Catholic Novelist Jim Sano: An Interview

Your debut novel, The Father’s Son, is what I might call apologetic fiction. Do you think there is a difference in how readers are receptive to apologetics, or a defense of the faith, in fiction as opposed to traditional nonfiction?

The Father's Son

The writing of and reception to The Father’s Son have certainly been a gift from the Holy Spirit, and, at one level, the story does weave in a case for the faith Christ left us as essential to living life as fully as God intends. At its heart, The Father’s Son is a very human journey for the main character, David Kelly, confronting the effects of his childhood trauma. From the world’s standpoint, David has everything, but the emotion-filled journey he has been avoiding begins with an unexpected friendship and unlocking the mystery and truth of his past. Beyond apologetics, the core of this is a story is of friendship, redemption, forgiveness, love, faith, and many twists and turns. 

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The Armor of God Series: An Interview with Author Theresa Linden

For those who are unfamiliar, what inspired the Armor of God, your fantasy-adventure chapter book series for children?

Belt of Truth

This series was inspired by the scriptural amor of God as described in Ephesians 6:13-17. 

The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of peace . . . I just love the connection in that Bible passage between individual pieces of armor and specific virtues. They paint a picture in my mind and a story in my heart. I just had to write the stories that brought those elements to life!

Children recognize the spiritual battle at a very young age . . . when they are tempted to lie or to take something that isn’t theirs, or when they can’t get their way or they’re feeling selfish. So I wanted these stories to have characters that shared those struggles, those spiritual battles, and then armed themselves to fight. 

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Interview with YA Fantasy Author Cece Louise

The Forest Tales heroines are spunky and sassy, definitely not helpless damsels in distress yet quite feminine. How important is it to strike that balance in a culture that, perhaps, has a tendency to see those attributes as mutually exclusive?

I personally find that balance between strength and femininity fascinating to explore. As a culture, it sometimes feels like we’ve forgotten how to celebrate what it means to be feminine. Biologically, men and women are different. One is not better or worse than the other, but there is a difference that our culture seems to want to ignore. I love to read and write characters that show these differences and celebrate them. We do a disservice to our young female readers if we paint a picture that to succeed in life or be strong, they need to forgo their femininity and act like men. On the contrary, women have many strengths that come more naturally to them than men. For example, studies have shown that women tend to be more empathetic than men. That is a huge strength that is important for leaders.

Because I write to a young adult audience, I try to keep in mind that many of my readers are going through puberty, which can be confusing and scary. We are seeing a huge rise in gender dysphoria in our teens, especially in girls, and I think part of the reason is that girls are not being taught to value their femininity anymore. Young girls are being told that femininity equals weakness and they need to stifle it, leaving them feeling confused and like strangers in their bodies. Instead, we should be teaching girls the true value of their femininity and how to understand and embrace it.

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Author of the Last Straw: An Interview with Karen Kelly Boyce

How did you first conceive the idea for Sisters of the Last Straw?

Sisters of the Last Straw The Case of the Haunted Chapel

It is so strange how God works. I had a Bible study with a number of women for about thirty years. We were great friends and one night at our meeting we started laughing about how we all should have been nuns. Looking around at the five women in the group who are all good women, I had to laugh. We each have our own foibles and personality quirks. I laughed and said that we would probably be kicked out of any order because of our bad habits. Another woman said that we would probably have to form our own order. After much laughter and silly plans for the order, one of the women said, “We better call it the Sisters of the Last Straw.” I wrote my first story about the nuns for those women. Then I decided to write a children’s book to teach children that while all people have faults, we can love God and each other. That is how the Sisters of the Last Straw were created. 

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An Interview with A Single Bead Author Stephanie Engelman

A Single Bead really drives home the power of prayer in such a compelling way, one that is entertaining and organic to the story and gives us that big-picture glimpse of what many of us know intellectually about the efficacy of prayer but rarely recognize in daily life. Did you know from the start how that theme would permeate the book or did it develop as you wrote?

A Single Bead

To really answer that question, I have to share the story of how I came to write A Single Bead in the first place. Having consecrated myself to Jesus through Mary in early October of 2013, I found myself feeling renewed conviction to write a Bible study on the Rosary. By mid-October, I was researching publishers and came across Pauline Books & Media, who said they were specifically seeking Catholic young adult fiction. That single sentence set bells ringing in my head, as if the Holy Spirit were saying, Stephanie, pay attention to this! I had never even considered writing fiction, though, so I said out loud, “God, if you want me to write Catholic young adult fiction, you’re going to have to
give me the idea. Because I’ve got nothing!”

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An Interview with Author Janice Lane Palko

I love a good first line. The first line from your new release, Our Lady of the Roses, really sets the tone with this first sentence: “He looks like a gnocchi.” Five words, but the reader already has a sense of the tone and a cultural connection. Can you tell me more about the role of humor in the book and the Italian influence?

Our Lady of the Roses

I love throwing opposites together because it makes a story ripe for laughs. Janetta and Bob, the main characters in Our Lady of the Roses, are 180 degrees apart in temperament, looks, desires, and beliefs. I’m not Italian; I’m mostly Irish with a smattering of German, English, and Welsh, and I was once selling my novels at a craft show, and I got to talking with the older woman selling jewelry next to me. We started talking about travels, and she told me she was Italian and had just came back from Italy. I told her I’d been to Italy and loved it. I then shared that I’d just come back from Ireland. She laughed and said, “You know I was a bit of an Italian snob, thinking that no place is as nice as Italy, but I went to Ireland last year, and I had to shut my mouth. I loved Ireland.” Like her, Janetta is a bit of an Italian snob, thinking no one has more style, elegance, and culture than the Italians, and she dismisses Bob for being a “gnocchi” a big, white, doughy blob. As the story progresses and Janetta tries to make Bob over, we come to learn that she is the one who needs a makeover because she’s all style and very little substance. 

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Real-life Peril and Adventure: Interview with Author Andrea Jo Rodgers

What prompted you to write about your decades of experience as an EMT?

Several years back, my son Thomas and I were involved in a terrifying elevator accident. It was ten o’clock in the morning on a beautiful October day. We had just visited with his doctor.  After we saw the doctor, we stepped out into the hallway, and I decided spur-of-the moment to take the elevator. Usually, I prefer the stairs, but I figured that an elevator ride would be more fun for Thomas, who was almost three years old at the time.

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Interview with Civil War Romance Author Amanda Lauer

Your trilogy of Civil War romances offer a blend of American historical fiction, sweet romance, and a gentle faith. How do you blend those to satisfy fans of each of those genres?

This actually came rather easily to me, because this is the kind of book that I have been looking for since I started reading historic romance novels in high school. I love writing books that are based in fact, involving real-life figures and that highlight historical events in an engaging way. The primary characters in my books are Catholic, so featuring how their faith, like mine, is interwoven into their day-to-day lives came naturally to me. As far as the sweet romance goes, everyone loves a good love story with a satisfying ending! My preference in what I consume and in what I write is to give readers a glance at our couples’ romance without describing every detail. The rest is up to their imagination! 

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