The Catholic Book Club discussion

9. Corinna Turner has graciously agreed to participate in our "Ask the Author" question and respond to questions - so here's your chance to ask her about the book and the choices she made while writing it.

Fair warning: Questions about what happens to characters in the future are reasonably answered by something like "you can read all about that in . . . ."

Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

1. It is obvious that you have got "conscious dismantlement," the death penalty for priests, from "quartering," which was applied to St. Edmund Campion and many more Catholic priests during the reigns of Elizabeth I of England and James I of England (VI of Scotland). My question is: Do you believe that this kind of persecution may happen in a near future time?

2. In "I am Margaret" the U.K. is a part of the Eurobloc. As the book was published in 2014, you couldn't have foreseen the Brexit (the referendum took place in 2016). What would you change in the novel, in the new situation? Or would you rather assume the Brexit won't take place, or will be reversed sometime in the future?

Manuel wrote: "Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

2. In "I am Margaret" the U.K. is a part of the Eurobloc. As the book was published in 2014, you couldn't have foreseen the Brexit (the referendum took place in 2016). What would you change in the novel, in the new situation? Or would you rather assume the Brexit won't take place, or will be reversed sometime in the future?."

Ah, I had a different spin on this - I was going to ask if Corinna was a supporter of Brexit, given her apparent views of the EU.

Manuel wrote: "Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

1. It is obvious that you have got "conscious dismantlement," the death penalty for priests, from "quartering," wh..."

John wrote: "9. Corinna Turner has graciously agreed to participate in our "Ask the Author" question and respond to questions - so here's your chance to ask her about the book and the choices s..."

1) Well, with regard to the first question, I have had some readers telling me my books are prophetic. I hope not! Personally I regard them as a warning of where we might end up if we keep going on the course we're on. So I think we could, alas, end up with some of the things in the books--or similar things--taking place, but I wouldn't say that any of it is definitely going to happen, or not quite like that. More immediately, I think non-violent persecution may step up, with faithful Christians in the West having to go to prison or face stiff fines or be openly and legally excluded from certain jobs. Obviously in many parts of the world, Christians face violent persecution on a daily basis, so we have a long way to go before we have it as badly, and Lord willing, it may not happen.

2) I wrote I Am Margaret in 2009, and the next three books (up to Bane's Eyes) before the end of 2010, so obviously at that point a referendum wasn't even a glimmer in any politician's eye. The EuroGov were never meant to actually be the EU, only some future version that might or might not have developed seamlessly from what we have at the moment. I have certainly been somewhat of an EU-sceptic for some time so the portrayal of the EuroGov was another warning, but it was also simply a case that there needed to be an authoritarian government of a large block of countries and something that had developed from the EU was the obvious (and back then, uncontroversial!) choice. I'm aware that there's a danger that it now makes me look like a fanatical Brexiteer!

As to Brexit, I was an excessively conflicted voter. My heart and much of my reason wanted to vote Leave, but I eventually voted Remain by a whisker because pragmatically I felt rather too sure that we would not manage to Brexit properly and would end up with a 'worst of both worlds' deal, along with a more principled awareness that 'united we stand, divided we fall', and some other miscellaneous reasons. However, I'm rather hoping (though perhaps it's cowardly to do so) that we don't end up with a second referendum, simply because I'm not sure which way I would vote now. It was an impossible decision the first time and has only become more so.

What would I change if I wrote the novel now? Because the EuroGov were not supposed to be the actual current EU, only their heirs, potentially several times removed, I might well write it the same way, only I would probably include more backstory as to how they came to be in power. But equally possibly, if I were actually writing it now, it might simply develop differently in my head. Maybe Britain would be an authoritarian island with everyone trying to reach Free Europe instead of Free Africa. Who knows? That's an impossible one to predict.

Corinna wrote: "Manuel wrote: "Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

1. It is obvious that you have got "conscious dismantlement,"...

...with regard to the first question, I have had some readers telling me my books are prophetic. I hope not! Personally I regard them as a warning of where we might end up if we keep going on the course we're on. "

When I asked this question to my wife, she said: "But we are already there! Aren't unborn babies being dismantled every day?"

Manuel wrote: "Corinna wrote: "Manuel wrote: "Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

1. It is obvious that you have got "conscious dismantlement,"...

...with regard to..."

I had the same thought - dismantled and sold.

And then recently, Justice Nathalie Lieven in the U.K. ordered a woman to have an abortion. A ruling that was overturned, thank God. This time.

I have just learned that Amazon has decided to ban the works of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, so they are no longer available. If you search for them by his name you get nothing that relates to his work or theories. This decision was apparently prompted by objections from ever more totalitarian LGBTQ activists (Nicolosi is an advocate of conversion therapy). Which creates a problem and brings me to my question.

Later this summer, my wife and I are continuing our walk on the Camino, this year from Condom in Gascony to Pamplona in Spain.
I had decided to bring the next several books in this series (in e-book form) on this year's walk, but I feel that Amazon has crossed a line and I will not buy from them. So can I buy your books without patronizing Amazon? Is there a way to buy your books in e-book format without supporting Amazon?

I do have questions about I Am Margaret, and will get to them eventually, I promise.

