The
Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman
by
Robin Gregory
Genre:
Fantasy, Magical Realism
Early
1900s, Western America. A lonely, disabled boy with a nasty temper
and uncontrolled mystical powers, Moojie is taken by his father to
his grandfather's wilderness farm. There, Moojie meets an
otherworldly clan of outcasts that he wants to join. Following a
series of misadventures--magical and mystical--he is summoned by the
call to a great destiny ... if only he can survive one last
terrifying trial.
Having
won a number of awards, Robin Gregory's The Improbable Wonders of
Moojie Littleman is being lauded as a classic. A haunting, visionary
tale spun in the magical realist tradition of Gabriel Garcia
Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Madeleine L'Engle's A
Wrinkle in Time, the profoundly unique voice and heart-stirring
narrative recall great works of fiction that explore the universal
desire to belong.
ROBIN
GREGORY is a devoted wife and mother, and student of mystical
teachings. Born in Pensacola, Florida, she grew up in California,
accompanied by seven siblings, and surrounded by horses, real
cowboys, and the occasional rattlesnake. She has always been drawn to
helping others, a trait that began, to her mother’s horror, with
bringing home swallow chicks stricken from their nests. She has
worked as a journalist, lay minister, and infant massage instructor
for mothers and babies at risk. Her studies include Literature and
Creative Writing at University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford
University’s Writer’s Workshop. She lives with her husband and
son in a Carmel cottage old enough to make you sneeze. “The
Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman” is her first published
novel.
GUEST POST
What
Saves Me From Discouragement
A
few years back, I was feeling pretty discouraged about my writing
career. There had been
weeks,
months, and years when my best writing efforts went unrewarded. I
could wallpaper my
living
room with rejections from publishers and agents. The little critic
inside kicked against my
visions,
daring me to think I was worthy to be a writer. With every rejection,
it hissed and snarled
and
said, “I told you so.” And if that didn’t stop me, there was
always J.K. Rowling, Diana
Galbadon,
and Zadie White to remind me of my literary irrelevance. The great
monument of
faith
in my talent had crumbled and taken heaven with it.
Around
that time, I visited the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona,
Spain. The primary
architect,
Antoni Gaudí, worked on it for 43 years, before passing on. Still
under construction
today,
it represents a century-long collaboration which is scheduled for
completion in 2020.
What
astounded me about the cathedral, beyond its mind-boggling beauty and
crafting, was that
literally
hundreds and hundreds of architects, artisans, masons, builders, and
artists formed
links
to its creation. “The creation continues incessantly through the
media of man,” said Gaudí.
In
that sense, Sagrada Familia represents how inspired visions get
erected: they start in the
imagination.
And the imagination needs the freedom to broadcast itself.
This
realization was like a slap on the face. It woke me from a stupor. It
made me remember
why
I loved writing. I gathered myself up again, remembering that I once
trusted the process like
a
child. I used to enter so fully into writing that I would laugh and
cry and growl as I went along.
With
this recollection, the “cathedral” of inspiration reappeared, and
I immediately resumed
writing.
Sadly,
Gaudí didn’t live long enough to see the finished Sagrada. But I
imagine it was complete
in
his mind, a testimony to heaven on earth, a living thing. In the same
way, we who build
cathedrals
out of words may not see the results hoped for. But our efforts are
not wasted. It’s the
process
that unites
us, a shared evolution. The best results are what happens to me while
I am
writing
for the pure joy of it, when I approach it as a kid playing in the
sand. That kid never gets
bogged
down with results or concerns for the future. She is fully present in
the act of creation—
free
and open. If we do not honor this part of ourselves, who will?
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
Many thanks, J.N. Sheats, for the beautiful post!☀️😊☀️ I know how busy you are, and am so grateful you took time out to led support for my giveaway. Warm blessings. 💞😊🌿
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