Meet Catholic Dino-Dystopian Author Corinna Turner

It’s been a goal of mine for a while to start interviewing independent Catholic authors about their work. I get some content for my blog I don’t have to think about, and I expose a fellow writer to more people. A win/win situation for both of us. I was scrolling FB when I came upon something my FB friend Corinna wrote about something she wrote.

Hi everyone. Just appealing for help in getting this book – BREACH! – into the hands of teen boys and young men. Although adventure-lovers of either gender can enjoy it, I wrote it especially with guys in mind, because they’re so under-represented when it comes to pro-life fiction and they often have such a huge influence over an abortion decision.

BREACH! is told from the male point of view and combines a crisis pregnancy with a futuristic adventure.

It was then that I asked her if she took interviews. She said yes and it was then I crafted the blog post The Catholic Bard Wants To Interview You!. As of this publication I will have had 4 published with 6 more in the docket and some more writers who said they would submit their interview questions.

I have a few books from Ms. Turner in my Kindle library. She is a very strong presence in the Independent Catholic Fiction World. So now it is time to…

Meet Catholic Dino-Dystopian Author

Corinna Turner

1. Tell something interesting about yourself.

I’ve been bitten by a wolf. To be fair to the dear old girl, it was an accident. My feeling about the full moon remains unchanged, so she was (probably) just a 100% normal wolf.

Warren Zevon – Werewolves Of London

2. What makes a good Catholic writer?

Being a good writer and being a good Catholic! A Catholic writer of Fiction should endeavor to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit but should also remember that the primary purpose of fiction is to entertain, not to moralize. What the reader “learns” from the story should be learned through the experience of reading it, not through being lectured. There is too much well-meant but painful preachy fiction out there, so I cannot stress this enough. Unless you’re writing semi-educational fiction, skip the sermons, and even then, integrate it as much as possible with the action.

3. What do you like about being a Catholic/Christian Writer?

I like being able to allow my faith into my writing. From the ages of 14 to about 24 or 25 I wrote novels aimed at the secular market, and it felt like there was an unwritten rule “we don’t do God.” It never occurred to me to write Christian fiction because I had been put off so badly by cheesy and badly written Christian books given to me in Sunday School. Around that time, since my faith life was growing, keeping God out of my fiction began to feel more and more artificial and suffocating. Eventually, I had the idea for I Am Margaret in a dream while on retreat at a convent, and I decided to write it exactly as I would write a secular novel, except I would let the faith in. It was liberating, and the rest, as they say, is history.

4. What is the Main focus of your particular Writing or what do you like to write about?

I write fiction in a number of genres (dystopian, fantasy, dino-dystopian, spiritual thriller, saints) mostly for teens/young adults, although I have a few adult books and two for tweens. Some of them are quite gritty but have quite strong Catholic content (the dystopian I Am Margaret series, for example), some are lighter and have lighter Catholic content (the dino-dystopian unSPARKed series and my fantasy novels), and my Friends in High Places series is semi-educational fiction introducing various saints through the fictional lives and struggles of modern-day teens.

5. How does your Catholic Faith influence your writing?

All my stories are written from a Catholic worldview. This doesn’t mean that all the characters necessarily share that worldview, but ultimately the world has meaning and right and wrong exist. Usually, the characters are Catholic and live their faith to a greater or lesser extent ‘on stage.’ Sometimes things happen in my stories that are more likely to be satisfying for a Christian reader than for a secular one.

6. What’s your favorite article/Post/book/story you have written?

That’s like asking a mother to choose a favorite child, but a few favorites are:

The Raven and The Yew (Epic fantasy, not yet published)

Three Last Things; or the Hounding of Carl Jarrold, Soulless Assassin (Short spiritual thriller novella)

The Siege of Reginald Hill and Brothers (I Am Margaret series)

The Boy Who Knew: Carlo Acutis (Friends in High Places series)

Fear, A Different Kind of Freedom (unSPARKed series)

Weigh the Odds (unSPARKed series)

Break My Bones (Novella about the crucifixion through the eyes of the two thieves, not yet published)

6 million+ Stunning Free Images to Use Anywhere – Pixabay

7. What is your favorite topic/subject to write about?

I particularly like writing SFF (Science Fiction and Fantasy) whether dystopian, epic fantasy, or even space opera, because it gives the freedom to be really creative, and it also gives the freedom to explore real life things in unusual ways. Most of my stories are heavily character driven but have a lot of action.

