And now Charis rejoices...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Saw a St. Valentine in a glass coffin last year in Stephansdom in Vienna.
He had the fanciest curled-toed shoes!

Medieval images of love 

at medievalists. net

UPDATED CHARIS PAGE

Releasing pre-publication comments from Makoto Fujimura, John Wilson, Augustine Wetta, Emily Barton, and Fiorella De Maria (novelists/painter-writer/editor), together with the flap copy book description and a note from Clive Hicks-Jenkins on the updated page for my wild Puritan adventure, Charis in the World of Wonders, out in March from Ignatius. 

MORE PRAISE FOR CHARIS

The ever-thoughtful John Wilson has a new essay up at First Things, and it includes lovely comments on Charis in the World of Wonders. And he calls my illuminator "the incomparable Clive Hicks-Jenkins." I may have to call him Clive the Incomparable from now on...

You may read the whole essay, "Desiderata," at First Things, and here is the much-to-be-desired Marly-and-Clive paragraph for your perusal:

A writer I greatly admire and have sometimes written about, Marly Youmans, has a new book coming late in March from Ignatius Press: Charis in the World of Wonders, with cover art and illustrations by the incomparable Clive Hicks-Jenkins. This novel, set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, should occasion a piece that tackles the whole sweep of Youmans’s work. She’s not part of any fashionable faction, and much as I would be delighted and surprised to see it receive generous attention in the New York Times Book Review and other such outlets, I am mainly hoping that First Things, Commonweal, Image, and other kindred publications will not let this opportunity pass.

The morning began with icefall that has coated every twig, needle, and leaf of summer. And it has continued onto a remarkably thick and beautiful snowfall. But such encouragement makes me feel warm and cosy...

The Fool rejoices...

Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

"The Book of the Red King seems to me like a major work, 

if that is a term anyone still uses in the context of poetry."

--Amateur Reader at Wuthering Expectations

So pleased to have the marvelous, wide-ranging Amateur Reader (aka Tom) make a post about The Book of the Red King. (He also mentions a post from novelist Scott G. F. Bailey--always insightful--about the book, and some remarks from poet and novelist Fred Chappell.) I love how he does not insist on pinning down meaning but lets the book keep its strange freedoms.

And here it is. 

NCLR

A poem and two reviews by me,

plus an interview in the NCLROnline,

plus much more...

Click on this link, and then click 

on the image of the cover you see.
Or click individual links below.

"The Woman in the Walls" 

James Applewhite finalist

p. 55

A Virtual Road-Trip Interview:

Conversations with Five Expatriate

North Carolina Writers

by George Hovis p. 56

Dale Ray Phillips p. 57

Tara Powell p. 60

De'Shawn Charles Winslow p. 66

Marly Youmans p. 68

Robert Morgan p. 75
(There's also a long piece about George Hovis
and his new book, The Skin Artist, on p. 44.)

Images of Mystery

(reviews of two new Nieman books)

A teaser

Charis in the World of Wonders
(a novel from Ignatius)
now in pre-order
The Book of the Red King
(poetry fromPhoenicia Publishing)
is out!
Both with the stellar illumination
of Clive Hicks-Jenkins

Advance reader comments aka blurbs for Charis in the World of Wonders are in and looking great. Here's one for a teaser, from wonderful novelist Emily Barton...

“Youmans’ magnificent storyteller brings the early days of Europeans on the American continent vividly to life, in all their wonder and sorrow.”
—Emily Barton, Author of Brookland and The Book of Esther