A Question For Our Readers

So.... with all the whine about the publishing of yet another dull anti-Catholic book, I was wondering why that has to be.

Gosh, there are so few good NEW stories around, not like there used to be: Chesterton, Doyle, Sayers, Carr, E.E. "Doc" Smith... Buchan's Thirty-Nine Steps, Janney's The Miracle of the Bells, Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, Brinley's The Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club, and so many others - even Dr. Thursday's The Three Relics:


Oops, sorry - that last one doesn't count. Not yet anyway. (Don't you wish it did count?)

(The irate reader grumbles: Hey Doc - I though you had a QUESTION for us.)

Yeah, I do. Hold your mouses, I had to set the stage, even if it's a toy theatre.

So, here's the question. What do you enjoy in a story? What kind do you prefer? Short, novel, trilogy, series? What would you want to read - if it was something NEWLY written? Should it be mystery, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, western, historical.... What time period? What style? (Fill in additional details here.)

Please tell us.

Yeah, I have lots to work on, but I think maybe if SOMEONE gets busy writing some good stuff, there will be less whining. At least we will start to have a clue about what Chestertonians like.

P.S. If you are wondering what I like, you might get a clue from the above list. But I had to stop somewhere. And there are other books I like which don't count as fiction, alas. Sometimes I am surprised by the CRC Handbook - or Gray's Anatomy - or even Liddell and Scott...




P.P.S. Yes, I know I have also promised that book about the Pope - but that also needed its stage to be set. I think I may be ready to start work on it very soon, though I may also have to write a prequel or two. We'll see. Someone promised to nag me to get it done, and I have not heard any nagging.