… Trish said to me…
Trisha J. Wooldridge met Patty, owner of Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, some years back through science fiction and fantasy conventions. Trish is the current president of Broad Universe, a non-profit organization that promotes, honors, and celebrates women’s contributions to science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all the genres in between. Before presidency, however, Trish was the readings & events coordinator. During the painful bridge construction, a fateful lunch date led Trish to start helping out with the register on Mondays… and from there, she started handling events and such for the bookstore, too.
When not at the bookstore, Trish is a senior editor at Spencer Hill Press and a pubished author of several short stories and her first novel, The Kelpie, comes out December 2013.
Trisha recommends books by Madeleine L’Engle!
Anything by Madeleine L’Engle. Just anything. I started out reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which is the third in her Murray series, because it had the picture of a flying unicorn on the cover, and I was obsessed with unicorns at the time… ok, well, I still am, but I digress. I had never read anything like this book before: it melded together science fiction, fantasy, and faith—with none of them contradicting each other. It was something my 12-year-old self needed to read when her Sunday school and various other outlets were saying that books about fantasy and science fiction were BAD. The characters are a functioning – albeit with reasonably flawed – family that clearly loves and supports each other through all the books in this series – all of which I quickly obtained and read. And this real, family chemistry that allows for a coexistence of faith, science, and fantasy, is something that has inspired me for years and that I haven’t quite found in any other author.
Another bonus is that while there are several series, and the do have an order, you don’t have to read them in order. Each book can be read as a stand alone.
The books are mid-grade or YA level, but even as an adult, I go back to them, reread, and continue to learn and be moved. Consider enjoying L’Engle’s books as a family!
