The Warble
The Official Blog of Karen Ullo
Stock the Library Shelves!
The public library may be one of the last places on planet earth where it is possible to get something for nothing–and it is definitely the only place where a taxpayer can make direct decisions about how to spend government dollars without consulting The Powers That Be. That’s right: the public library has a budget allocated from your taxes, and you, as a library patron, can request that they purchase any book you choose. The money is going to be spent, but whether it goes toward the 857th copy of a John Grisham novel or something truly unique and interesting is, in part, up to you.
That’s why I’m proud to partner with Chrism Press, Dappled Things Magazine, the Catholic Writer’s Guild, Catholic Reads, CatholicMom, and Catholic Author to bring you Stock the Shelves, a simple, absolutely free way that you and I can help bring Catholic and Orthodox fiction to a wider audience. When libraries order new books, they tend to stock them on the New Arrivals shelf for several months, where they’re front and center to attract new readers and inspire new imaginations. I’ve seen this happen with books I myself requested, books with small sales figures that would seem to appeal to niche audiences–yet when I visit the library or check the status online, they are almost always checked out. People will take chances on new titles or unknown authors at the library more readily than in the bookstore because they can do so for free. Yet when a library purchases a book, the author makes the same royalties as on any other sale. Everybody wins.
Will you please join me during this campaign, May 15-31, 2022, by doing something simple and absolutely free to help promote great Catholic and Orthodox fiction? Choose any modern novel from a Catholic or Orthodox writer and simply ask your library to acquire it. Most of them have online forms where you can do this easily from your own home. Or you can take a trip to the library (Yay! Book road trip!) and make the request to your librarian in person.
To see all the books and authors affiliated with the campaign, click here. For information about my own books, keep reading.
Jennifer the Damned
What your library needs to know:
Title: Jennifer the Damned
Author: Karen Ullo
Genre: Gothic horror, literary fiction
Audience: YA/Adult
Publisher: Wiseblood Books
Publication Date: October 31, 2015
ISBNs:
978-0692303030 (print)
0692303030 (digital)
Editorial Review(s):
It is rare to find a book of this calibre. –Julie Davis, Happy Catholic
Back Cover Copy:
When a sixteen-year-old orphan vampire adopted by an order of nuns matures into her immortal, blood-sucking glory, all hell literally breaks loose. Yet with every rapturous taste of blood, Jennifer Carshaw cannot help but long for something even more exquisite: the capacity to experience true love. As she struggles to balance her murderous secret life with homework, cross-country practice, and her first boyfriend, Jennifer delves into the terrifying questions surrounding her inhuman existence, driven by the unexpectedly human need to understand why she is doomed to a
life she never chose.
Bridging the gap between the literary tradition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the modern teen vampire romance made popular by the Twilight series, Jennifer the Damned reexamines the legendary monster as a conflicted and complex being. Jennifer is at once the quintessential vampire, embodying an unholy union of life and death; yet she is also a sympathetic young woman full of spiritual anxieties, gifted with a limitless sense of ironic humor, and possessed of a beautifully persistent
hope in the love she yearns for.
Cinder Allia
Title: Cinder Allia
Author: Karen Ullo
Genre: fantasy, fairy tale
Audience: YA/Adult
Publisher: Karen Ullo
Publication Date: July 6, 2017
ISBNs:
978-0999022122 (hardcover)
978-0999022108 (paperback)
978-0-9990221-1-5 (digital)
Editorial Review(s):
Cinder Allia is a rare book both parents and kids can enjoy. –Fr. Michael Rennier, Aleteia
Back Cover Copy:
Cinder Allia has spent eight years living under her stepmother’s brutal thumb, wrongly punished for having caused her mother’s death. She lives for the day when the prince will grant her justice; but her fairy godmother shatters her hope with the news that the prince has died in battle. Allia escapes in search of her own happy ending, but her journey draws her into the turbulent waters of war and politics in a kingdom where the prince’s death has left chaos and division.
Cinder Allia turns a traditional fairy tale upside down and weaves it into an epic filled with espionage, treason, magic, and romance. What happens when the damsel in distress must save not only herself, but her kingdom? What price is she willing to pay for justice? And can a woman who has lost her prince ever find true love?
Surrounded by a cast that includes gallant knights, turncoat revolutionaries, a crippled prince who lives in hiding, a priest who is also a spy, and the man whose love Allia longs for most—her father—Cinder Allia is an unforgettable story about hope, courage, and the healing power of pain.
Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference Coming in February
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve presented at the Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference, but it’s so much fun and so full of great presentations that I’ll be there again from February 11-13. My own panel will be Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1:30 pm Eastern Time–Harrowings: Trauma and Darkness in Catholic Fiction.
