Pastoral minister's short story collection moves from fantasy to faith, horror to hope

By: Veronica Dale
 
DETROIT - Jan. 29, 2015 - PRLog -- Veronica Dale, who has served as a pastoral minister for over two decades, has launched her first fiction book Night Cruiser: Short Stories about Creepy, Amusing, or Spiritual Encounters with the Shadow. The book has already garnered four Five-Star reviews. This may be because the collection, according to one customer, is “fun, spooky, and strange.” Or, as another wrote, because it casts a “shining light of hope and courage.”

“I know it’s unusual to find a mix of dark fantasy, humor, and spirituality in a short story collection,” Dale said, “but I think many of us are looking for a little hope to get us through the day. In my work as a pastoral minister I was inspired by how men and women of every religious persuasion were able to find strength in the midst of some very hard times.”

Dale explained that “the shadow” in her ten stories is different for each character. “For Isabel, whose husband has left her, it’s the whisper from the basement that invites her to come on down. For second-grader Emma, it’s the tortured spirit that has haunted her family for generations. For Deacon William, it’s the damaged android that frightens visitors in the retreat house halls.”

According to psychologist Carl Jung, Dale said, we all have a shadow side. “It’s that part of ourselves we’re not proud of and would rather not look at. The more we run away from that, the more we’ll project it into our horror movies, our fears, and even onto other people or groups. Those who meet the moral challenge of dealing with their own dark side, though, will find an inner light.”

Dale said that she bases her stories on Jung’s insights, but also on J.R.R. Tolkien’s belief that even the worst catastrophe can be redeemed, and from the faith of the medieval woman mystic Julian of Norwich.

Dale’s fiction has won national recognition from Writer’s Digest, National League of American Pen Women, and Writers of the Future. She is currently working on the four-book fantasy series Coin of Rulve and serves on the board of Detroit Working Writers. Her website is http://www.veronicadale.com

Night Cruiser is available in both digital and paperback formats at http://amzn.to/1wzvZ6z.
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Source:Veronica Dale
Email:***@veronicadale.com Email Verified
Tags:Short Story Collections, Fantasy Fiction, Dark Humor
Industry:Books, Religion
Location:Detroit - Michigan - United States
Subject:Products
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