Last week at the Catholic New Media Conference I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Mongeau and Christopher Samuels, who together have started a promising new project called Tuscany Press. Both are not only bibliophiles but also former businessmen, having worked for companies like Solomon Brothers and McKinsey, and they bring that expertise to the table with their new venture. They are currently accepting submissions for the Tuscany Prize in the categories of short fiction, novella, and novel, the winners of which will receive cash prizes and publication. Joseph O’Brien, a frequent contributor to Dappled Things, has written an article about Tuscany that no doubt many of our readers will want to check out. O’Brien begins:

The modern Catholic fiction writer has a tough row to hoe. On the one hand, he is expected by his fellow Catholics, at least those unfamiliar with the complexities of modern literature, to write simple moral stories where good wins out over evil, the princess is saved and happily ever after becomes the only acceptable conclusion to a story.

On the other hand, the Catholic fiction writer is also hoping to reach out to the modern non-Catholic and mostly non-Christian reader with the assumption that his story is worth hearing – and yet he must not say too much about the “R word” (religion) lest his readership begin heading in a panic for the exits.

The 20th century southern Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor puts the dilemma this way in her 1957 essay “The Church and the Fiction Writer:”

“Part of the complexity of the problem for the Catholic fiction writer will be the presence of grace as it appears in nature, and what matters for him is that his faith not become detached from his dramatic sense and from his vision of what-is. No one in these days, however, would seem more anxious to have it become detached than those Catholics who demand that the writer limit, on the natural level, what he allows himself to see.”

In fact, besides being pressured by secular and Catholic readers to fit into their own notions of what fiction should be, the Catholic writer’s row is made all the tougher to hoe because of the dearth of publishing houses willing to give Catholic writers a chance to show that they can write compelling, well-written and grace-infused stories for the Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

But Boston businessman Peter Mongeau is doing his best to make sure that the Catholic writer does find a voice within the milieu of today’s bestseller lists.

Read the rest at Korrektiv. Perhaps even more exciting is the fact that Tuscany is prepared to publish up to ten novels a year, which I think is far beyond what any other Catholic publisher is doing these days in terms of fiction. May they live long and prosper!

Our good friend and past contributor, David Clayton, has another terrific essay up at his blog, The Way of Beauty. Today he’s discussing The Institute of Catholic Culture, an organization in Virginia dedicated to catechesis through “offering education programs structured upon the classical liberal arts and by offering opportunities in which authentic Catholic culture is experienced and lived.”

We also have to ask ourselves, in my opinion, why educate? Who are we trying to reach? I personally do not think that any programme, or any number of programmes will educate society into transformation. Most people won’t be educated, or not without some other agent of transformation. I believe that we are trying to reach those who will be the creators of the new culture. Thinking now of the fine arts, those who create art and music are the ones who will create the forms that participate in the timeless principles that unite all Catholic culture; yet also speaks directly to the modern age. We looking for something that is both new and timeless. This is the popular culture that is beautiful, true and good and will create the ‘new epiphany of beauty’ called for by John Paul II. This is what will in turn open people’s hearts so that they will accept the Word.

The organization can provide a model for other communities who wish to put on similar programs of education for parishes in their area. Read David’s entire post here and explore the Institute on Catholic Culture’s website, which includes a library of resources and audio recordings of lectures on Catholic culture.

Nicole Stallworth of Saints in Progress just conducted a wide-ranging interview with Catholic author Joseph Pearce on a variety of topics – his work with the St. Austin Review, his research on Tolkien, and a relatively new offering he describes as “a Catholic equivalent of The Teaching Company.”

The series is very exciting. It’s meant to be a Catholic equivalent of the Teaching Company, offering courses on DVD, CD or in downloadable format in the areas of theology, philosophy, literature, history and the lives of the saints. We’ve managed to attract some of the finest Catholic lecturers to present the courses and I’ve had the pleasure of teaching four courses myself. The first two, filmed last year when the Catholic Courses were first launched, were on “Shakespeare’s Catholicism” and “The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings”; the most recent two, which I filmed only a few weeks ago, are on The Hobbit and on “The Thought of G.K. Chesterton”.

Read the full interview with Joseph Pearce, which is part of Brandon Vogt’s Support a Catholic Speaker Month intitative.

Dappled Things will have a table at the Catholic New Media Conference taking place this week at at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, TX. If you’re attending, please stop by to meet some of our editors, and don’t miss our own Dorian Speed’s session “Gather Round the Combox, Y’all!: Building a Blog Community.” Also, anyone who subscribes at our table will receive a free back issue for every year of subscription purchased.

The New Orleans Review is accepting submissions for The Walker Percy Prize in Short Fiction. From their website:

Winner receives $1,000 and publication. All finalists considered for publication.

Enter previously unpublished original stories up to 7,500 words. The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Entries may be simultaneous submissions but the entry fee is nonrefundable if the story is accepted elsewhere. Please notify us immediately to withdraw a story that is taken elsewhere. There is no limit on the number of entries you may submit.

Contest open to all writers in English with the exception of current students or employees or others affiliated with New Orleans Review or Loyola University New Orleans. Writers who have a strong personal or professional relationship with the editorial staff or with the final judge are asked to abstain from entering the contest in order to prevent a conflict of interest. We comply with the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Code of Ethics.

Deadline December 12, 2012. Winner announced and published in 2013.

There is a $15 fee per submission.

I’m enjoying taking a walk through Owen Swain’s site, which includes both artwork and poetry. This self-portrait with super-foamy-toothpaste is particularly whimsical. Owen’s doing a series of sketches as part of the Everyday Matters drawing challenge, which looks like a fun way to keep one’s creative juices flowing. Now I want to buy a Moleskine for some reason. - DS

September 20th is ‘Talk Like a Poirot Day’! Although, considering that the inimitable Belgian is zee greatest detective in zee world shouldn’t it be ‘Talk Like THE Poirot Day’?