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! 

For the Pastoral Care of the Sick: July Books to Pray with Reading List

Use your recreational reading to foster an empathetic and Catholic imagination. A reading list to reflect on the sacrament of anointing of the sick, for them and their caregivers.

Freeing Tanner Rose by T.M. Gaouette

Hollywood Starlet meets Kung Fu Country boy with a God obsession.

Where to begin with J. R. R. Tolkien?

Beyond the adventure, the way to read The Lord of the Rings is not as an allegory but as a meditation on the human Story we are each caught up in, and in which we each have our part to play, our temptations to resist, and our task to accomplish.

McCracken and the Lost Lady by Mark Adderley

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

Imperial Passions: The Porta Aurea by Eileen Stephenson

The life and times, political and domestic, of eleventh-century Constantinople through the eyes of a young noblewoman.

The Light of Tara by John Desjarlais

As the power of Rome crumbles, a teenage St. Patrick must decide between his home and sacrificing himself for those who had enslaved him.

Our Lady of the Roses by Janice Lane Palko

Could Rome spark romance between a fashionista and an inventor-engineer?

Crusader St. Tommy NYPD Book 5 By: Declan Finn

Detective Nolan embarks on a Crusade against demonic sex traffickers trying to raise a demon.

Saving Cinderella: What Feminists Get Wrong About Disney Princesses And How To Set It Right by Faith Moore

Love the Disney movies you grew up with but don’t know how to defend them in the face of the modern critics? This book is for you.

The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom by Gerald L. Schroeder

Essential reading for anyone involved in the debate between religion and science.

A Truly Raptor-ous Welcome by Corinna Turner

There’s no such thing as a normal day on a dino-farm. But can Darryl and Harry’s new city-slicker stepmom make it through the first day without fainting?

Demons are Forever by Declan Finn

Marco flees from his fears of hurting Amanda by taking a job to train Vampire Hunters in San Francisco. Should be a quiet job right?

The Fisherman’s Tomb; The Story of the Vatican’s Secret Search by John O’Neill

The untold true story of the greatest treasure hunt of the century, all done under the noses of the Nazi invasion.

On Heaven’s Doorstep by Andrea Jo Rodgers

When you’re on the front lines of life and death, it’s hard to avoid seeing real miracles.

Will You Come to Mass by Susan Joy Bellavance, Illustrations by Sara Tang

This book helps your kids get into the right mindset for Mass.

Wanderings of an Ordinary Pilgrim by Tim Bete

Poetry that will take you deeper into Scripture and help you see the extraordinary in the simple.

Zeal & Zest: Where to Begin with Hillaire Belloc

Belloc was known as a Catholic polemicist with a vicious talent for skewering his opponents. Anyone struggling to persevere as a Christian in the fields of journalism or media should read him. His children’s books have an acerbic humor that will appeal to bored veterans of political correctness, especially teens.

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.

The Academy Saga: Book 1 By C.J. Daly  

A thrilling, yet clean, high school romance.

Cinder Allia by Karen Ullo

A political fantasy epic bildungsroman where Allia’s feminine heart becomes as powerful a force has her sword.