Heretics of St. Possenti, the story of the founding of the eponymous order of monks, is now out in paperback.
Category Archives: Heretics of St Possenti
Which of these is not like the other
Not all titles in “inspirational religeous Fiction” are aimed at the same demographic… but most of them are. It’s almost like most authors are not aiming at men, and/or men are not finding things worth buying and reading. We need to change that.
St Possenti, Order of…. is real
It is an odd world I live in. Inspired by my book, Heretics of St. Possenti, real men, initially led by a Salvation Army officer, worked to bring the order into existence, for real. It’s formal birthday before God is on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, 2019. Formal paperwork to satisfy the bureaucratic goblins of State will be filed soon, too. It’s mission will be help vets who need spiritual guidance and support as much as physical rescuing.
The founders include Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox members. The initiates will receive a couple of months “comparative religion” teaching, then will pick their course from the three. It may be the only monastery in existence with separate chapels from the three dominant Christian denominations within its walls. While I’m not a particularly religious man, I think it worthwhile to pray for this endeavor, and wish it the absolute best in both helping the men it aims at, and the schismed churches it draws from.
It is being formally created on this day, at this time, in commemoration of Veterans’ Day, a remembrance of the sacrifices the military vets the world over have made for their countries, people, and families. Not all who suffer in war died on the battlefield, but all deserve support, and I hope they can make the best sense of their experience they can.
Interesting Heretics review
Heretics of St. Possenti just acquired a new review. The first two-star. To say that it’s, er, “interesting” is an understatement. Have a look.
Not a verified purchase. Nothing specific. Pretentious, self-important phrasing. Appears to equate “Christian” with “white,” in spite of some of the characters quite explicitly being of non-white ethnicity, like the Aziz, the Coptic Egyptian, and Master Wang. Quite likely more than a bit of projection. Seems to have misunderstood… well, nearly the whole thing. But then, it wasn’t aimed at fools, morons, or females, so I guess that is not unexpected from someone who is a major contributor to comments and reviews in the “makeup” category on Amazon. Makeup – the very definition of “false face.”
Heresy
Heresy : noun- (1) An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from or denial of Roman Catholic dogma by a professed believer or baptized church member.
(2) Adherence to such dissenting opinion or doctrine.
(3) A controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine, as in politics, philosophy, or science.
Heretic: A person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted. Continue reading Heresy
Audio
Sorry for no updates in a while. Many things going on in life right now.
In story-related news, Heretics of St Possenti is now out in audiobook format!
In related news, Paul sent me an email with the following:
Miguel had an interesting article: https://gunfreezone.net/index.php/2018/06/19/horsesht-concern-trolling/
It links to an American Psychological Association paper http://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-97.aspx. The abstract includes this:
“A final problematic assumption is that avoiding trauma reminders is healthy. The opposite is true. Avoidance behaviors make PTSD worse, and effective treatments include safe exposure to thoughts and feelings related to the trauma.”
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now all I need is a real job with a support-a-family-sized paycheck, and for my mom to get well enough to get out of the hospital (relatively minor stroke, now in rehab with a pacemaker; doing well, all considered).
Honorable mention
I saw an unexpected tick up in sales. Wondered why. Went looking.
Found this. A nomination for The Planetary Defense Awards as an honorable mention.
An unexpected event. I thank you, Jon Mollison, for your kind words, and for those who noted it and spent a few of your hard-earned dollars to support an underemployed writer.
Musical interlude
What sort of music would the monks work out to? Rap? Arianna Grande? No, I don’t think so. Something more like Sabaton.
Review round-up
From Brandywine Books.
From The Drawn Cutlass.
For those Ace of Spades HQ fans, a mention from the Book Horde.
From Goodreads.
Vox Day’s excerpt. I’m happy to see that someone finally commented on “Canticle 762”
Sales are weird. No news, no plug or promotional that I’m aware of, suddenly it jumps from #30,000 (number 60 or so in genre) to #11,000 (#19 in genre)… (dig, dig, dig) AHhhh… A mention at the Ace Of Spades book thread as a book plug. That’s why. Whew. THANKS, Horde!
Another review
Another review up at Men of the West. Very kind words. Be really funny if it got me nominated for a “inspirational/spiritual writing” award that I’d come in dead last for : – )
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Reviews are interesting. The CH review had a funny line: it said there was a lot of “logistics porn” typical of “post-apocalyptic” novels. Indeed, it said, that HosP was a post-apocalyptic novel, but one where the blasted and desolate landscape was not the physical one, but the spiritual one. I’d never thought of it that way, but… yeah. That’s a reader who gets it, and phrases it in a way that I’d never have thought of, but is very apt, almost poetic, in its eloquence. That’s one of the fun things about reviews – the can give insight and perspective on how others see what you said in ways that are helpful.