Fiction

“The invisible hand moved mysteriously among the members of First Community Church and struck Reverend Stephen Winthrop. The blow was meant solely for him, but it struck deeply into the inner circle of the church membership, though he would have preferred to suffer alone… The evidence appeared surreptitiously: a picture lying face upward in the path of Amelia Decker.”

6 Jan 2020

Hans Laub fell back, but he kept his balance. The Norwegian continued his advance, his fist loaded and aimed at its retreating target. “Stop, swine!” Hans Laub bellowed. “Don’t come near me!”

30 Dec 2019

“Young Doctor Jack Thrillby stepped out of the operating room and heard the newsboys in the street below shouting “MILLIONAIRE’S DAUGHTER KIDNAPPED.” “In this streamlined story, Chief Patch emphasizes the fact that a conviction of sin, with the salvation which follows, is the only solution of the country’s crime problems, since there is no permanent cure for crime apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel puts the cure where it belongs — in the heart.

23 Dec 2019

“That man is an opium-eater,” he said in a low tone, and his explanation of the effects of the drug was a diagnosis of Mr. Jocelyn’s symptoms and appearance. The firm’s sympathy for a man seemingly in poor health was transformed into disgust and antipathy, since there is less popular toleration of this weakness than of drinking habits. The very obscurity in which the vice is involved makes it seem all the more unnatural and repulsive, and it must be admitted that the fullest knowledge tends only to increase this horror and repugnance, even though pity is awakened for the wretched victim.

16 Dec 2019

“He had expected to be immediately forwarded to some dirty German prison, where he would suffer the same fate as many of his English comrades. Instead of which, however, he might almost have been a guest of honor. For this reason he could not help coming to the conclusion that this special treatment was for some purpose.

1 Dec 2019

The Charleston Earthquake of August 31, 1886 (8.6 on the Richter scale) was strong enough to be felt in Boston, Chicago, New Orleans and Milwaukee. It caused speculation that Florida had broken off the continent. [Wikipedia: 1886 Charleston earthquake] Roe’s novel explores its effects in the context of the relations between North and South after the American Civil War.

18 Nov 2019

“He remembered the thoughts that had flooded his mind when first the idea came to him to take Barcroft’s identity; to be Barcroft… He had only wondered whether he could carry out the project successfully. Then he had come to his decision. He had buried Barcroft’s body under the débris of the mining camp. He had dressed himself in Barcroft’s clothes; he had appropriated his papers, his bank-book, his possessions, his name, and had come to England as the Vicar of St. Michael’s.”

12 Nov 2019

"A Face Illumined is one of E.P. Roe's best novels in my opinion. I loved his thoughts on inner beauty. –eleniel "The author does not, as is often the case, make the moral design an excuse for literary shortcomings. His characters are stamped with a strong individuality, and depicted with a naturalness that indicates a keen student of human nature and modern life." — Boston Traveller

7 Oct 2019

“It is a book which those who begin will be pretty sure to finish, deriving from it a new impulse to the truest knighthood.” — Harper’s Magazine. “The whole tone of the work is manly and healthful. It is thoroughly noble in all its teachings and tendencies.” — Utica Herald.

30 Sep 2019

"He vindicates his right to use the talent which God has given him for the instruction and interest of the thousands who read his works." — New York Evangelist. "The hero is simple, strong, and manly; much such a man as Mr. Lincoln must have been had he turned his attention to theology instead of politics." — New York World.

23 Sep 2019