AUTHOR
Apr 11th, 2007 by Debra Murphy
Q & A with Debra Murphy about The Mystery of Things
Debra Murphy grew up in Champaign, Illinois, and received her B.A. in History from the University of Illinois in 1976. She has published articles (with her husband, Daniel) on family, faith and culture in the U.S. and U.K. Catholic press.
Debra’s short story, "Yardsticks," won the 1998 Kay Snow award sponsored by Willamette Writers, and was published in the Winter issue (no. 37) of Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion.
Debra’s debut novel, The Mystery Things, is a mystery-thriller with Catholic and literary themes. It was published in December 2004 by Idylls Press, the small press Debra and Dan started in 2004 with the mission of "publishing the Catholic imagination." (Since then, Idylls Press has published a number of other Catholic novels, both new and classic, for adults and for young adults. See the Idylls Press website for more information.)
The Mystery of Things is the first novel in Debra’s planned Ashland Grail Cycle. The second book in the series, Muse of Fire, is scheduled to be published in 2009.
In writing The Mystery of Things Debra has drawn on her life-long love of Shakespeare, mythopoeic literature and mystery/suspense thrillers. An earlier draft of the novel was selected as one of the top ten finalists in the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association genre fiction contest.
Debra is a contributing editor for Godspy where she publishes reviews and op-ed pieces on contemporary faith and culture. An avid moviegoer and Shakespeare fan, Debra is also an essayist and reviewer for bardolatry.com, catholicmoviesonline.com and catholicfiction.net, and a blogger. Debra also edits an e-mail newsletter called Quotes for Catholic Writers.
Debra is a member of Willamette Writers, Oregon Writers Colony, and Sisters-in-Crime. Her current writing projects include a genre mystery, Book II of The Ashland Grail Cycle, and a book of essays on Catholic fiction.
Debra lives in Oregon with her husband and six children. For more about Debra, including links to many of her online articles, visit Debra’s homepage and MySpace page.
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