Postcard from Undisclosed Location

Hoping you too are enjoying a spectacular summer in the heart of leisure

Welcome to all the new subscribers to The Comic Muse, with a special word of thanks to the new paid subscribers. Your support is so much appreciated!

A paid subscription, by the way, gives you access to my short audio course,

“A Brief Introduction to Poetic Experience”

And starting today, by way of a summertime sale, the cost of the course (a monthly subscription) has been lowered by 37.5% to just $5.

Pascal said, “The heart has its reasons that reason knows not of.”

But what are these “reasons” of the heart? How do we discover them? Live them?

These are the questions I explore in three 20-minute audio discussions.

Not for poets only, but for anyone seeking to live more deeply in “being” mode rather than constantly in “doing” mode.

3 Segments. 1 Hour. A Whole New Way of Attending to Reality.

Perfect to take along on a walk, or on your commute, or while you’re doing the dishes.

Check out the details here…

Dear Friends,

I hope you’re all having a spectacular summer so far, enjoying some deep, restorative leisure.

This isn’t a full post today, as I’m with my wife at an undisclosed location enjoying our Annual Summertime Anniversary Celebration Excursion. That’s 31 years of nuptial bliss for us. (And they said we’d never make it past 29!)

The photograph above does not indicate where we are. It’s a picture, though, of the beach I used to go to as a kid—at Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan.

When I return to your Inbox in August, I’ll be excited to share with you some news of a certain redefinition of The Comic Muse. Nothing too radical. I won’t start sharing skin care tips, or my file box of cucumber salad recipes. “Redefinition” is the best word. Going a little deeper, with a little more consistency, on what I mean by The Comic Muse and its relation to art, especially the art of fiction.

More anon.

Daniel

P.S. If you’re still on the lookout for a great summer read, I hope you’ll consider my novel, The Good Death of Kate Montclair. Here’s the latest 5-Star Amazon review, from

Kelsie Hartley

:

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I am always skeptical of newer novels, especially Christian ones. I am afraid that they will be too sappy or too preachy. When Daniel McInerny told me about his latest novel I was nervous to read it, but I needn't have been! I read this book over a weekend (in less than 3 days) and it was a page turner the whole time. It is thoroughly Christian (w/ Catholic emphasis) while not being sappy or cheesy at all. It is also so literarily referential that it adds to the fun if you are a book lover. The mentions of Brideshead Revisited and Jane Eyre are phenomenal. The story leads you through a complicated moral situation (actually a few of them) and lets your discover with the characters the truth of the world we live in. It doesn't preach, it doesn't give easy answers, but it does tell a fantastic story that will keep you thinking even after you close the book.

P.P.S. And if you’re looking for something for your middle-grade readers, ages approximately 9-14, check out my Kingdom of Patria series, beginning with the civilization-defining Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits, followed by its cavity-preventing sequels, Stoop of Mastodon Meadow and The Quest for Clodnus’s Collectibles.