No new copies of Wolfproof and Travelers Market will be printed by Idylls Press, but there are a few new and used copies out there, available online through private vendors on such sites as Amazon. (We wouldn’t be surprised if they became collectors’ items, since the new Amulet editions will have new titles and will not contain John Murphy’s unique illsutrations.) We will continue to provide links to the Amazon pages for the books, where copies may still be availalbe, and keep our readers informed of when the new Amulet editions come out.

The Catholic Marketing Network’s International Trade Show, held at the neighboring Garden State Exhibition Center (http://www.gsec.com), will serve as the exhibition floor for the writers’ conference, giving writers a chance to browse the booths, meet with publishing companies, pitch their books to publishers, have their work critiqued at a private critique session and chat with the published authors at book signings at the Catholic Writers’ Guild booth. CMN will also be hosting daily Masses and rosaries at the Doubletree Hotel, and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at the exhibition center. Other CMN events including the seminars and inspirational talks scheduled for Tuesday, August 4 will be held at the Doubletree.

Presenters for the writers’ conference include: author/Sophia Press submissions editor Regina Doman (Angel in the Waters); Pauline Books and Media Editor Sister Maria Grace, CEO of Ignatius Press Mark Brumley (How Not to Share Your Faith), Susan Brinkmann editor of Canticle Magazine, Lisa Wheeler, Executive Vice President of the Maximus Group (PR and marketing firm for The Passion of the Christ), author/Ascension Press publisher Matt Pinto (Do Adam and Eve Have Belly Buttons?), Claudia Volkman, General Manager of Circle Press, Tom Hoopes, Executive Editor of the National Catholic Register, and mystery author John Desjarlais (Bleeder) among others.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for both writers and publishers to connect,” said science fiction writer and Catholic Writer’s Guild President, Karina Fabian. “The CMN has been especially generous in offering to share it facilities and programs with us, which really enhances the quality of the conference for attendee and presenter.”

Conference Coordinator and CWG Vice President Ann Lewis adds “There will be a lot of good information, encouragement and learning opportunities for Catholic authors at our live conference. Our goal is to help good Catholic writers to get published. The world needs their words.”

The Catholic Writers’ Guild has hosted two highly successful on-line conferences.

To register or for more information, go to www.catholicwritersconference.com. Registration is $80 through June 1st, $99 through July 31st and $110 at the door.

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!

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.