Dappled Things: Mary, Queen of Angels 2006 Issue

Received an email from Bernardo Aparicio to let me know that the latest issue of Dappled Things is available online.

According to Bernardo, this issue includes:

-"Refiner's Fire" by Shannon Berry is a wise, moving personal essay about the trials of prayer and discernment—one of the best I've read.

-Poets Karen K. Adams ("African Angelus," "Little Hours") and Sarah DeCorla-Souza ("Ordinary Time") both meditate on the quotidian miracle that is parenthood, while Amos Hunt, J.B. Toner, and Daniel Gibbons tackle terror in "Night Crossing," despair in "To Whom Much Is Given," and emptiness ("my winter's silent utter zero") in "Autumnal."

-Katy Carl recounts her meeting with a curious saint, "like something out of a Flannery O'Connor novel," in "A Private Matter," a personal essay in which she explores end-of-life issues and the possibility of wrongful behavior at a Catholic hospital.

-In her story "Open Great Wide Doors," Stephanie Mader sketches the lead-up to a brash and driven young man's first encounter with God.

-Matthew Alderman explains the artistic and historical inspirations behind his symbol-rich ink drawing, "St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, Seated in State Upon the Throne of Peter."

-Our featured author this quarter is Arthur Powers, a relief and development director, lawyer, international businessman, and accomplished short story writer who has spent most of his adult life in Brazil. Dappled Things is pleased to premiere "A Hero for the People," "Stone," and "Carla," a triptych of stories that form a portrait of modern Brazil: of the peasants, the priests, the landowners, the farmers, the students, and the educated elite who must confront the turmoil of twentieth-century change.

You can find all of these pieces and more from the Mary, Queen of Angels 2006 issue, as well as archived issues, submission instructions, and the Dappled Things forums, at www.dappledthings.org.