One of the reasons that Catholic authors can so easily embrace fantasy is because they have embraced the creative spirit of the Creator. God likes to create life. If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have created you or me and I wouldn’t have created these words that you are reading. Our next author Sarah has created her own fantasy world set in a library, a place that collects the created worlds of so many people. While we have no power to bend the laws of physics in the real world, in the imaginative worlds of our creative mind we are given the license to do so.
Sarah is a bright colorful soul who weaves her faith into her craft of particular storytelling. She is a storyteller eager to create and share her gifts with others. I think you’ll come away delighted at hearing what she has to say as you…
Meet Catholic Fantasy Author Sarah Crickard
-
Tell something interesting about yourself
I like to collect oddities, like preserved bugs or animals, antiques, and fossils. My favorite oddity at the moment is a glass serving tray that encapsulates butterfly wings in it. It’s an antique, and trays like it are illegal to make now because many of the butterflies had become endangered at the time. I’m glad they don’t make them anymore, but I find it fascinating to look at them under a microscope.
-
What makes a good Catholic writer?
I think a good Catholic writer is any faithful Catholic who writes. I think that a good story out of a Catholic imagination honors God.
-
What do you like about being a Catholic/Christian Writer?
I have always been a creative person, and the more I learn about the Creator, the more I feel like an image-bearer who is doing exactly what I was made to do.
-
What is the Main focus of your particular Writing or what do you like to write about?
I write Catholic fantasy. I know, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. Catholics have a rich history of honoring the arts and humanities. Great Catholic thinkers have studied mythologies and fables, and written fiction that pointed to the transcendent and fantastical reality of the resurrection. I’m not saying I’m a great Catholic thinker. I’m just a midwestern mom. But I love exploring themes like virtue, redemption, and death through fiction.
-
How does your Catholic Faith influence your writing?
I endeavor to have a well-formed faith, and that’s going to color everything I write. Catholic metaphors and allegory are all over the place in my stories.
-
What’s your favorite article/Post/book/story you have written?
Misshelved Magic is currently my only novel, and I’m very proud of it. There is more to come.
Description:
Adelina is content to be a humble librarian with no magic, organizing ordinary books and leaving the magical section of the library to the management of the mysterious creature called a cervara…until she finds a misshelved spellbook that refuses to stay in its proper place. Despite warnings from the College of Magic and her superiors, she decides to return the book to the magical section, where she befriends the mysterious creature. Contrary to what she’s been told, the cervara is trying to protect humanity from dangerous magic by hoarding it in the library. But is it also hiding an even greater danger?
Leon is a mage in his final year at the college who needs to write something impressive for his final thesis. But when he meets the charming Adelina, and she confides her discovery to him, Leon’s world turns upside down. He’s forced to try to mediate between the mysterious creature and the power-hungry magi who surround him, all while trying to pursue his favorite librarian.
Can Adelina and Leon protect the cervara from the world—and the world from the dangers of the library? Or will both sides be destroyed by the secrets they hide and the greed that drives them to seek forbidden knowledge?
Excerpt:
Library books had always been full of women who had changed history, defied fate, and spoken words of magic that could shake the very foundations of the earth. As Adelina stood blinking up at the endless shelves of books, she could imagine the collective hiss of these important women’s disapproval in the rustling pages. She herself was ordinary. Did she really belong among the records of great women of the past?
“Come along.” Melitta stood a few meters ahead, holding an oil lantern to light their way through the dim library. Her gray hair was pinned in ringlets pulled away from her wrinkled face.
-
What is your favorite topic/subject to write about?
I love discussing memento mori with anyone who’ll listen. I have a blog called First Last Thing on Substack, which is where I like to examine media and current events through the lens of Memento Mori and an eternal perspective.
Disclaimer
I’m not a theologian or professional literary critic. I’m a Midwestern, Catholic mom who really loves the art of storytelling and is trying to instill critical thinking in her children. If you disagree with any of the opinions herein… that’s awesome, and you should put it in the comments for discussion.How it started
If you have a pulse and have been in a room with someone under 20 in the past month, you’ve heard of K-pop Demon Hunters. The songs are catchy. The characters look cool. It’s got humor that anyone of any age can enjoy. But it’s got ‘demon’ in the title! I had heard about the movie and braced myself: Christian parents are going to freak out. It’s a movie about demons for kids.
But its got demon in the title. – by S.R. Crickard
-
Favorite scripture verse.
The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. Exodus 14:14
-
What are you currently working on?
The second book in the Liminal Library series is well underway, and I can’t wait for fans of Misshelved Magic to read it. It’s book 2, but it’s a prequel.
-
Name a favorite saint or Catholic or some other figure who inspires you in your life.
I’ve been learning more about St. Thomas Aquinas lately, and he has such a great way of making complex ideas clear.
-
Who is your favorite Living Writer?
This is a hard question to answer because many of my favorite authors are now people I call friends. I really have to recommend Karina Fabien, Karen Ullo, Rhonda Ortiz, and Eleanor Nicholson.
-
If you could have lunch with any deceased writer, who would it be, what would you eat, and what would you talk about?
It’s cliché to say J.R.R. Tolkien, but it would be so fascinating to sit and talk to him over a cup of tea. I’d want to talk to him as if I were a student of his, wanting to learn more about myths and language.
-
Name a favorite movie/tv show or music you find worth sharing with others.
The Promised Land is a show on YouTube. It’s like the Chosen mixed with the Office. It’s a mockumentary of Moses in the dessert and what I think is done well is that all the humor comes at the expense of the people, while maintaining a respect for God.
-
Can you see one of your books being made into a movie or tv series?
ABSOLUTELY. When I wrote Misshelved Magic, I really did watch it in my mind like a movie. I made a soundtrack for it on Spotify, and even looked into special effects to decide how I’d want some of the magical elements to be handled on the big screen. I really hope it’ll get a movie someday because I think it’d be spectacular.
-
Favorite Historical event.
I find the French Revolution fascinating. I am always learning new things about what caused the events of the revolution and its relation to America’s war for independence just before it. I had to do a lot of research about the Edwardian Era for my novel, Misshelved Magic, which is set in a magical alternate Edwardian timeline, and so I’ve come to appreciate that period of time too.
This interview was published on May 13, 2026
The day these events took place
1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1862 – Southern slave Robert Smalls steals the steamboat Planter, spirits it through Confederate lines and hands it to the United States Navy, who quickly commission it as the gunboat USS Planter and appoint Smalls as captain, thus making him the first black man to command a United States ship.
1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.
-
What else do you want people to know about anything?
That God loves them, even in the messy parts, the grief, and the uncertainty. He knows us more intimately than we know ourselves, and there’s nothing about us that will shock or repel Him. He just wants to forgive us and say, “Go and sin no more.”
Learn More
Want to Be Interviewed Also?
The Catholic Bard Wants To Interview You! |
Interview Questions For My Catholic Blog
Meet The Catholic Writers |
A Link List To The Catholic Bard’s Meet The Writer Series
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In