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WELCOME

to Traces of Magic

by

Rev. Patrick Dolan

Traces of Magic
Books by Rev. Patrick Dolan
(Available in audiobook, paperback and e-book)

Rustic characters use good magic and prayers to help unicorns and other creatures stop an assassin's guild from inserting a weather control spell into a pre-colonial Kentucky valley.

A spell book from an assassin sorcerer causes fear in the city and its destruction lets in a major devil whose very touch kills by fear.  Plans to heal the rupture begin.

Trapping that devil requires all members of the community (clerics, magic users, holy knights, druids, barbarians and rangers) to trick the devil back into hell and reweave the protection net.

After the devil is gone, the Assassins still hold the weather control spell and the characters seek to remove it from their power without damaging the valley.  

Click on any book to find out more information and see a sample of each on Amazon.

Traces of Magic - 1 minute Video Trailer

​Excerpt from the Kirkus review, where they mislabeled these "folklore literature" stories as fantasy:  "This first book in Dolan’s fantasy series has an intriguing premise, which the author discusses in some detail in the foreword; in it, he intriguingly notes that the inspiration for this novel came from his own speculation on what a Celtic-Norse community might have been like if, in the 12th century, it had settled in an uninhabited region of what’s now Kentucky."

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"Each book in the Traces of Magic series is a riveting magical adventure story so blended with reality that it will make you wonder if it really could have happened."   

--Dr. David Overley, MD, Louisville Kentucky

 About the author

 

Father Patrick Dolan is a retired US Army Brigadier General chaplain who served more than 28 years (including 4 times in Iraq)--concluding his duties with the National Guard, where he mentored all the state chaplains in the Nation, and also gave spiritual guidance to all National Guard Generals.  His experience there, as well as a PhD chemist and as a Catholic priest, flavors all the characters.

Contact info: 

Our Mother of Sorrows parish

747 Harrison Ave

Louisville, KY 40217  or

MUCL@hotmail.com

From an Educator: “Traces of Magic” is a truly epic, ingenious, imaginary journey not only across the clearly identifiable landscape of Kentucky, but across another landscape that reveals the profound impact our choices have to promote good or evil, fear or courage, love or hate. As a Catholic school principal, it is refreshing to read a book for young readers that is both adventurous and suspenseful while highlighting the importance of knowing and living the truths of our faith in a way that is transferable to real world experiences. To get the full impact, however, you must read the entire series; it is a landscape you will not easily forget!

Kathy Fehder, 

Corpus Christi Catholic School Headmaster,

Simpsonville, KY

Book of Poems: 'Vigil Light Echoes'
now available for free download
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Folks have asked for the book of poems and prayers that has just been completed. We are uploading it for free, and it can be shared with anyone interested.

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Click each box to download its article, or a hard copy can be purchased from the printer, New Hope Publications, which has added it to their catalogue.

 

Blessings!

 

Fr. Pat

Today's Blog:

Hunkered down in my quarters, which still seem so huge to me compared to what the characters in the Traces of Magic stories lived in, and watching the movement on radar of the extreme winter storm that is hitting the southeastern two thirds of the nation, I am very grateful that we still have power when so many families are without it at the moment.  My prayers go out to them as I remember the power outages daily in Iraq.

 

Masses have been cancelled locally and few vehicles are going by on Eastern Parkway, one of the main (local) thoroughfares here in Louisville.  In the basement I have a box of MREs left from years of collecting them while in the military—and I have more normal food in the kitchen—which I am actually starting to find as I continue to unpack.  Part of our penance in life is simply enduring the struggles that come with living each day.  May God help you do that well.

 

One of the passages in Book 4 of the Traces of Magic series describes Fr. Patrick Elfkind heading back to his rectory room after dark in late December, with the snow swirling around him, much as it is doing right now here.  He is “grateful that he has a warm place to stay, knowing that many do not have that blessing.”  I need to follow his good example as I seek to deal with the prostate cancer radiation treatments.  May God protect you from the cold too.  January Blessings!

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