The Catholic Writers’ Guild, in conjunction with the Catholic Marketing Network, will host its first-ever Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE! at the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center, Somerset, NJ, from Aug 5-7, 2009. The conference will host publishers, editors and authors from all aspects of the Catholic writing world, including magazines and devotionals, novels and educational materials. The panel discussions, presentations and workshops will cover all aspects of writing including generating query letters, crafting a good story, worldbuilding, marketing finished works and more. In addition, editors from several Catholic publishers will be on-hand to share their wisdom and hear authors propose their works. Continue Reading »

Tags: Catholic Marketing Network, Catholic Writers Conference, Catholic Writers Guild

Maureen McQuerry’s Travelers Market, the second book in her Wolfproof trilogy, has been chosen by Lisa Hendey of the CatholicMom.com’s Book Club as the March fiction selection.

Congratulations, Maureen!

Tags: catholicmom.com, Maureen McQuerry, Travelers Market

The Midwest Book Review, one of the largest online book reviewers in the country, has posted a review of Maureen McQuerry’s Travelers Market in the February issue of their “Children’s Bookwatch/Fiction shelf.”

Here’s what the reviewer has to say:

Maureen McQuerry is the talented author of “Wolfproof”, a juvenile fantasy novel that received very high marks when reviewed for the Midwest Book Review publication “Children’s Bookwatch”. Now McQuerry has followed up her initial success with “Traveler’s Market“, a sequel to her first novel. Timothy James Maxwell, his sister Sarah, and their best friend Jessica once again find themselves plunged into an alternate universe. This time they are in search of an antidote for Timothy’s mother who has been bitten by a poisonous paranormal rat. And once again they find themselves having to deal with their old enemy, Balor-the-one-eyed. It seems that the only way Timothy’s mother can be saved is if the kids first bring back peace and harmony to the beautiful, exotic, and troubled world known as the ‘Traveler’s Market’. McQuerry’s specialty is bringing into her novels a mingling and mixture of mythological sources and elements as textural enrichment for her high adventure, reader engaging fantasy stories making “Traveler’s Market” one of those rare literary works — a sequel that is every bit as entertaining and ‘kid friendly’ as its prequel!

And don’t forget, you can still listen to audio episodes of Travelers Market over on Catholic Radio International’s Cover-to-Cover.

Tags: Catholic Radio International, Cover-to-Cover, juvenile fantasy, Maureen McQuerry, Midwest Book Review, review, Travelers Market

Readers of Debra Murphy’s blog, The Idyllist, take note:

As the Idylls Press family of websites have developed, Idylls Press author and publisher, Debra Murphy, has been concentrating more of her “blogging” time to news & reviews on our other Idylls Press sites, bardolatry, Catholic Fiction and Catholic Film Reviews. Since most of Debra’s Idyllist blogs have to do with one of those topics, It seems a more elegant organiational solution to cease posting on The Idyllist, which has been something of a “catch-all” of late (and less frequently updated), and locate Debra’s occasional general-topic posts (i.e., on the arts, society, and the Church) on Debra’s home page, DebraMurphy.com.

Interested readers of any of these sites who would like to be notified when new posts appear, should sign up in the Feedburner forms in the upper right-hand sidebars of each site. In the meantime, we’ll leave The Idyllist up as an Archive and begin the process of incorporating some of the old Idyllist posts (mainly reviews), into the appropriate sites.

n.b.: Fans of The Mystery of Things will be familiar with Debra’s longtime interest in the phenomenon of “cults”, “cults of personality”, and the abuse of spiritual authority within the Church. If you’ve been following, as most of us have, the fallout from the Fr. Maciel/Legionaries of Christ scandal now hitting the news, you may want to check out DebraMurphy.com on Friday, February 6, for the first in Debra’s series of reflections, in the context of her novel, on the implications of the case.

Tags: Catholic Church, Catholic Fiction, Catholic Film Reviews, cults, cults of personality, Debra Murphy, Fr. Marciel Maciel, Legionaries of Christ, the Idyllist, The Mystery of Things

SITE NEWS:  Idylls Press - Catholic Fiction -Catholic Film Reviews - Bardolatry

Our apologies that January has seen a few days of wonky-looking Idylls Press-family websites as we moved our sites to a new server. There’s still a bit left to do, but the worst is over!

