In a Far-Off Land by Stephanie Landsem
 
After requesting several Catholic fiction novels to be purchased by my public library as part of the Stock the Shelves campaign sponsored by Chrism Press, I was surprised to get a message a few days later saying one of those books was already in.  When I went to retrieve my book on hold, I found that it had been sent via inter-library loan.  Apparently, In a Far-Off Land was already in our system.  In fact, there are five copies already circulating in the public libraries in my system in the state of Georgia.  Yay!
 
In a Far-Off Land is a story that keeps you reading.  I finished it in about a week, the second half of it in about two days.  There is just enough detail given to make you wonder what’s coming next and want to keep going.  It is a redemption story – I’m partial to those myself – in which the reader meets likeable characters with flaws who sometimes learn their lessons the hard way.  I think my favorite part about the writing style is that it switched between characters, with only the protagonist’s view in first person as she tells her story.  We get Oscar’s story told in third person, as well as brief snippets of Mina’s father’s story.  Towards the very end of the book, we get Max’s point of view told in first person too, which was unexpected, but it worked well.
 
My favorite character was Oscar.  His loyalty to his family, his sense of duty and wanting to do the right thing, and his assuming of all responsibility for his brothers were appealing traits that drew me to him.  I enjoyed seeing him wrestle with wanting to do what was right while not always knowing what that was, and also while struggling with the grudges he’d held.  In spite of his grudge against Max and his anger at Mina for falling into his life and throwing everything into chaos (which she truly did), Oscar still made the right choices ultimately.  An inability to forgive others was his biggest hurdle and brought mental anguish on himself, and he was able to gradually soften as it unfolded that he’d not always had all the facts of the story to begin with.
 
A great lost-and-found story, In a Far-Off Land’s prodigal son themes show us that fame and fortune aren’t all they are cracked up to be and that love is a gift rather than something earned or deserved.

Did you know that you can ask your local public library to purchase books?  They have funds allocated for this very purpose, so why not visit your library and ask them to put those dollars to good use in buying some literature from your favorite authors?  This is a great way to get those new authors or lesser-known novels onto the shelves and into the hands of a wider audience of readers!

The Stock the Shelves campaign, sponsored by Chrism Press, is your prompt to ask for fiction from Catholic and Orthodox authors - books that are often less known to the general public.  Some libraries have a place online where you can make materials purchase requests, but the way I did it was to stop by the front desk with a list of about eight different fiction novels by Catholic authors.  I asked them to consider making these purchases.  

Keep in mind that you can do this year-round!  Some libraries are nearing the end of their fiscal years right now, so it is possible they have extra money they need to spend, but asking for books to be purchased in the fall when they have more money available would be a good strategy as well.

You can visit Chrism Press's website to see a list of participating authors - consider asking for one of their books at your own library!  As for me, I have no books published as yet, but I hope to be able to get some into the libraries once Firetender comes out early next year.

Growing up in Atlanta taught me to be an aggressive driver.  I lived a stone's throw away from practically any store I could have wanted to visit.  Little Five Points and the busiest airport in the world were our playground as high school teenagers.  It took 45 minutes to drive to my best friend's house - without traffic.  We thought the roads were clogged then, but 20+ years later, I see how much worse it could have been.

Living in a small town has its trade-offs.  My current hometown's population of about 50K is far smaller than Atlanta.  Yesterday,  I decided to take a thick envelope to the post office to weigh it and buy the specific postage at the self-serve machine.  Harkening back to my Atlanta high school days, I recall using the newfangled self-serve machines in those post offices in the late 1990s.  The one I encountered yesterday is no doubt a newer model, complete with touch screen... so how is it that it works worse than those machines I first saw as being such an advancement so long ago?

The touch screen failed.  "Touch here to begin" resulted in no beginning, just an ad for a USPS service I was unable to purchase because of the failure of the touch screen.  Since the post office closed at noon on Saturday, there was nothing I could do.  I even peered behind to see if I could find the plug, because obviously this machine needed a reboot as the first attempt at fixing its problem.  It was too heavy and possibly attached to the wall, so no luck there.

Small town woes - only one other post office to try.  Even though I have previous knowledge of its smaller size and lamer overall services, I drove over there hoping they had a working self serve machine.  They had no machine at all, being further behind in technology and more remote than my small town's central post office which had already failed me.

By this time I was saying things that probably weren't appropriate to be said by somebody who was trying to mail a card to a Catholic seminarian assuring him of our prayers as he finished his final days of seminary and approached his ordination date.  You know, curse this stupid small town and its non-working technology, etc.

When I finally made it back to the local coffee shop to do some reading and writing, I had forgiven the non-functioning post office equipment and the absence of large-town technology in every post office in our town.  I moved onto the patio to reread and edit the third book of the Chalice series - I think it's going to be called The Fire of Your Love, but don't hold me to that yet - because the shop was closing at 5:30 that day.  Since I practically live there, they don't care if I stay on their patio.  I even know how to turn off the lights out there after they leave.  I was sitting in a low chair in front of a big window that has a high tabletop seating area up against it on the inside.  Perfect spying position for whoever's inside.

When the shop closed, a guy came onto the patio from inside.  "Are you writing a story?" he asked me.  "Is it fiction?"

I told him yes to both, and then he wanted to know if it was realistic or something else, like fantasy or sci-fi.  We had a discussion about his favorite genres (not mine) and how I appreciated the quality of writing and the themes in many of those books even if they aren't my personal favorites.  I had to throw in that my teen daughter loves Lord of the Rings, though, and that I think Tolkien is brilliant even if fantasy stories don't resonate with me the way they do with some people.

When he wanted to know what kind of fiction my book was and I told him it was a modern realistic fiction with Christian themes and was signed to a contract with a small Catholic publishing company to be published in January, he said, "Oh yeah, I saw "Father" on your screen a few times and figured it was about a priest."  I told him it was.  We talked a little more about the value of classic literature and I mentioned Little Women as an example of one I'd never read until homeschooling my own children - and he'd read Little Women last summer for the first time.  I got to go off on one of my favorite topics - that homeschooling my kids has given me a chance to learn and appreciate so much more than what I retained from my own school years.

And then after he'd left, the girl seated at a nearby table on the patio turned to me and said, "What's the name of your book?"

"The first one is called Firetender," I told her.

"I'll have to look it up, then," she said.  

Small local coffee shop, the afternoon slowing down,  people who aren't so rushed they can't acknowledge one another (because they won't have to merge into an eight-lane-wide interstate to make the half-hour drive home from the coffee shop)...

And just like that, the small town redeems itself.
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