Welcome to my world!

Pull up a comfy chair and make yourself at home. There’s a pot of tea brewing on the woodstove and the fire is cheery and warm. Take off that wet coat and hang it on the hook next to the stone hearth. Oh that? Just a pan of plum tarts ready to come out of the oven. Yes, I can hear your stomach grumbling, too! Mind the sleeping hedgehogs on the rug! But when you’ve had rest, let me show you around my humble abode.

See that far room down the hall? There you’ll find information on my editing services. Just click on that link and you’ll learn how I can help you with your book, for I love to spend time encouraging and aiding writers, and helping them tap into their motivations and gifts to bring out the beautiful language lingering deep inside.

In the hall on the wall is a picture of myself and my family. Just click on the “bio” link to take a closer look.

In the room off the kitchen is the library. Just click on the “fiction” tab and pull out a novel. Maybe you like contemporary fiction, or maybe fantasy is more your taste. See what projects are on the shelf.

But if you’ve come to chat, then you’ll find warm company awaiting you. Just visit my blog and read of fantastic fantasy adventures, and of the many writers who have gone before us, clearing a path through the brush with their innovative stories and books. And be sure to chime in and share some thoughts. We get lonely sometimes in this far edge of the wood.

C. S. Lewis explained why he felt compelled to write what was first called in his day ‘scientifiction.' He felt it a serious defect that most stories of ‘other worlds’ should be used as vehicles for exalting some of man’s most selfish tendencies. He wrote to a friend, “I simply wished to conquer for my own (Christian) point of view what has always been used by the opposite side . . . any amount of theology can be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance without their knowing it” (On Stories and Other Essays on Literature, preface pages xv, xvii).

So, is that sneaky? Well, what’s wrong with it? C. S. Lewis might have said: ‘If you don’t like to eat your vegetables, why not smother them in jam so they are more palatable?” Some things are scary and uncomfortable to think about, like: why do I have to die? Why do I have to be good? Why can’t I be selfish and push others around? What’s the point of life, anyway? Well, reading a stuffy old rule book won’t do the trick, but, ah, a romance just may! I love what Chesterton wrote, oh so long ago (and it is one of the themes of my book The Wolf of Tebron): "The perfect happiness of man is an exact and perilous balance; like that of a desperate romance. Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them” (Orthodoxy, page 106).

Are you a happiness seeker? Well, then, by all means tread carefully on that precarious narrow path. And don’t look down, whatever you do! But heed Mr. Chesterton’s words and have a little faith in yourself, and you just might find the dizzying heights invigorating!