Our Hearts Are Restless

Following up from the review I posted on Tuesday , I have the great pleasure of welcoming to the blog stellar sci-fi author Karina Fabian.  Getting a glimpse into the workings of an author's mind is like opening up the engine of a spaceship.  My challenge was to come up with questions that dig deep into Discovery itself and Karina's own remarkable creativity.  It's possible that I had way too much fun.  Enjoy! By day, Karina is a mild-mannered reviewer of business software and services for Top Ten Reviews . After hours, she’s a psychic intent on saving the world; a snarky dragon who thinks he saves the world all-too regularly; a zombie exterminator who just wants her world clear of undead vermin; and Catholic religious sisters whose callings have taken them off our world. Needless to say, her imagination is vast, her stories legion, and her brain crowded. When she’s not converting her wild tales to stories, she’s enjoying time with her husband, Rob, their fo...

What happens when you put religious sisters in space?  A darn good book, that's what you get, but I suppose a little more elaboration is called for. Karina Fabian's new release from Full Quiver Press,  Discovery , is well-crafted sci-fi with a quirky Catholic edge.  Fabian drops her readers into a believable future Earth, and launches us with a massive and diverse spaceship crew to explore a mysterious alien ship - all the while challenging the minds and hearts of both characters and readers. The official synopsis: Sisters Ann, Tommie and Rita are part of a classified mission to explore an alien ship that has crash landed on an asteroid three billion miles from earth. Humanity's first contact with beings from beyond the solar system is bound to unlock the mystery of life in the universe, but the crew have their own secrets; hidden fears, desires, horrible sins - and a mission to kill. Researchers discover something unique about the third arm of the ship: something ...

Hi y'all!  I've spent the last few weeks working on the launch of Restless Independent , my new blog for young adults.  RI has (or will have) how-tos, notes from the young adult trenches, recipes, lists, resource dumps, infographics, and guest posts.  Check it out! In the meantime, I'm mulling over the fate of Our Hearts Are Restless.  I still have a ton of book blogging I want to do, and I'm not sure that will always fit well at RI.  So OHAR may turn into a lit-focused site, basically an opportunity for book reviews, what-I'm-reading posts, author interviews, and book tours.  Faith might come in a bit too, since I'm trying to keep RI fairly non-denominational.  I just don't know!  If I'm going to keep up two blogs, though, it'd better be pretty straightforward.  So I'll keep working on it.  How does Recusant Books sound as a rebranding title? In the meantime, pop on over to Restless Independent and tell me what you think!

One down, unknown quantity to go.  A year ago today, I moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and took up legal residence in this corner of the Midwest.  All things considered, A2 is a great location, but the state and Michigander culture certainly have unique points. As I've been repeatedly asked "So what are the differences between Michigan and Indiana?" I decided to whip up a list based on my experiences of this first year. 1. Speed Limits are Suggestions You know you live in Michigan when the policeman standing on the shoulder of the freeway with a radar scanner doesn't blink when you cruise by at 15 over.  At this point, I wonder how fast one must actually drive in order to get pulled over?  Definitely, don't go the posted speed limit, because you'll get run off the road. 2. The Great Lakes Obsession It's all about the Great Lakes.  (One might think there's nothing else to brag about?  See #4.)  "Unsalted and Sh...

This blog is getting pretty quiet, isn't it?  I'm close to launching Restless Independent, my new site, and that's draining most of my creative energy.  BUT I haven't decided yet whether I'll keep Our Hearts Are Restless as a separate entity, or possibly switch its identity to more of a books-and-faith focus, or say goodbye to this site altogether.  The life updates and miscellania will all switch over to RI, which is basically a blog about adulting. Anyway!  The OpenBook linkup is still the highlight of my blogging month, so here's your regular window into my bibliophile world.  This one is slightly delayed, but what the heck. My mom and I share a love of fiction.  When I asked her for a reading list this summer, because I needed recommendations for new novels, she happily gave me a piece of paper that brought nostalgia and excitement.  As a kid, I knew the season had begun when Mommy gave me my summer reading list.  Always hand-written...

Fourth of July weekend with my family means camping.  Over the last few years, we've explored several Indiana state parks, where we hike, hang out, and chill for a few days.  2016 brought a new development, as my parents decided to invest in a tent for my sister and I, so as not to cram four people into an RV meant for two.  The first thing Meredith and I figured out how to do is attach a flashlight to the ceiling so that we can read after the parental units have gone to bed.  It's the important things in life. This tent could only be improved by the addition of a green door with a round knocker and a G-rune. Despite a bit of a cloudy chill over the weekend, it was quiet, peaceful, and refreshing for all of us.  For me, I think the change of scenery was the principal attraction, as I've been in a city for the majority of the last year.  Living simply and unplugged under the trees for a few days was a much-needed change of pace.  Although, when w...

If you're a bibliophile, you've probably dreamed of owning - or at least walking into - a library like the one from the Beast's castle: There's something intoxicating about the thought of so many adventures, waiting for discovery behind their polychromatic spines.  Unfortunately, chances are that, like me, there's not a snowball's chance in Hades that you'll ever actually own that many books. The next best option?  Swing over to John K. King Used & Rare Books in Detroit.  This book lover's paradise is curled in four floors of a repurposed glove factory.  It's cramped, dusty, not air conditioned, eccentric, distinctly old-fashioned, and relies on red-aproned attendants to help you find your favorite books among newspaper clippings and bric-à-brac.  In other words, it's all about the books!  And books there are in abundance, on seven-foot shelves, stacked in corners, piled along the walls, and displayed in glass cases.  Navigation is tric...