From Outlaw to Author: Marjan's Remarkable Journey

Marjan is not your typical author—and his life has been anything but ordinary.

More than 40 years ago, Marjan walked away from an outlaw life marked by drugs, smuggling, and years spent working as an undercover operative in places few people ever see—and even fewer escape. Determined to build an entirely different future, he left that life behind and moved his wife and five children into the Montana wilderness, where they lived close to the land, grew much of their food, and embraced a life rooted in faith and self-reliance.

That decision became the dividing line between two entirely different lives.

In his award-winning memoir, 600 Devils, Marjan recounts those years with unflinching honesty, revealing both the darkness of his past and the long road to redemption. His writing is forged by experience, survival, and hard-earned wisdom.

Far from the chaos he left behind, Marjan rebuilt his life from the ground up. Over the years, he became an entrepreneur, founding and selling multiple businesses before eventually retiring to focus on writing and sharing the lessons he gathered through decades of extraordinary escapades.

He is also a devoted husband, proud father of five children, and grandfather to eighteen beautiful grandkids, whose lives continue to deepen his sense of purpose, legacy, and gratitude.

But survival was only the beginning.

For Marjan, writing became far more than storytelling. It became a process of reflection, healing, and ultimately, understanding.

While writing 600 Devils, he found memories that he believed were long buried began returning with remarkable clarity. Events, emotions, and forgotten moments slowly reorganized themselves into a fuller understanding of his life. The process became deeply personal—part reckoning, part release. Putting those experiences into words allowed him to confront old wounds, let go of buried emotions, and arrive at a deeper sense of perspective, forgiveness, and peace.

Resilience and Redemption

Writing also revealed something unexpected: every bad decision, hardship, transformation, and victory had quietly shaped the man he has become. What began as a memoir slowly evolved into something far greater—a bridge between past and future, preserving the stories, lessons, warnings, and hard-earned wisdom for generations to come.

From the Author

“About the time I transitioned from being an emotionally disturbed teenager into a hardcore outlaw, I began to view the material world as a temporary illusion—one crippled by human limitations and endless contradictions. My doleful attitude was further exasperated by the multitude of ideologies I discovered along the way. The deeper I probed, the more confusing life became. I tried to determine if the religions I encountered had been encouraged by celestial beings, as some claimed, or merely shaped by the egocentric arrogance of the human intellect. Torn between the freewheeling lifestyle of a smuggler and being an austere spiritual seeker, there was a lot to sort out.” — (Marjan quote from 600 Devils)

A Life Rewritten by Fire

Drawing from a life shaped by struggle, Marjan writes about people standing at the edge of change—holding to the belief that even in life’s darkest moments, no one is beyond redemption.