T.M.B. wrote in asking if I had read Brian J. Gail’s Trilogy. As I say, I am about the most badly read hermit ever to have lived. Favorite reading material has, in the past, been The Far Side by a fellow Minnesotan. When I lived at the Casa Santa Maria, conveniently across from the Pontifical Biblical Institue, in the 1990s, I was determined to read at least one novel from the used books room. I picked The Sum of All Fears by Dan Fogelman and Tom Clancy. I picked up on his style, and used that for the first volume of a Trilogy I started to write while doing my doctoral thesis on Genesis 2,4–3,24, waiting for my moderator to plow through another chapter of the thesis. The first volume turned out to be some 750 pages. Paul Brazier (R.I.P), perhaps the greatest intellect and most wonderful Catholic in the Southern Hemisphere, throught it was great, “a ripper!” However, I got the idea that it was a difficult read, very dense, however dramatic, as it took him 9 days of virtually non-stop reading to get through it. What to do? Read more, and learn from other people’s style. T.M.B.’s offer to send Brian J. Gail’s Trilogy may be just the thing for me. We’ll see what his style is like. I’m a bit leary of some of those praising the book, but take solace that, for instance, Motherless is supported by Cardinal Burke and Archbishop Chaput. Thank you so much, T.M.B. I’m sure this will help me quite a bit. Very thoughtful. Do you readers have any comments to make about this series? Can one start with a different volume than Fatherless, or does one have to follow the order Fatherless, Motherless, Childless?
Also in the mail was the signal repeater from C.W. Thanks C.W.! I’ve still not permanently set it up, but have noticed a stronger, more stable signal, about 40%, up from a terribly occilating 0-15%. So, this is much, much better. The homily series is getting closer with this addition to the hermitage.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Fr. George,
You really need to read the books in order: Fatherless, Motherless, and Childless.
Fr. Byers,
I must say I got mixed feelings reading that you took ‘The sum of all fears’ as a basis. I’ve enjoyed Clancy enourmously (at least the ones he wrote mostly by himself), but SoaF is, IMHO, the worst of the Ryanverse (those books about John Patrick Ryan). Debt of Honor and Executive orders, as well as the much shorter Hunt for Red October, are significantly better.
Anyway, if you look for inspiration regarding writing styles, and like a bit of history I’d recommend John Julius Norwich – though NOT his latest book on the popes (it shows he’s an agnostic with a lapsed anglican cultural background, sadly). He has great wit and eye for the stuff that keeps a reader going, even for hunderds of pages, across complex history and many centruries. His ‘A brief History of Venice’ would be a good one. Maybe I’ll sent a copy your way one of these days…
O.K, T.M.B.. Just checking. Star Wars, you might know, started in media res.
Hello Doctor Phil,
Not to worry. It was an almost arbitrary choice. I don’t like smut or romance. This looked like the best choice of what there was. I was after style and people at the time seemed to rave about the way he wrote. What I picked up, I think perhaps successfully, was the horrifically abrupt changing of scenes, all in media res, but simultaneous to the other scenes. Like a film. Some people don’t like that, but it served my purpose extraordinarily well.
As I say, I’m extremely not well-read. Julius who? I’m guessing it would be good for me. I think what I need to do is cut down on the complexity of my plots in what I write, it being that they carry so many interwoven sub-plots. Perhaps the way I write is hard to follow unless you’re really into reading and have a good memory and are intensely trying to figure things out. I should just stop that. Too much work for the reader, though I enjoy writing that way.