It’s a long time since I posted on this blog. I’ve been using other means—a very sporadic newsletter, occasional Substack posts, and Facebook—to keep in touch with my readers. Over the coming months, I’ll be making a concerted effort to make my communication with you more focused, frequent, and consistent, but I expect to be using Substack as my primary means of reaching out. Please find me there at https://katherinebolgerhyde.substack.com/.
The last couple of years have seen big changes in my life on all levels—personal, professional, and writing. My husband retired and had heart surgery. We moved from our long-time home in California to Vancouver, Washington, to conserve our limited resources and to be near our daughters and four (soon to be five!) grandchildren. I retired after thirty years as an editor with Ancient Faith Publishing, though I’m still doing freelance editing and coaching part-time.
My writing/publishing life has also seen big changes. After two standalones and six volumes of Crime with the Classics, Severn House decided my sales numbers did not justify their doing any more of my books. And Ancient Faith, which had brought out my novel THE VESTIBULE OF HEAVEN as well as several children’s books, concluded that adult fiction in general wasn’t working for them. Suddenly my unpublished novels were poor little orphans left begging in the snow, with no one to take them in.
So I’m currently testing out a couple of new publishing directions. My previously published YA fantasy, THE DOME-SINGER OF FALENDA, is part of a successful Kickstarter run by Wood between the Worlds Press and will soon be reissued with a new cover and a new hardcover edition. I’m planning to publish the final volume of Crime with the Classics, JUSTICE WITH JAMES, through a Kickstarter of my own (stay tuned!). And the other orphaned novel, THE GHOSTWRITER, has been picked up by Chrism Press and is due to come out in August 2026. A recently completed novel, THE THIN PLACE, is waiting in the wings to see which of these new publishing avenues will be best for it.
In a sense, I’m going in new directions in terms of content as well. Or it might be more accurate to say that I’m returning to the direction of my early work, before I started writing Crime with the Classics: faith-based fiction. THE VESTIBULE OF HEAVEN, THE DOME-SINGER OF FALENDA, and THE GHOSTWRITER were all written before I first tried my hand at mystery, and all three embody my Orthodox faith in more explicit ways than the series does. THE THIN PLACE returns to those roots. The new historical mystery series I’m just beginning to write incorporates the faith element—integral to the society of 14th-century England—in the genre that’s built my career so far. I hope it will appeal to lovers of sacramental fiction as well as to mystery fans.
Don’t be alarmed when I speak of faith-based fiction. This is not the squeaky-clean, in-your-face type of “Christian fiction” that may have left a bad taste in your mouth if you’ve ever tried it, but fiction that faces the real world head-on and insists that it can be redeemed. That goodness is still relevant. That truth can be upheld. That beauty can be found.
This is the direction you can expect to find in everything that comes from my pen in the years to come. It may take the form of YA fantasy, contemporary fiction, historical mystery, or who-knows-what-else, but at the back of it will always be the fundamental assertion that Beauty will save the world.
I hope you, my loyal readers, will follow me in my various new directions. Your input is always welcome. Godspeed to you all, and happy reading!
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