Living Catholic Authors of Fiction...
...That Are Worth Your Time!
Alright, taking a detour from our previous few posts, I want to highlight something positive within the Church this week. I want to provide a list of good Catholic Authors that are currently alive and publishing fictional works for the enjoyment and spiritual enrichment of fellow Catholics.
I think this is important because the constant “blackpilling”, a term invented by young people online, is spiritually defeating and regardless of how bad things get, this cannot be the perpetual state of the soul. We have to have hope in something, and sometimes a good book can help us to remember what is at stake… eternal salvation.
Anyway, here are five living Catholic authors (and their works) I would recommend to anyone reading my Substack:
Dr. Taylor Marshall, The Sword and Serpent Trilogy (and it’s spinoff book Nikolaos)
Dr. Taylor Marshall is extremely well known amongst the more traditional Catholic crowd online, and has written many books. His most popular book is “Infiltration” discussing plots against the church allegedly coming from within, but he has also written a fictional trilogy (historical fiction) about the legend of Saint George and Dragon under the name “Sword and Serpent” these books (and the spinoff book ‘Nikolaos’) are a fun dive into the early Church and really help to give a vision of the Church prior to it being a legal religion in the Roman Empire.
I would highly recommend these books for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, or is just looking for another Catholic series to spend some time with after Lord of the Rings. Go check out the books here:
Sword and Serpent (3 book series) - Paperback Edition
Kennedy Hall, Lockdown with the Devil / Family Be Damned
Kennedy Hall is also a well known podcaster / writer amongst the more traditional crowd, however it seems that few people have actually read his single fictional novel that is in the same vein as “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. This book follows a family living through the lockdowns of 2020 and slowly falling apart from the perspective of two demons correspondence.
This book was well thought out and covers many issues within the Catholic Church while also giving some decent thought into how a family could recover in this scenario. If you enjoyed “The Screwtape Letters” then as a Catholic you should give this book a shot:
Lockdown with the Devil - Paperback Edition
Jeff Putnam, The Cole Harper Adventures Series
Jeff Putnam is an interesting individual, and is well known within many circles of the Catholic community. He started out ghost writing many novels before deciding to take a shot at his own series about a smuggler and ex-Army pilot named Cole Harper. The series is an instant classic in a similar vein to Indiana Jones or Lara Croft from a more Catholic writer’s perspective.
If this is a genre of book that you enjoy, you should give this particular series a shot and maybe one day we will see Cole Harper on the big screen:
The Cole Harper Adventures Series - Paperback Edition
Michael D. O’Brien, Children of the Last Days Series (and many other books)
Michael D. O’Brien has been writing books in the Catholic space for many years now with his first published book in the series ‘Children of the Last Days’ being “Father Elijah: An Apocalypse” in 1996. This book follows the adventures of a Jewish Holocaust Survivor that converted to Catholicism and became a Priest, who has been tasked with a mission directly from the Pope.
The book itself is both an adventure in the physical realm as well as an adventure in the spiritual realm. I would highly recommend this book and series to any Catholic who enjoys reading:
Children of the Last Days Series - Paperback Edition
Christopher Ruocchio, The Sun Eater Series
Christopher Ruocchio is an author I hadn’t heard much about up until recently, but if his Wikipedia bio is to be believed then he is a Catholic from the United States who draws inspiration and influence in his writing from J.R.R. Tolkien, Gene Wolfe, Robert E. Howard, Frank Herbert, Dan Simmons, Tim Powers, Guy Gavriel Kay, H.P. Lovecraft, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Star Wars.
Many Catholics I know and trust have highly recommended this series to me, so I am now in turn recommending it to all of you who are reading this Substack:
The Sun Eater Series - Hardcover Edition
I will include one additional mention, for an upcoming book (Kindle version is out, the Paperback is coming soon) I have not read yet, but the book is coming from someone in the Catholic space that I trust.
Eric Sammons, Shard of Eden
Eric Sammons, best known for his work in Catholic media spaces (including Catholic Answers, OnePeterFive, Crisis Magazine, and The Federalist), with his most recent position as Editor in Chief of Crisis Magazine, has written quite a few books over his life. Most of his work has been non-fiction, but he has recently decided to author a work of fiction titled “Shard of Eden”.
The description of the book on Amazon seems to promote the book as a post-apocalyptic science fiction set in the aftermath of a war against artificial intelligence. If this type of book interests you, give it a shot and support this endeavor by Eric:
Shard of Eden - Paperback Edition
Sincerely,
Your Brother in Spirit, Frater Spiritus
Follow me on Twitter / X: @FraterSpiritus
P.S. Let me know who your favorite Catholic Authors of Fiction (living or dead) are in the comments below!