Rod Warren

      Rod Warren has been a professional graphic designer and illustrator for over 40 years. He has worked for ad agencies, print shops, screen printers, and newspapers, just to name a few. He has designed greeting cards, t-shirts, book illustrations, magazine cartoons, and a comic strip. He has also been the editor and production manager for two magazines-The Bakersfield Lifestyle Magazine and Cosmotech. After working at the Bakersfield Lifestyle magazine, he hired on the Bakersfield Californian newspaper where he did feature illustrations, infographics, and political cartoons, some which were published in a book called Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year from 1990 to 1995.

     His interest in writing began when he took a creative writing class at Rick’s College in Idaho, where he created short stories and poems for his assignments. His efforts rewarded him with an ‘A’ in the class and his interest in creative writing began. Transferring to BYU after a year at Rick’s, he took humanities classes and political science classes. After taking a Roman history class, he read about the Praetorian Guard and wanted to find out more about the elite military unit as a research project, but his studies didn’t allow him to pursue it at that time.

     He graduated in 2001 from BYU with a B.A. in political science and, shortly after, began reading books and writings of current and ancient historians about the Praetorian Guard. After several years of taking notes, he decided to write a historical fiction novel on the topic. Living in Springville, Utah at the time, Rod began putting together his first novel, entitled The Praetorian and the Emperor’s List. His background in the army and in law enforcement helped tremendously in military and enforcement protocol.

     Rod and his wife, Shauna, then moved to Paradise, California to be closer to their son and grandchildren. Rod finished the work on his novel there and began to self promote it at local bookstores and book fairs. He joined a writing club called the North State Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club and attended several meetings. He also won a Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for his story.

     Rod was impressed to write a sequel to the first book entitled The Praetorian and the Vipers. Deciding to do a trilogy, he wrote a sequel to the second, entitled The Praetorian and the Emperor’s Madness.

     All three books were self-published and printed by IngramSpark. 

     In 2018, a fire destroyed most of the town of Paradise, including Rod and Shauna’s home. Fortunately, they were able to evacuate with just what they could pack in their car and decided to relocate to Saint George where they live now. 

     Wanting to take his mind off the fire and all that he and his wife had lost, Rod created a comic strip about characters who lived in a small beach community by the sea he called Pickle Beach and designed a website called picklebeachcomics.com. After creating over 200 comic strips, he compiled them into a book called Pickle Beach Comics.

     A year later, he decided to take up another writing project, this time political satire. He put together a short story about a businessman named Donald Trumpet, who becomes President of the United States and has to deal with opposition at every turn. Rod entitled it, Who Let This Guy in the White House?

     Feeling a strong urge to resume writing poetry from his Rick’s College days, Rod put together a collection of short verses suitable for a Latter Day Saint audience and put them in a book he entitled, “In the World, Not of the World.” The subject matter ranges from spiritual to whimsical.

All his books are available on Amazon.