So, what to do when you’ve got to come up with a last-minute blog post? When you’ve handed over blogging responsibility for the summer? When…
3 CommentsRelevant Fiction for Body & Soul
Author: CAstfalk
Carolyn Astfalk is a wife, mother, and author of contemporary Catholic romances, including her latest, All in Good Time. She formerly worked as a communications director and now works just to keep her head above water. Find her books on Amazon and her other words scattered around the blogosphere and social media.
The Unclaimed Virtual Book Tour stops HERE today!
Unclaimed by Erin McCole Cupp
Born not in a past of corsets and bonnets but into a future of cloning and bioterror, could Jane Eyre survive? This Jane is an “unclaimed embryo,” the living mistake of a reproductive rights center–or so her foster family tells her. At age ten she is sold into slavery as a data mule, and she must fight for freedom and identity in a world mired between bioscientific progress and the religions that fear it.
“Jane Eyre does not need to be updated. It needs to be read and re-read and treasured for its timelessness. But too often, the people of a world obsessed with progress refuse to remember the wisdom of the past. Sometimes, an author must dress the eighteenth century in futuristic salawar kameez to remind the present day that the human story never changes. Whether in Georgian England or the global community of a technocratic future, there will always be orphans who can teach the rest of us how to love, if we will only take the time to learn. This is the reason we need books like Unclaimed.”
– Karen Ullo, author of Jennifer the Damned
Leave a Commentby Guest Blogger Billie Jauss
Over my life, which at this point has spanned nearly half a century, I have taken on many roles. I grew up the baby of a large, blended family. At a young age, I knew I wanted to be a nurse and fulfilled that dream when I graduated from college and landed my dream job as a critical care nurse. Then the role as wife and mother took over my full-time gig as a nurse. My hubby is a Major League Baseball coach, so for 29 seasons I have been a baseball wife. However, no role ever confused me as much as the role I find myself entering in my empty nest. A writer.
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Gettysburg Edition
We spent several hours last weekend in Gettysburg. It’s one of my favorite places, so much so that I set my novel Stay With Me there. As many times as we’ve visited, I know I haven’t scratched the surface of the many things to see and do there. A quaint town, steeped in history and tragedy, it’s blanketed in a palpable gravitas that is hard to describe. And yet, it’s also fun. Here are seven of my favorite places to go, things to do if you visit Gettysburg – and I recommend that you do.
4 CommentsWelcome to the July 2016 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com! Almost from the time we began dating in 1993,…
6 CommentsWhen the sparklers have fizzled, the grill has cooled, and even the lightning bugs have taken to their beds, I have the perfect book for you! The final installment of Theresa Linden’s Liberty Trilogy is available today. You’ll want to start with the first book, Chasing Liberty. (I interviewed Theresa about the book when it was first released.) Now that the series is complete, you can read straight through Testing Liberty and then Fight For Liberty, because, believe me, you’ll want to!
Because it’s a holiday and your concentration may be sapped from fun and sun, I’ll make this simple.
Top 5 Reasons You Should Read the Liberty Series:
- Liberty. She’s strong, brave, and bursting at the seams with heart and integrity. Which makes up for her tendency to be impatient and impulsive.
- Dedrick. A gentleman through and through, he’s had his eye on Liberty for a long time. Chivalrous, courageous, and can also kick some butt when the situation warrants.
- The Evil Villain. Dr. Supero is the guy you love to hate as he doggedly pursues Liberty. [Insert maniacal laugh.]
- Edge of your seat. That’s where you’ll be throughout this fast-paced dystopian series.
- American as apple pie. Rather than letting that burst of patriotism dim with the last flickering firework, take a little time to reflect on the foundations of the United States. Good fiction deepens your understanding of concepts and values in a personal way. Let Liberty remind you of the importance of faith, family, and freedom by showing you what a world without them might look like.
Why small success? Because that’s the only kind I know! Even the big ones come in small steps. Here’s my paltry offering for the week:
- Finished a novena – This is a fairly large success for me. I’m notoriously bad at completing novenas, which are simply nine days of prayer with a particular intention, usually through the intercession of a particular saint. I’ve tried all sorts of tricks, and remembering to spend about two minutes with a prayer nine days in a row is barely shy of miraculous for me. But, with the help of the free Pray app, I did it! And I’ve even begun another novena. The app is simple and clean. Choose a novena and tick off the days as you complete them. You can even invite friends to pray with you. A once-daily reminder is the key for me. I could do with more nudges, but apparently the reminder and seeing a little notice by the app icon is enough.
Pray: The Catholic Novena App