Murder. Rape. War. Terrorism. Genocide. Deliberate evil is a fact of our fallen world, and fiction holds the power to help us confront it through catharsis, empathy, and grace. But as a writer, what does it take to depict true evil? Are there lines we should not cross? What is the spiritual and emotional toll of entering deeply into the stories of characters who live through atrocities, either as the victims or the perpetrators? When is graphic violence gratuitous, and when is it a necessary component of art? How do we judge? Join seasoned authors Matthew P. Schmidt, J.B. Toner, and Karen Ullo, with moderator Dr. William Gonch of the Scala Foundation as we explore the dark side of the fiction writer’s craft and its ability to shine true light.
Sounds fun, right? I will also be hearing pitches on behalf of Chrism Press during the week following the conference, so if you’ve ever wanted me as your editor, here’s your chance!
Register here (use the sidebar) to join us for a great, insightful weekend!
Doxacon is Friday, 11/5/21
All right, I’m late getting this onto my blog, but Doxacon–the ultimate Christian conference for fans of fantasy, sci-fi, comics, role playing games, and more–is virtual this year, and it starts this Friday, November 5. I will be part of an author panel at 2:30 pm Eastern on Friday along with Eleanor Bourg Nicholson and Eve Tushet. There’s a whole lot more on tap, including awesome speakers, game playing opportunities, and more. I spoke at Doxacon when it was in-person in 2018, and it was a blast. Come join the fun!
In the Footsteps of Alix de Morainville: My Research Trip to France, Part 3
For several years now, I’ve been working on a historical fiction novel set during the French Revolution. The novel retells the story of Alix de Morainville, first introduced in George Washington Cable’s 1888 book Strange True Stories of Louisiana. The legend of Alix de Morainville holds that she was the daughter of a Norman count, raised in the tiny fishing village of Morainville, who later moved with her parents to the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at Versailles, and married her cousin, Vicomte Abner de Morainville. After her husband was killed during the French Revolution, she married her gardener, Joseph Carpentier, to lose her title and save her life. Then the two of them fled to Spanish-controlled Louisiana, into the wilderness of the Attakapas Territory, in modern-day St. Martin and St. Mary Parishes.
My novel, To Crown with Liberty, retells this story in a whole new way, taking both Alix and the reader on a journey through France in the last days of the ancien régime and the first years of the revolution. My recent trip to France took me to many of the settings of the novel so that I could experience some of Alix’s life first-hand.
Read Part 1 of my adventures here.
Read Part 2 of my adventures here.
Third (and Final) Stop: Étretat
In Cable’s book, Alix de Morainville grew up in the Norman town of Morainville, which he describes as a fishing village where her family’s château is perched atop a cliff looking over the English Channel. But while Cable’s “Strange True Stories” drew on facts (exactly how much fact remains the subject of debate), the stories themselves are fiction. So while there is a Norman town called Morainville, it is not on the coast. I chose to use Étretat as the model for coastal Morainville because of its famed white cliffs, immortalized by Claude Monet, and because it is home to Château les Aygues. Although it was built later than my story is set, Château les Aygues is nevertheless a Norman château that I wanted to serve as a model for Alix’s home.
One of many paintings of Etretat by Claude Monet
Chateau les Aygues
It was pouring down rain when I arrived in Étretat (how I got there is a story in itself), and I had to hike immediately to Château les Aygues through the downpour in order not to miss the tour. Photography is not permitted inside the château, but the owner did compliment my French, and I found some interesting tidbits of French and Norman history inside.
After the tour, once it finally stopped raining (although the sun still did not come out), I was able to begin exploring both the town and the cliffs, including the museum at the top of the eastern cliff.
The Church of Notre Dame in Etretat
Statues in churches throughout France were beheaded during the Revolution. The ones in Etretat still remain so.
The more ancient Church of Notre Dame (11th century) at the top of the Eastern cliff, which is no longer in use.
1786 painting by Jean Alexandre Noel of fishing boats in Etretat
I also met another woman traveling alone, and with her company, I was emboldened to explore the beaches at low tide, a very slippery place where I might have been afraid to go alone. The beach in Étretat is not made of sand. The most accessible part is made of smooth, beautiful pebbles that are surprisingly large—some the size of chicken eggs, and some much larger. But the western section that is only accessible at low tide is a sort of field of rocks that look a bit like cheese, and lead toward caves that are both natural and man-made, with the man-made ones having been cut by Nazi soldiers during the occupation. It’s truly a beautiful and unique landscape.
Where pebbles meet rocks
Very slippery rocks that look like cheese
Rocks covered in seaweed at low tide
Evidence of Nazi occupation
The view from inside a cave
The second day in Étretat, my new friend and I explored the western cliffs as far as we dared, and in the last few hours before I had to return to Paris to catch the next day’s flight home, I finally got to see Normandy in sunlight. There is no wonder why Monet loved the light in Étretat. But be warned: if you go there, the seagulls are your enemies. I bought an ice cream cone, only to have one of them steal it directly out of my hand. So if To Crown with Liberty features seagulls as villains, now you know why.
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