The pressure is building, and an outlet must be found. VENT is a collection of stories set against one of the most pivotal backdrops in our lives: high school graduation. The characters in this assemblage of short fiction are as varied as the young men and women whose footsteps echo down the corridors of America's schools. Yet there is unity, too. Unity of place. Unity of angst. Unity of hope. VENT captures the turbulent final year of high school with genuine warmth and humor as the protagonists search for excitement, acceptance, and above all else, healthy release. Pressure can be deadly. And if they don't want to explode, each must learn to vent.

The Catholic University Of America, Patristic Studies, V53.

The Catholic University Of America, Patristic Studies, V53.

My books are modern cloak- and dagger adventures really. Although considering on-going sensitive events, setting them up in North-Korea at the start was probably not such a good idea.

Still, as a potter I favour Korean ceramics above all.

So I write about a French-Korean heroine that sets out with the idea to save her country from becoming a major battlefield. Things go wrong and she is imprisoned for espionage. Unable to confess to her true actions, she keeps quiet and survives hell until, at the end of the first chapter, she's rescued by British marines.

They still do sail the world, don't they?

Throughout the book the pace is fast with many twists and turns, while I write about places I visited and characters I would like to have met (though not the villains) with events that tend to blow up in one's face due to accidental twists of words or a mere hesitation. To my own surprise I am on my fourth book already with the hard core of the main characters still with me, having fun daily.

Hope you will too.

Among New Orleans most compelling stories is that of the Sisters of the Holy Family, which was founded in the 19th century and still thrives today. The community s difficult early years are portrayed in a remarkable account by one of the sisters, Mary Bernard Deggs. While Deggs did not officially join the community until 1873, as a student at the sisters early school she would have known Henriette Delille and the other founders. It was not until 1852 that the sisters were able to take their first official vows and exchange their blue percale gowns for black ones, and it was 1873 before they were permitted to wear a formal religious habit. This community of mixed race faced almost insurmountable obstacles, but the women remained unflagging in their dedication to the poor, to education, and to the care of the elderly and the orphaned to the needs of "their people."

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To sing the praises of Mary, Bernard studies and contemplates her there where God has so perfectly revealed her, in the Scriptures, taking as his text the passage from Luke, "An Angel was sent to a virgin named Mary." In the company of the Church Fathers and with the help of the liturgy, he uses Holy Writ to provide both the content of what he says and the form in which he says it. Theologically the sermons are thoroughly traditional; in the beauty of their expression they are unparalleled.