Whilst I have serious reservations about many kinds of 'conversion therapy' that is not the point. This type of censorship ought to alarm absolutely everyone. I have one series in Kindle Select (meaning the ebook is exclusive to Kindle) but because of this I have just cancelled the re-enrolment and in October I will be free to publish an ePub. I will not hand more power to Amazon by helping them to have a monopoly.

As to where you can find the rest of my books, the I Am Margaret series, Someday, Mandy Lamb and the Full Moon, and Elfling are all available at Smashwords in a wide range of formats, here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/sear...

Theoretically they are supposed to be available from many other ebook outlets as well, but I need to look into what's going on with that, because Barnes & Noble weren't showing both editions (UK & US) last time I checked. But you can get at least one of the editions from a wide range of outlets. You could go to your favourite store and check what they've got.

Manuel wrote: "Corinna wrote: "Manuel wrote: "Thanks, Corinna, for offering to answer our questions. At this point I have two:

1. It is obvious that you have got "conscious dismantlement,"...

...with regard to..."

I agree we certainly have elements of this already. Think of the murderous organ harvesting from criminals, Falon Gong, House Christians, and other minorities in China. And plenty of other examples.

But although cutting up and selling an unborn baby is just as wrong as cutting up and selling an 18-year-old, I think that because our society is currently not in agreement as to whether an unborn baby is in fact an unborn baby, it does not represent the same level of moral collapse for society as a whole. For society to accept state orchestrated dismantling of teenagers would be a low of a whole new level (even though morally it's no different). And I think we still have a way to go. Though it's true that state control over such issues is edging up in an alarming way.

I did check Barnes and Noble for Margaret, but it was only available on order for $15 and Amazon was available already for much less. On the other issue, I read that China is removing body parts for recycling from live (unwilling?) donors. Dystopia is real and growing more powerful. We lost a wonderful Texas rep in a surprise "victory" in our last election. There were reports of funny business with the machines at city hall, and in the county several were arrested for a phony ballot ring. Nevertheless, our rep (who is Catholic and a member of our parish) lost--in a traditionally conservative district--to a lesbian carpenter lawyer with a "wife" whose only visible activity in her first session was to introduce LGBT privilege and what were dubbed "Ban the Bible" bills. Thankfully none of them passed, but she also helped defeat some measures which would have provided badly needed property tax relief. I do not believe she won fairly, and she was backed by a powerful Democrat family. Did any of us ever dream we would have governors championing the outright murder of full term babies?

Oops--i meant carpetbagger, not carpenter! She is a recent Texas transplant.

Corinna, I do have a question. I'm interested in why/how the Catholic characters are so familiar and fluent in Latin. I grew up going to daily Latin Mass in Catholic schools, but very few people know or even remember the Church Latin now.

Corinna, I have another question: Margo says that she is afraid Bane will learn about her supposed relation with Jon before she can explain. But how could he learn about it? All the girls have been forbidden to mention the fact that Jon is sleeping in their dorm. It's to be assumed that censors would be specially attentive to prevent it. Even Margo has to resort to using the eagle symbol to mention Jon in her letters. The other girls in her dorm wouldn't dare to mention him. So why is she afraid?

Madeleine has asked one of my questions, another one is why there don't seem to be any Christians about other than Catholics. There are references to Jews and Muslims, but not explicitly other Christians - was there a reason for that?

Another good question, John!

Madeleine wrote: "Corinna, I do have a question. I'm interested in why/how the Catholic characters are so familiar and fluent in Latin. I grew up going to daily Latin Mass in Catholic schools, but very few people kn..."

I never really go into this in the books, but I always imagined that as the pressure on the Church grew and the believing community became smaller and more committed and the need and desire for their own culture grew as well, that people made a positive effort to learn it (like Tolkien fans learning elvish!). Before faith became totally and completely illegal, it would have allowed a degree of privacy for faith conversations and communications, after all. By the time faith became totally illegal Latin was well re-established and they maintained it as 'their' language, the language of the Church.

Manuel wrote: "Corinna, I have another question: Margo says that she is afraid Bane will learn about her supposed relation with Jon before she can explain. But how could he learn about it? All the girls have been..."

She's afraid because rumours have a habit of slipping out of practically anywhere. Think how many people know Jon's in there? Not just the reAssignees but all the guards too. People gossip. Girls may make allusions in their letters that aren't enough to get censored but add up to give the game away. So yes, the facility would be trying to keep it quiet, but there's a pretty good chance they'd fail, in the long run. There's also a line in the book something like 'no way could the censors work overtime on the facilities letters for the next two years. The most they could achieve was that when Jon's parents found out and inquired, he assured them all was well.'

John wrote: "Madeleine has asked one of my questions, another one is why there don't seem to be any Christians about other than Catholics. There are references to Jews and Muslims, but not explicitly other Chri..."

When writing book 1, I actually envisioned that most of the other groups of Christians had by this time been reabsorbed into the Catholic Church, as a consequence of the persecution. There's another 'stream' of the Underground that's made up of a few really far-out Protestants who didn't reconcile, but Margo's 'stream' of the Underground is just the Christian Church as it is by then, almost fully re-united. You notice it is never referred to anywhere in the series as the 'Roman' Catholic Church. It's just the Church. I didn't go into detail about that in book 1 since I didn't want to rile up my Protestant readers, and that aspect never got developed further in the rest of the series. But that's why there aren't other Christian groups around.

I would like to thank Corinna for joining us in our read of I Am Margaret and answering our questions. I very much enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.