Monthly Archives: June 2014

Part 1 wins another award!

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JUST IN! Part 1 receives Indie Reader Approved award!

JUST IN! Part 1 receives Indie Reader Approved award!

The 2014 INDIE READER DISCOVERY AWARDS just announced that Come Hell or High Water, Part 1 has received their coveted “Indie Reader Approved” sticker! Their review says:

“Injustice comes in many forms, large or small. They creep inside our societies. And some injustices can shape the course of history.

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, PART ONE: WELLSPRING is about setting up a path to find justice. A woman, Fen’ka, a woman with ties to the occult, is burned for the crime of witchcraft, even though she’s helped the town with various request, from love potions to advice, medicine, requests for success, then a treasured cow (actually, it’s a heifer) dies, and all hell literally breaks lose. But Fen’ka manages to call upon Svetovit, a pagan god, and she curses the town’s future.

Fen’ka’s serial curses drive each chapter, and the reader is treated with discovering what might come of them. It’s almost Hitchcokian: Present the players. Tell us that these set of players will suffer. Then set the events loose. You relish in every mishap encountered.

From beyond the grave, Fen’ka enlists the help of a university personal assistant, Magdalena, to help her exact revenge on the town that murdered her, only now we’re in the year 2002.

…Out of the many characters we meet, Father Conrad is a standout. The priest who instigates Fen’ka’s burning and is to blame for another death in the book, rises from hand-rubbing villainy to something far more clever. You sympathize with his passions, and his ultimate fate is perhaps one of the book’s best moments. It’s clear that the author enjoys writing the 1325 sections of the book, because the prose really comes to life.

…Magdalena’s quest is heightened not so much because the reader is interested in seeing her obtain her heart’s desire (power), rather, the question is will Fen’ka get hers. And that’s good enough to propel the reader along.

A well-crafted yarn, which takes you deep into the year 1325, mysticism, religion, and pagan rites in a quaint Prague town, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, PART ONE: WELLSPRING is an epic journey worth taking.”

Honorable Mention at New York Book Festival 2014!

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The announcement of the 2014 New York Book Festival winners!

The announcement of the 2014 New York Book Festival winners!

The New York Book Festival just announced the winners of its 2014 competition and — TA DA! — an HONORABLE MENTION goes to Come Hell or high Water! There will be an awards dinner on June 20 at the Grolier Club in Manhattan.

To see all the winners, click on the New York Book Festival link and then on the “See Winners Here” in the middle of the home page.

G.K. Chesterton (d. 14 June, 1936)

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G.K. Chesterton, born 29 May 1874-died 14 June, 1936

G.K. Chesterton, born 29 May 1874-died 14 June, 1936

I remember being mesmerized by Chesterton’s Man Who Was Thursday when I first read it, nearly 35 years ago! I was startled to discover, near the end of the book, when Thursday — who has been searching for Sunday for most of the book — finally meets Sunday and the description of Sunday — in my mind’s eye — revealed Fr. Aidan Kavanagh, my favorite professor at the Yale Divinity School! I can still quote from memory several paragraphs from the chapter titled “The Ethics of Elfland” in his book, Orthodoxy.

Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown and for his reasoned apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognized the universal appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as a political thinker, cast aspersions on both Progressivism and Conservatism, saying, “The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.”

Chesterton usually wore a cape and a crumpled hat, with a swordstick in hand, and a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He had a tendency to forget where he was supposed to be going and miss the train that was supposed to take him there. It is reported that on several occasions he sent a telegram to his wife Frances from some distant (and incorrect) location, writing such things as “Am in Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?” to which she would reply, “Home”. Because of these instances of absent-mindedness and of Chesterton being extremely clumsy as a child, there has been speculation that Chesterton had undiagnosed developmental coordination disorder.