​Jude
Joseph
Lovell
WRITER - FATHER - HUSBAND - BIBLIOPHILE 

FOR ANYONE who gets this far, it has been a while since I have offered any sort of public update on my writing projects. It has also been a fairly long period, for me, since I have released any new work. Since I have been publishing my books myself since 2013 and having worked steadily on my creative writing skills for 23 years before that, the result has been a nearly twelve-year period in which I released into the world fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction. I also wrote a sixteenth, a novel that was never published. That's a lot of effort. My last two titles were published in 2022 - All Men Are Brothers, my fourth collection of short stories; and The Tie Goes To The Runner, a baseball memoir. Both are available right now! 

 

That means as far as public offering of my writing goes, we are on the tail end of a nearly two-year hiatus, which is an eternity by my own standard of the last dozen years. How have you all managed to endure it?? I don't even want to know the answer. I suppose you've had to resort to other authors, or, God forbid, other media. 

 

As for me, I can assure you that I have lasted through this period the only way I know how: by working.  I have been writing all along, thanks be to God, who in His good graces has not allowed the creative well to go dry within me. I'm grateful for this. You cannot take it for granted. I like to keep going if I am able, to keep my mind limber and be continuously on the watch for new stories to tell. Right now, I am pleased to say there are three new projects in the works that I want to update you on. The first of which is not all that new, but it is coming in a new form. As for the other two, at this moment it is not clear when they will be available, but if I have anything to say about it, they are coming one way or another. 

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1. The Multitude will be available via Amazon this October, published by me, in time for holiday gift-giving. I tried to bring this out last year before the Christmas season, but I ran into an insurmountable delay with the publishing process. This year I believe the problem has been solved. This is a short story I originally wrote three or four years ago and was included in my last collection, All Men Are Brothers. Now I have made this story available as a lovely, hardcover stand-alone edition, featuring a book design from my talented nephew Caleb Lovell, a musician and a graphic designer. Also, this edition includes a beautiful cover image (right!) created digitally by my eldest daughter, Corinne E. Lovell. I am very proud of the contributions to this new edition of my story by Corinne and Caleb, and I hope readers will agree that they have helped me create a wonderful little book that is a perfect stocking stuffer! The Multitude is an original tale about a young shepherding family living in Judea in a state of exile. One luminous night, they bear witness to a celestial event in the skies that heralds the arrival of a new King. I had this idea in my head for many years before finally being able to bring it to life. 

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2. Beyond the Shadow: A Novel. This is my seventh novel, written between January 2023 and January 2024. I am currently shopping it around to small, traditional publishers. It concerns the famous monk, writer, spiritual master and peace activist Thomas Merton, a controversial figure of the 20th century who remains highly influential to Christians around the world for his renowned books and his wisdom. My novel is an alternate history tale that imagines Merton being awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature (he never won or was even nominated), but instead of traveling to Sweden to receive the award in person, he sends a fictional monk and protege of sorts to accept in his place while he continues to make a spiritual pilgrimage to southeast Asia. Then Merton unexpectedly and tragically dies in Asia (he did in real life) on the very day the prize is awarded. My novel toggles back and forth between these two central characters, one real and one imagined, while examining the various existential and spiritual questions surrounding their separate journeys. This novel lived in my mind for the better part of twenty years before I finally felt the confidence and ability to write it, and I consider it one of my strongest achievements. However, to this point I have not yet had success finding a literary agent to represent the book or a traditional publisher who is willing to accept it. Right now I am still engaged in the process of trying to find a home for this novel. It is a lengthy and frustrating effort, but I believe in this book. It is currently under evaluation by a well-known Catholic press. I will update my readers on the ultimate fate of this story. I hope and pray it will become available to you in some form over the next year. 

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3. Currently, I am hard at work on what I expect will be my fifth collection of short stories and seventeenth book overall. It is always interesting, exciting, and yet very challenging to return to the short fiction form, which in this writer's opinion is one of the toughest to wrestle with. The tentative title of my new book, which I am revealing here for the first time, is Noh Exit and Other Stories. It will feature, I think, seven new tales of various lengths and styles. Five of these new stories have been written, the most recent of which is the title story, "Noh Exit" (the image to the right relates to this strange tale); two more stories are still being written or planned. It is possible that I may add on one or two more, but that remains to be seen. These new stories have all been written this year, so they represent the latest fiction writing I have to offer. It is not clear yet if there will be an opportunity to try to publish this book traditionally or if I will self-publish as I have in the past. But I do hope to put this new collection out by the end of 2025. 

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I want to offer my sincere thanks and good vibes to anyone who has ever read any of my writings. Consult the Books page of this site for more information on my existing titles. I am looking forward to continuing my creative writing journey and bringing out these new titles as soon as I can get them to you! Follow me on X (@MuttPloughman) or Instagram (@judejosephlovell) for more updates! God bless you all. 

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JJL, August 25, 2024

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