Along with the webdust, however, have come several lovely new features, including aFeedBurner widget (in the upper right corner of all our sites), which allows readers to sign up to be notified by e-mail or RSS whenever a new post or review appears. (Note that the sign-up only applies to the specific site, not to all Idylls Press sites together.) 

In the next few weeks we hope to add several more new features, including a discussion forum on Catholic Fiction and a new Idylls Press shopping cart that should make online ordering of Idylls Press books a more pleasant experience.

A new name: ”Catholic Movies Online” is now “Catholic Film Reviews”–we thought the new name and domain better fit the site’s purpose. Either way, clicking on the old link will take you to the new site location.

OUR LATEST TITLE:

Though it is not common to hear the words “Catholic fiction” and “Oscar Wilde” in the same breath, the fact is that Wilde not only died a Catholic, he also wrote an iconic horror story which, perhaps in spite of his initial intentions, turned out to be a classic morality fable in the Catholic tradition: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Idylls Press is very proud to announce the publication of a new edition of Wilde’s classic, beautifully illustrated by John Murphy in a neo-Symbolist style inspired by another Catholic convert of the same era, Aubrey Beardsley. 

Click here for more info on Dorian Gray and to see samples of John’s illustrations.

TRAVELERS MARKET on CRI:

Maureen McQuerry’s sequel toWolfproof, Travelers Market, is the featured audiobook on Catholic Radio Internation’s Cover-to-Cover program, read by Sylvia Dorham. Tune in and listen for free as new chapters are uploaded every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

IDYLLS PRESS AUTHOR NEWS:

Farrell O’Gorman, author of Awaiting Orders, has just published a short story (”Shibboleth”) in the latest (XXth anniversary) issue of Image Journal.

Debra Murphy, publisher of Idylls Press and author of The Mystery of Things has published an essay on the fiction of Ian McEwan in the latest issue (number TEN) of Second Spring Journal.

REVIEWERS NEEDED: 

We’re looking for more reviewers for Catholic Fiction and Catholic Film Reviews. Click on the “Catholic Fiction” link for reviewing guidelines which (more or less) apply to both sites. We will soon be putting up an “our reviewers” page on Catholic Film Reviews and would love to add more names to the list! 

If you are an avid reader or moviegoer, and a good writer, contact us:

from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

illustrated by John Murphy

The new Idylls Press edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray contains thirteen new B/W illustrations by John Murphy. Here is a sampling (click on the picture to see a larger version):

Return to The Picture of Dorian Gray main page, or to order.

Detail from Holy Nativity, Steve O'Loughlin

,,,and very merry New Year from Idylls Press! For your enjoyment, we’re sharing with you a detail from a “blessing of the animals” piece painted by artist Steve O’Loughlin for Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Westchester, LAX. I happened across it the other day on the web, and the artist kindly permitted us to post it for you. Click on the picture to go to the artist’s online gallery, where you can see the entire piece—it’s a beautiful example of a contemporary take on a traditional theme.

The Idylls Press office will be closed from December 24 through January 4, 2009, as we take some much needed time to “chill” with our clan. When we come back, we’ll have some great news to share about our latest title, a gorgeously illustrated edition of Oscar Wilde’s classic, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In the meantime, if you’d like to order any of our books during our down-time, please contact your local indie bookstore or order through our online Amazon store.

Tags: Oscar Wilde, Steve O'Loughlin, The Picture of Dorian Gray

For the Catholic fiction readers on your Christmas list, and In time for Christmas delivery: FREE PRIORITY MAIL ON ALL ORDERS FROM NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 20 

ADVENT SPECIAL #1: For fans of Juvenile Fantasy (of all ages!), order both WOLFPROOF AND TRAVELERS MARKET together from Idylls Press for only $25.00–autographed by the illustrator, John Murphy.   Buy Now

ADVENT SPECIAL #2: Orders of at least $30 in books from Idylls Press will automatically receive a free souvenir coffee mug from the author of THE MYSTERY OF THINGS, featuring John Murphy’s silhouette of Holy Hill.

ADVENT SPECIAL #3: Orders of at least $45 in books from Idylls Press will automatically receive a free first edition hardcover copy of THE MYSTERY OF THINGS, autographed by the author.

Check out all our current books on our easy-order catalog page.