8. Favorite scripture verse.

“The joy of the Lord is my strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10

9. What are you currently working on?

I’m just doing what I hope might be the final edit on The Raven and The Yew (although I’ve said that before!). I’m looking for a publisher for Break My Bones, I’m hoping to soon write the next unSPARKed book, Invited, plus the next Friends in High Places book which doesn’t have a title yet. I’m thinking of dusting off an old romance novel I’ve had lying around for a couple of decades. And if I ever get to it, I’m hoping to finish writing the next book in my Yesterday & Tomorrow series.

10. Name a favorite saint or Catholic or some other figure who inspires you in your life.

I find Saint Dismas (the good thief) very inspiring. He was clearly a guy who’d got a lot wrong in his life, maybe pretty much everything. He may in fact have been a thoroughly horrible person. But he really saw Jesus, despite his own terrible circumstance, and he believed in Him, and held to his faith to the very end even though Jesus had died and not yet resurrected, and he didn’t even know that he would. Which is pretty incredible.

15th-century Arab Christian Icon of Saint Dismas from the Berlin State Museum, reading “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”.

11. Who is your favorite Living Writer?

Lois McMaster Bujold, although not all her stuff is entirely “Catholic-safe.”

Some of my favorite Catholic-safe books by living Catholic writers are:

Love in the Eternal City by Rebecca W. Martin (Swiss Guard romance)

The Curse He Chose and The Light They Left by Sr. Allison Regina Gliot FSP (Catholic vampire fiction)

Heaven’s Hunter and Worth Dying For by Marie C. Keiser (space opera)

Needle of Avocation by G. M. Baker (Historical)

Most of Karina Fabian’s books, but especially the Rescue Sisters stories, and the Vern books.

Meet Catholic Sci-Fi Author Karina Fabian |
An Interview With Sci-Fi Catholic Author Karina Fabian

12. If you could have lunch with any deceased writer, who would it be, what would you eat and what would you talk about?

Maybe the Apostle John. I expect we would eat whatever was available back then and talk about Jesus!

Armenian icon of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, 13th century by the Armenian manuscript illuminator Toros Roslin

Leaving aside gospel writers, it would be interesting to meet W.E. Johns, who wrote the Biggles and Worrals books, and talk about WWI flying and how to create a hero who feels real and whom the reader roots for despite their upstanding qualities.

If W.E. Johns wasn’t free for dinner, then perhaps Saint Thomas More or Thomas á Kempis. We could try some Medieval or Tudor delicacies and discuss dialogue-style non-fiction.

13. Name a favorite movie/tv show or music you find worth sharing with others.

I recently discovered the Epic genre of music, which grew out of film trailer music, and I’m very much enjoying the work of Two Steps From Hell.

14. Can you see one of your books being made into a movie or tv series?

Can you see one of your books being made into a movie or tv series? A movie of I Am Margaret would be great (or a movie series of the series!). And I think the unSPARKed series would make a great TV series. I also think unSPARKed would make a great graphic novel/comic book series.

14 B: Was unSPARKed inspired by Jurassic Park?

I suppose it was. It was an idea I had ever since I was a teenager. What if Jurassic Park type recreations were made, and the inevitable happened: they escaped. What would life be like then? Subsequently, the Jurassic World franchise caught up with the idea and made a movie, but I was well ahead of them, LOL.

15. Favorite Historical event.

The Resurrection

This interview was published on March 5, 2026

The day these events took place

1953 – Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.

1963: The Hulu Hoop, a hip-swirling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production.