Familiar With Fr Vincent

From Portland, Maine, I have received the following:

My name is Andrew McNabb. I am an American writer and the great grand nephew of the great Dominican priest, Fr. Vincent McNabb (d. 1942: prolific writer, lead speaker for the Catholic Evidence Guild at Hyde Park, Distributist and close friend of Chesterton and Belloc.) Given your mention of Catholic Social Justice and being “pro-life, pro-family and pro-worker,” my guess is you are familiar with Fr. Vincent.

Anyway, I have been researching Catholic UK bloggers to try and enlist some help in publicizing my recently released short story collection, The Body of This, with the hope that you will in turn pass this information along to your blog readers. The book, to many, falls under the classification, “Catholic fiction.” I embrace the classification. Joseph Pearce, in his cover blurb, describes the book as “as radically transforming as viniculture, transforming the water of everyday experience into the wine of life.” In Standpoint Magazine (July/August,) Piers Paul Read referred to the book as “exquisite.”

The Body of This has been reviewed widely, perhaps most prominently at Inside Catholic (A Catholic Writer Who Does Not Turn Away, 21 April 2009) after which nearly 60 passionate comments appear debating the classification and the merits of the book.

Most recently, in the January edition of New Blackfriars Review, the book received a wonderful review from Fr. Vivian Boland, OP. Unfortunately, the review is not available on-line, just a link to its presence in the journal. There is, however, a link to the January review in The Short Review, a site where story collections (straight literary fiction) are reviewed and authors are interviewed.

The book is important because, as can be seen in the variety of outlets where it has been reviewed, it has found a home with both a Catholic and a secular audience. There is not much writing these days that can make that claim. Sadly, Catholic or Christian writing has largely been reduced to the syrupy, the sentimental. More about me and the book (with links to reviews) can be found at http://www.andrew-mcnabb.com/.