Lalana Dararutana

She is survived by her husband, Matthew Beckerleg, her younger sister, Ariya Dararutana Lapan, her younger brother, Kanit Dararutana, her mother Tharatip Sririswasdi, her father, Nisit Dararutana, her dog/son Corbin the Corgi, and many, many, found family members.

Her wake will be this Saturday, May 23rd, and her Thai ceremony will be Sunday, May 24th. Her ashes will be returned to Thailand to nourish the plants and ocean she loved.

In lieu of sending flowers, she requested donations be made in her honor, to charities that were important to her. These are the organizations she worked with and specified should be shared:

- https://writingtheother.com/donate/

- https://coralgardeners.org/pages/donate-coral-bleaching

- https://www.clarionwest.org/get-involved/give/

Lalana was born at Crouse and Irving Hospital in Syracuse, New York on September 15th, 1976. She was an only child for ~4 years. When her sister was born Lalana became a proud member of the latchkey era and was a willing caregiver of her younger sister (and 7 years later her brother).

Using the stove and kitchen from such a young age led to one of her greatest passions in life: cooking for, and feeding people. If you were lucky enough to be near her and a kitchen at the same time, she fed you. She cooked with curiosity and precision; tailoring every taste to the recipient while staying true to the dish’s intent. She measured with her heart and her tastebuds. She helped her mother throw huge parties as a child and later threw them herself, always ensuring to make enough food so that everyone had something to bring home. At one point she baked so much that an entire school district cried uncle and told her roommate he couldn’t bring in any more delicious treats because they couldn’t say no and it was affecting their health.

The first book she read was Little House in the Big Woods. Followed quickly by the entire series. Before the age of 5, she found Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and off she went. She shared a love of fiction with her mother. They introduced new novels, manga, anime, k-dramas/c-dramas, to each other again and again. Her love of books like The Ship Who Searched by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, and many more, led her to attend a conference in 2009. After a panel about writing your first book, Lalana walked up to one of the speakers, Linnea Sinclair (who became her early mentor), to tell her that she had decided to become a published author. Within a year, she was.

Lalana, as PJ and Piper J, is survived by 33 titles. In the fall of 2026 another of her works will come out as part of a crowd-funding project she started. During her fight she completed her 34th book because that’s fundamentally who she was. Titled Hearts Still Bound and Broken, it will be published in Spring 2027. She also completed a short story as part of another project that will come in 2027/2028.

Her stories all include animals in some way. She had a deep love for animals and could often be found making friends with domestic and wild animals alike. She loved regaling people with stories of her furry friends including her first family dog, Gypsy, and pack as an adult with: Darren the orange ninja kitty, Chelsea the Shetland Sheepdog, Kaiser (her heart) the retired working German Shepherd Dog, Mozart the enormous Wolf Hybrid - and later, Corbin the Corgi.

As a high school student she founded the NJ932nd AFJROTC Wing at Washington Township High School as the Vice Commander (her brother became the Commander of the same wing 11 years later). She swam on the school’s team, ran cross-country, and played the violin (for over a decade). From a young age, she took classical ballet and other dance training (starting at Marcia Hyland Dance & Arts Center in Mount Laurel, NJ) for over 16 years. She became a dance instructor in and after college and was an amazing follow who learned West Coast Swing alongside her brother and her spouse over the last 16 years.

Lalana’s Thai heritage was deeply important to her. She spent her childhood summers with her family near Chon Buri, Thailand learning รำไทย (Rum Thai, aka Thai classical dance), the Thai language, and teaching English at โรงเรียนสาธิต "พิบูลบำเพ็ญ" มหาวิทยาลัยบูรพา (Piboonbumpen Demonstration School, Burapha University) while exploring Thailand with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

She was also, to borrow a phrase, a “corporate badass.” Did you think she “only” cooked masterpieces, wrote delicious stories, consulted on video games, voice acted, DM’d for tabletop role-playing games, danced, did MMA (TriState Martial Arts), modeled, was a portrait photographer (Nikon like her Dad), spun her Angora rabbit’s fur, knitted, sewed dresses, created cosplay, gardened plants that couldn’t be found in the US, took care of her sugar glider, cat, dogs, and fish? No, no, that would not have been enough for Lalana Dararutana.

She started working in High School at the New Jersey State aquarium (another lifelong passion of hers) and a candy-striper in the local emergency room. While attending Trenton State (now “The College of New Jersey”) she worked at a store named “Nobody Bits the Wiz” before embarking on her life sciences career. She worked while jet-setting around the globe, as a consultant for Pharmaceutical Research and Development specializing in the Electronic Common Technical Document. Her specialization got life-saving medicine and medical devices through FDA approval and into patients’ hands years faster than they otherwise would have. At one point in her career, when she moved to a new company, the old one had to hire 4 people to do her job. She was just that good.

To make her father proud, she continued working and earned her Masters degree. The college brought her in as an instructor for multiple lessons of the coursework she completed because she had become the cutting edge authority on aspects of the subject matter covered.

More recently, Lalana founded her second company (she had one for her author career for 15+ years) for her “day-job” career in order to control her travel requirements more directly, allowing her to move with her spouse and dog to Ekkamai in Bangkok, Thailand. There she received amazing treatment from a whole team of nurses and doctors including Dr. Komkrit Mahaprom, MD (lead oncologist) and Dr. Wandee Areerak MD (the OB/GYN who diagnosed her) at Bumrungrad International Hospital.

In April of 2026, Lalana traveled to New York to take care of some paperwork, see friends, and surprise her father at his 80th birthday party on Long Island. Just before departing to travel to her home in Seattle, WA she developed a full intestinal block and received care at Stony Brook University Hospital from many amazing nurses and doctors including Dr. William M Burke, MD and his team and Dr. Allison Kruger, MD. The story of her last month is a hard one and is but a footnote to her amazing life. Unable to write more, she took up watercolor painting and continued to put beautiful art into the world.

Lalana was more than can be captured here. If you knew her then you know of her vivacious ebullience, her room-warming smile, her quick wit, and her bravery. Her heart was hurt many times in her life, but she never let that stop her from letting people in. She taught others, she shared, she believed that a rising tide raises all ships (“nifty people doing nifty things!”). She trusted, she loved, and she demanded people do better. She will forever be an effervescent light in the lives she touched.

Her dearest hope for her books was that they find a reader when that person needs them. Please buy her books and share them/donate them/give them to friends. Let’s look forward to seeing her works in used bookstores far in the future, with worn edges and notes in the margins.

Find her books:

- https://piperjdrake.com/

- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/piper%20j%20drake

- https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00V8JVH86?ccs_id=24539b85-ed04-496b-9dba-6877e868ba36