Scott Pomfret serves as a lector at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston. He also writes gay porn. His boyfriend is a flaming atheist, and his boyfriend’s Protestant grandmother considers Catholicism a sin worse than sodomy. From Pentecost to Pride, from the books of the Bible to the articles of the Advocate, Pomfret’s wry, hysterically funny memoir maps with matchless humor the full spectrum of the gay Catholic experience.
The spiritual journey of a young artist at mid-20th century, Since My Last Confession sensitively probes the faith and doubts of a pre-Vatican II cradle-born Roman Catholic. Luke at an early age is profoundly influenced by priests and nuns at school, later at work he pursues, in the army during World War II, and in post-war Europe while a graduate student in Florence. A wide circle of friends and experiences introduce him to other Christian denominations and other faiths, contributing to struggles he’s known with Catholic dogma since a teenager. Irrevocably bound to a Church which he questions and from which he’s alienated, Luke’s spiritual dilemma is heightened by professional setbacks, economic hardships, and rootlessness. When he falls in love with a privileged Jewish college student, Esther, he’s forced to face hard decisions about his faith, his work, commitments. A novel in which characters struggle with the persistent dichotomies of the sacred and the profane, Since My Last Confession confronts the challenges facing all of good faith during tumultuous eras of radical social change.
When she starts her new job as a parole officer, Krissie is happy and in love. Then she meets convicted murderer Jeremy, and begins to believe he may be innocent. Her growing obsession with his case threatens to jeopardise everything - her job, her relationship and her life. Perfect for fans of Julia Crouch, Sophie Hannah and Laura Lippman, My Last Confession is a dark and compelling psychological thriller that traces a young parole officer and her dangerous obsession with a convicted murderer. Helen FitzGerald is also the acclaimed author of The Cry, which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. 'Thinking woman's noir.' Sunday Telegraph 'Cool, classy and sexy.' Daily Mirror 'A story that adeptly escalates to a satisfyingly shocking climax.' Big Issue
Vlad: The Last Confession is a novel about the real man behind the Bram Stoker myth. It tells of the Prince, the warrior, the lover, the torturer, the survivor and, ultimately, the hero. Dracula. A name of horror, depravity and the darkest sensuality. Yet the real Dracula was just as alluring, just as terrifying, his tale not one of a monster but of a man...and a contradiction. His tale is told by those who knew him best. The only woman he ever loved...and whom he has to sacrifice. His closest comrade... and traitor. And his priest, betraying the secrets of the confessional to reveal the mind of the man history would forever remember as The Impaler. This is the story of the man behind the legend ... as it has never been told before. "Trust nothing that you've heard." Winter 1431, a son is born to the Prince of Transylvania. His father christened him "Vlad." His people knew him as "The Dragon's Son." His enemies reviled him as "Tepes"—The Impaler. He became the hero of a nation. We know him as Dracula.
Scott Pomfret serves as a lector at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston. He also writes gay porn. His boyfriend is a flaming atheist, and his boyfriend's Protestant grandmother considers Catholicism a sin worse than sodomy. From Pentecost to Pride, from the books of the Bible to the articles of the Advocate, Pomfret's wry, hysterically funny memoir maps with matchless humor the full spectrum of the gay Catholic experience.
It took so long to bring this book to print. I don't quite know why. I think maybe a few people had to die first. What I know now is that for a long time I stopped myself from getting my poetry out into the big, blue world because I followed the internal rule that I learned in my family, which was "this doesn't go outside the family." Since most of my writing was about my family this presented a conundrum. It took many years to break this rule and I still fight it almost every time I sit down to write. The book's grand themes: Death, Loss, Divorce, Bad Relationships, Toxic Family Issues, Addiction & My Catholic Upbringing. And, before you say "Wow, what a bummer," you need to know that I write with great humor and grace. That's what they say about me anyway. I like to think my work tragic and comic in the Irish tradition. Or, as my good friend, W.B. Yeats wrote, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." Just change "he" to "she" and that should explain a great deal of my world view. My work has been compared to Sharon Olds, Hal Sirowitz and David Sedaris. I'm not making that up. It really has been compared to those writers. Enough! Read a few of my poems and judge for yourself.
When Autumn Casterly goes missing after a drug deal gone wrong, her estranged younger sister, Ivy, searches for her, uncovering dark secrets along the way.
Phil Cresta was no run-of-the-mill thief. Mastermind of the legendary Brink's armored truck robbery and a string of countless other high-stakes heists, he stole more than ten million dollars in escapades that often were breathtakingly daring and at times marvelously inventive. The robberies baffled both police and fellow outlaws for decades, and most of the crimes remain unsolved today. Now the open case files of these memorable thefts can be closed as Cresta himself provides the true story on how they were planned and carried out. Born in Boston's North End in 1928, Cresta was raised in an abusive household. He was sent to Concord Reformatory as a teenager, where he learned the craft of picking locks, a skill later honed during stays at the Charlestown and Walpole prisons in Massachusetts. Following the Brinks robbery in 1968, he was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, but eluded the law for five years, living in Chicago under an assumed name. After serving time at Walpole for the Brinks job, Cresta died penniless in Chicago in 1995. Yet shortly before his death, he revealed the full extent of his astonishing capers to coauthor Bill Crowley, a retired Boston police detective. Drawing from their extensive conversations, this riveting page-turner chronicles how Cresta, along with partners "Angelo" and "Tony," pulled off robberies of jewelers, rare coin dealers, furriers, and armored trucks, detailing the meticulous planning that marked his criminal career. Cresta's final accounting is brimming with vivid tales of betrayal, murder, and intrigue as well as a colorful cast of characters, including mob bosses, wise guys, informants, paid "ears," corrupt judges, a Hollywood starlet, and even the Mayor of Chicago. Filled with drama, tension, and humor, this absorbing saga takes the reader inside the dangerous yet exhilarating world of a life dedicated to crime.
The Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a beautiful, prayerful book by Fr. Mike Schmitz and Fr. Josh Johnson which helps Catholics enter in to the Sacrament of Reconciliation more deeply.
People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams—even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?
