This month, the Catholic Writers’ Guild is touring Guildie Carolyn Astfalk’s book, STAY WITH ME. It is a CWG Seal of approval winner. Teaser: With the counsel of their friend Father John, can Rebecca and Chris overcome every obstacle and bridge the deepening gulf between them and her dad? Or […]
The End of the Hunt, by Thomas Flanagan
As Ireland marks the centennial of the Easter Rising, Thomas Flanagan’s nearly two thousand page trilogy—The Year of the French, The Tenants of Time, and The End of the Hunt—immerses readers in Ireland’s struggles between 1798 and 1923, culminating with the creation of the Irish Free State. The Year of […]
Americanah, by Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah is a tale of two countries, Nigeria and the USA. The protagonist, Ifemelu invites the reader to sit with her at a braiding salon in Newark, New Jersey as she prepares to return to Nigeria after ten years in the USA. She chats candidly with the stylists and other […]
Christmas Grace, a Novella, by Leslie Lynch
Leslie Lynch breaks new ground in her second Christmas novella. Although she invites us to spend Christmas on the other side of Louisville, Kentucky, she warns us to steer clear of Gertie, Ella and Natalie—three generations of brokenhearted women who dread the holidays. Recently widowed, awash in grief, and stumbling […]
Stay With Me, by Carolyn Astfalk
Shopping for yogurt can change your life, especially when it brings together two strikingly attractive twenty-somethings. Chris immediately responds to Rebecca, setting up a first date. Could this be the result of the alignment of the stars, an inborn response to hormones and pheromones, or God’s using biology to call […]
Member Round-Up
Hey pardner, have you checked out your fellow members’ best blog posts??? Michael Seagriff asks your help to get this great post into church bulletins. Let’s all scurry over and suggest it to our pastors!! Larry Peterson gives a real man’s take on the hijacking of Valentine’s Day. Christine Trollinger […]
The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman’s loyalty, self-sacrifice, and problem solving genius, make him welcome as a friend. We first met Don in “The Rosie Project,” (see warning below) the story of a high functioning Asperger’s individual in search of a “mate.” Don exhibits marvelous STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills, a […]
Christmas Hope, by Leslie Lynch
Leslie Lynch creates such amazingly REAL characters, as we see again in Christmas Hope. Fortunately, she took time after the story to explain how she went into the real world to find her fictional protagonists among the heroes and victims of our crazy times. Fans of the Appalachian Foothills series […]
Celebrating Our First Christmas with Alzheimer’s Disease: Laughter Allowed
IT MAKES SENSE TO ME by Larry Peterson I guess the first time I realized that something was really wrong was about a year and a half ago. I have a bedroom I turned into an office, and I was sitting at the keyboard clicking away. I sensed someone behind […]
The Catholic Fiction Critique Group
“I remember the trembling, nausea, and inability to focus that hit me when I first submitted a chapter to a critique group. That was many years ago. Those symptoms persisted for several years. Despite the agony, I continued to submit chapters and to give critiques on others’ work, because I […]