The Letters of Magdalen Montague a novella by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson Karen Barbre Ullo, DT Managing Editor from 2017 to 2021 —and current Editor of Chrism Press—writes:”Readers of DT may recognize this one. (If you don’t know, it first appeared as a serial in DT.) And now it’s coming back into print as our first book from Chrism Press!” Click the above image for the full Facebook announcement. For sample chapters and purchase links, visit here. 100 Catholic Writers & Artists 1921-2021 Katy Carl, DT Editor in Chief, shared the above link, “h/t the marvelous Rhonda Ortiz over at Chrism Pre ..read more

+ Writing without apologetics + Poetry as the appetizer for the Wedding Feast (Hopkins’ “As kingfishers catch fire” for example) + Catholic poetry by the non-Catholic Chinese Emperor Kangxi + Fabric designed by artist Daniel Mitsui Fanaticism & Art: You Can’t Influence a Culture You’re Hiding From Rhonda Ortiz, Dappled Things Webmaster, writer, and Chrism Press co-founder, recommends the above-linked article by Steve Skojec at The Skojec File. Skojec, former writer for One Peter Five, quotes Eric Hofer, the atheist “longshoreman philosopher” (of all pundits to quote), about the dangers of ..read more

ILLUSTRATION AND COMMENTARY BY JAMES TISSOT FROM HIS LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Acts of the Apostles, Chap. 1:9-12: “And when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments. “Who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh ..read more

ILLUSTRATION AND COMMENTARY BY JAMES TISSOT FROM HIS LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Acts of the Apostles — Chap. I:9: “And when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight.” James Tissot: “The Resurrection of Jesus is to a certain extent incomplete as long as His glorious Ascension is still unaccomplished. He has resumed His body. He has still to take His own place again, and that He is about to do. After He had given His last instructions to His disciples, Saint Luke tells us that “he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifte ..read more

More links to creative doings of past and present Dappled Things editors and friends. The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of St. Thomas Katy Carl, Dappled Things Editor in Chief, tells us that Joshua Hren and James Matthew Wilson report that they still have some open seats for the new online MFA in Creative Writing they recently founded at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. (Carl’s suggestion was Liked by Bernardo Aparicio Garcia, DT Founder and Publisher; Natalie Morrill, DT Fiction Editor;  and Rosemary Callenberg, DT Associate Editor.) The applicat ..read more

Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame! – William Butler Yeats On a recent and very ordinary Tuesday evening I felt the magic that is fairyland breeze through my heart. I had not been among the fairies for a long, long while. This whimsical, little breeze came in the form of a young girl, not all of twelve, who slowly opened a tiny little purse and let fly one little felt fairy after another and laid them carefully in a row before me as she confessed with a shy smile, “I have grown quite attached to them ..read more

News about some doings of Dappled Things‘ friends: + Vermilion—a New Literary Magazine at Catholic University of America + Rod Dreher Interviews James Matthew Wilson on a New MFA in Creative Writing + Essay from Joshua Hren’s Hot Off the Press Book +  Article about Visual Artist Anthony Santella’s Work Vermilion Magazine of Literature and the Arts Dappled Things Editor in Chief Katy Carl recommends the above link—an announcement in the Catholic University of America May 2021 Newsletter about the launch of Vermilion, a new online magazine of literature and the arts for university students ..read more

The scene that still fills me with a palpable sense of outrage at injustice is from Ramona the Brave. Ramona and her classmates have been assigned a project making paper bag owls. Ramona has come up with a creative way to draw owls, one that will distinguish her artwork from the others on Parents’ Night. When she discovers that the teacher’s pet has stolen her idea and copied her creativity, she destroys both owls, an act for which she is forced to apologize in front of the entire class the next day. When I read of the passing of Beverly Cleary at the age of 104 this past March, this was the s ..read more

One of the hazards of being both a great writer, and a professor at a university, is that your email is publicly available, allowing fanboys like myself to contact you at will. This is exactly what I did a couple of years ago, having just read one of Jim Shepard’s novels (Project X, I think). I sent him a short note thanking him for writing the book, and asking whether he was currently working on any new projects. He responded that he was working on a novel about a pandemic. Interesting, I thought, a book about zombies; the topic seemed slightly out of character for Mr. Shepard, whose fiction ..read more

The Church and the Fiction Writer: From March 30, 1957 When I nominated this 1957 essay by Flannery O’Connor—which was republished by America Magazine recently—for inclusion in Friday Links this week, the following dialogue ensued. Rosemary Callenberg (Dappled Things Associate Editor): “This is also in Mystery and Manners. It’s a wonderful essay.” Roseanne T. Sullivan: “I know. I think it’s interesting to see it in its original publication too. Right?” Rosemary: “Very cool.” Popular fiction and the Catholic Literary Renaissance Karen Barbre Ullo, until recently Managing Editor of Dappl ..read more