playboy Channel, Columbia Pictures Television, and two large, prominent entertainment PR agencies, before launching his own company, The Asbury PR Agency, in 1996.
Published: May 10, 2023
ISBN: 1629339598
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