Happenings:

My story, Bad Memories, was awarded second place ion the Writerwerx University short story competition. My congratulations to the other winners, including the one who took first place. If you'd like to read the story, send me a note at chuck@chuckholmes.org, and I'll send you a free PDF.

Essential Worship received a very nice review from a minister in Pennsylvania. It's heartening to know that someone with a seminary degree found it useful. To get an idea of what it contains, you can look at the Study Guide here.

I felt some pride by association when I learned that To Kill a Mockingbird has now been banned by would-be experts on both the Right and the Left. The most recent banning was brought about by a liberal group representing (so they said) some high school students who said that the white hero (who will always be Gregory Peck to me) represents the White Savior trope and the book isn't about the students. It also said that TKAM contained 47 instances of the use of the N-word. The reason I basked in the light of Harper Lee's book being banned is that my novel, The Sing  would be subject to the same complaints. The difference, of course, is that To Kill a Mockingbird was a best seller and a great movie. I think the kids should read it, it'll give them some iidea of just how complicated the times were.

Now Available

Stories in the First Person is out. A half-dozen stories—some humorous, some sad, and some deeply introspective—examine what we do about loss, whether it's the loss of our first geat love, our best friend, or the remains of what we consider a normal life.  The contents include:

• People Not Like us
• Sitting on the Horny Wall
• Revenge So Sweet
• Fermata
• Facebook Friends
• The Occasion

Order Stories in the First Person from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or The Store @ chuckholmes.org.