Guilds with a small “g” serve as the organs of The Catholic Writers Guild. Small “g” guilds include critique groups, chapters, committees, conference gatherings, and other community-building entities. They encourage the vocation of writing among the member and sometimes, the members venture into parallel enterprises, for example, the organization known […]
No Man Left Behind
Pentecost approaches. We are in the middle of “the 50” and the life of the Church looks forward to the reminder. We remember the day that it was all too, too real and God chose to put a final rest to all of the doubts we grudgingly hang on to. […]
The Perfect Blindside, by Leslea Wahl
At sixteen, Jake Taylor is an Olympic medalist, a snowboarding prodigy, and a big fish transplanted to a small pond. He annoys Sophie Metcalf with his arrogance. She plans to expose him for the thoughtless egotist she thinks he is, but she discovers Jake’s considerate and haunted side. A warm […]
Racing the Devil, by Charles Todd
Racing the Devil is the nineteenth book in the Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery Series and a tantalizing read. Like many previous Rutledge Mysteries, in Race with the Devil, the Inspector chases after a mass murderer who attacks anyone who obstructs his or her dark ambitions. Targets include Rutledge. THE PLOT Seven British Army officers pledge […]
Moriarty Meets His Match: A Professor and Mrs. Moriarty Mystery (Book 1), by Anna Castle
When writers strain their brains for new ideas, they might consider revisiting an old idea. For instance, Gregory Maguire applied the rules of “alternative fiction,” in his retelling Frank Baum’s classic 1900 story the Wizard of Oz. Forget Dorothy, Maguire wrote from the point of view of the Wicked Witch […]
10 steps to Girlfriend Status, by Cynthia T. Toney
Adolescence is the most difficult time of life. How do we survive it? What with all the physical, emotional, external, and self-inflicted challenges, it is no wonder that many teens lose their way on the path to maturity. In 8 Notes to a Nobody, Cynthia Toney’s first volume in the […]
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d, by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce fans stand to applaud her return from her interminable trials in the tundra of Toronto. Unfortunately, her family barely recognizes her existence. “Like a pair of sick suns rising, (her sister) Daffy’s eyes came slowly up above the binding of her book. I could tell she hadn’t […]
Specter, By John Desjarlais
Specter mixes the flavors of Romero, Ghostbusters, and The Terminator with generous glops of sour cream and salsa. John Desjarlais embroils his favorite DEA agent, Selena De La Cruz in a fictional parallel to the 1993 assassination of a Cardinal at the Guadalajara airport. She unearths the stench of corruption […]
Fight for Liberty, by Theresa Linden
Fight for Liberty, Book Three in the Liberty trilogy, climbs to a dazzling climax, filled with plot shifts that will tantalize adult, juvenile and young adult readers. In Book One, Chasing Liberty, an inner voice she calls “My Friend” directs nineteen-year-old Liberty 554-062466-84 of Aldonia to the realization that there is […]
Shelter
You may or may not be familiar with the phrase “road trip” depending on your age. That phrase, though, defined a generation and coined many phrases that are in the American lexicon of nostalgia. There was a time when friends or family got into their car and were not perfectly […]