Dr. Lisa Theus

Historical Fiction Editor

Lisa Theus thinks one of the best ways to get to know somebody is their favorite books, and she credits Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi with helping her fall in love with her now husband. Her favorite works include (listed chronologically!): The Epic of Gilgamesh, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Mary, the poetry of John Donne, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, and Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth.

She has spent most of her life training herself how to think like an ancient Roman (she earned a PhD in Classics at Rutgers University and taught college courses for several years). Eventually, she left academia for something more stable–working first as a church secretary for her local Catholic parish and now as an assistant for a financial advisor. She can’t keep her head out of history or rich worlds, however, and she loves reading about noble heroes and the difficult pursuit of virtue–however that may manifest. Bonus points for an engaging cast of characters and strong worldbuilding.
When she isn’t working for her paycheck, she’s pursuing the life of a freelance writer and editor; building her own worlds; volunteering in her community; or playing video games with her husband.

Corinna Turner

Fantasy Editor

Carnegie Medal Award nominated author Corinna Turner has been writing since she was fourteen and likes strong protagonists with plenty of integrity. She has an MA in English from Oxford University, but has foolishly gone on to work with both children and animals! Juggling work with the disabled and being a midwife to sheep, she spends as much time as she can in a little hut at the bottom of the garden, writing.

She is a Catholic Christian with roots in the Methodist and Anglican churches. A keen cinema-goer, she lives in the UK. She used to have a Giant African Land Snail, Peter, with a six inch long shell and an even larger foot, but now makes do with a cactus and a campervan! 

Papa and the Little Queen by Kathleen Vincenz

What will St. Thérèse and Papa discover on their walk through town?

McCracken and the Lost Lady by Mark Adderley

McCracken gives us the grounded swashbuckling Catholic hero that our inner child has always wanted.

Shooting At Heaven’s Gate, by Kaye Park Hinckley

How does an ordinary boy become a mass murderer?

May Books to Pray With: For the Formation of Religious & Seminarians

A list of books to deepen your prayers for the formation of religious vocations in the church. Grow your imagination and empathy through the power of story.

Will Wilder and the Relic of Perilous Falls

Follow Will Wilder as he discovers a hidden world, fights demons and rescues a hidden treasure!

Life Changing Love by Theresa Linden

What do when your heart gets broken and your best friend gets an unplanned pregnancy?

Books to Pray with: January The Gift of Diversity

Every month in 2024 Pope Francis has a monthly prayer intention. Every month we will release a book list that will draw your heart and soul deeper into prayer on these topics.
January starts the year off with praying for and in thanks of the gift of diversity to the church.

The Fire of Eden (The Harwood Mysteries Book 3) by Antony Barone Kolenc

The mystery of a stolen treasure might hold the key to Xan’s discernment about whether God is calling him to the priesthood or to Lucy.

Falling Into Place by Susan Brinkmann

She’s New Age; he’s Catholic—can their romance survive? And can she survive their investigation into their city’s Satanic hate crimes?

Consecration to St. Joseph by Donald H. Calloway, MIC

Fatherly protection of St. Joseph, first with the Holy Family and then in the Universal Church, is needed now more then ever to protect and lead us.

Me, Ruby & God; A Journal of Spiritual Growth by Linda Crowley

A beautiful memoir about the love of God and the love of a good dog.

Sister Aloysius Comes to Mercyville By Linda Etchison, Illustrated by Denise Plumlee-Tadlock

A young nun teaches children how to offer up their daily irritations to God.

Editor’s Choice Awards 2025

2025 Our Favorite Books we Read this Year

The Light of Christmas Morning by Susan Joy Bellavance, Illustrated by Anne Kissanne Engelhart

A cozy Christmas bed time story that puts Catholic traditions front and center

 

My Son, The Father by Jim Moore

The story of a young priest through the eyes of his father and friends.

Coven (Book 7 of St. Tommy Series): By Declan Finn

St. Tommy fights the CPS and a group of pagans who have taken over a military base.

Infinite Regress by Joshua Hren

Poetic justice when the victim of a predator priest finds freedom from his seducer.

Stay with Me by Carolyn Astfalk

Can Rebecca get out from under her domineering father and find love with the forbidden Catholic boy determined to win her heart?

Unclaimed, Nameless, & Vanished by Erin McCole Cupp

Jane Eyre re-imaginged in a world where cloning, and genetic manipulation have returned us to a class system.

My Life’s Journey by Dr. Margaret P. Price

One Caribbean woman’s faith-filled rise from village to global health leadership in an age of segregation & prejudice