Tags: Advent, Christmas, specials

Well, it’s been a l-o-n-g year, and a challenging one, but Clan Murphy is enormously thankful to be settling into our new home here in beautiful Ashland, Oregon. John and I are also grateful to be catching up on a year’s worth of delayed Idylls Press projects, and for the encouraging support from our readers…thank you!

Well, here’s our latest:

To begin, and just in time for economical Christmas gift-giving for those Catholic fiction fans in your life, young and old, we’ve added two new titles and released a new edition of a previous title.

Ready to curl up on a cold winter night with a witty, elegant Edwardian romance set in evocative Old World English and Italian settings? Then check out our brand new Catholic Fiction Classic, Henry Harland’s THE LADY PARAMOUNT.

Widely regarded as Harland’s masterpiece, Paramount tells the story of the Countess de Sampaolo, heir to the throne of an Italian isle. A ravishing beauty graced with wit, charm, and a fierce independent streak, the Countess, knowing her ancestors to be usurpers, decides to single-handedly restore the rightful count of Sampaolo: Anthony Craford, a young, cynical landowner exiled in rural England. Under an assumed name, she rents a house on his estate and sets a ‘little scheme’ in motion… to make him fall in love with her.

THE LADY PARAMOUNT is a 212 page paperback and retails for $14.95.

Click here to order from Idylls Press (free shipping!)
Click here to order from Amazon

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For your younger readers (10+) we have Maureen McQuerry’s exciting sequel to WOLFPROOF, TRAVELERS MARKET, complete with 13 beautiful new B/W illustrations by John Murphy.

The perilous worlds of myth and middle school once again collide as Timothy James Maxwell, his sister Sarah and their friend Jessica race against time and an ancient Evil to save their mother and restore peace and harmony to the Travelers Market. An adventure for all ages in the tradition of C.S. Lewis’ The Narnia Chronicles, TRAVELERS MARKET is a 228 page paperback and retails for $16.95

Click here to order from Idylls Press (free shipping, and autographed by illustrator John Murphy)
Click here to order from Amazon
Click here to order from your local indie bookstore

ADVENT SPECIAL #3: ORDER BOTH WOLFPROOF AND TRAVELERS MARKET TOGETHER FROM IDYLLS PRESS FOR ONLY $25.00–AUTOGRAPHED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR PLUS FREE SHIPPING! (Click here)

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THE MYSTERY OF THINGS by Debra Murphy

Finally, we’ve put out a new paperback edition (new cover, smaller format) of Debra
Murphy’s THE MYSTERY OF THINGS. A page-turning adult mystery/thriller with literary and Catholic themes, THINGS brings the the classic myth of St. George and the Dragon to new and provacative life on the Milwaukee shores of Lake Michigan.

Not since Flannery O’Connor have the workings of grace in a fallen world been so
well and realistically reflected.

—Stratford Caldecott, co-editor Second Spring and author of The Power of the Ring

The Mystery of Things gives you love and murder, sex and violence, God and the devil, the
Virgin and the dragon, plus Catholicism vs. a perverted, self-righteous, hollowed-out image of itself, set against the everyday backdrop of urban and rural Wisconsin. It’s a love story in which
loving wrongly does damage, a murder thriller unafraid to probe the juncture of sex and death, and a religious drama which doesn’t sacrifice the natural on the altar of the supernatural….It’s a good story, well-told, Catholic in its trappings but also in its fleshy heart—a heart which is thoroughly, refreshingly human.

—Matthew Lickona, author of Swimming with Scapulars

Click here to order from Idylls Press (free shipping, and autographed by illustrator John Murphy)
Click here to order from Amazon
Click here to order from your local indie bookstore

Tags: Catholic, Henry Harland, romance, THE LADY PARAMOUNT

ZENIT has poated an excerpt from a message sent to the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, and directed to the members of the pontifical academies who are participating in a conference on “The Universality of Beauty: a Comparison Between Aesthetics and Ethics.”

Here’s a quote:

…the Pontiff affirmed that Christians are called to “give reason for” not only the truth of the faith, but also its beauty, by way of “works that are at the same time beautiful and good,” which point to “another beauty, truth and goodness that only in God have their perfection and their ultimate source.”

The rest of the article is here.

Tags: artists, beauty, goodness, Pope Benedict XVI, truth