President Trump says we’re at war Britain was at war in 1940 Two different guests on two different news shows last night likened the assault of this virus to the London Blitz. For 57 consecutive days and nights from September 1940 to May 1941, German bombers bombarded London in an attempt to destroy the city and demoralize the English people. They fled to the Underground stations and hunkered down. Even though some 48,000 British civilians were killed and another 139,000 were wounded, the British did not lose heart and fought on. Sound a wee bit familiar? Fear of deathRead more “Does FEAR Have Your EAR?”
Main Content
The Choice
The Series

What Voices Influence Your Choices?
Do you hear voices? I do. If we’re honest, we’ll admit we all hear voices—those conflicting inner voices inside our heads. They whisper or SHOUT. And, even have names. Sometimes they sound like your mom or dad repeating messages of Encouragement or Ridicule. Or maybe scripture you had to memorize speaks Wisdom. Conscience usually takes on a still small voice. Culture booms so loud in our minds making its messages impossible to ignore.
On this site we’ll learn more about the voices from people who know how to defeat or welcome them. You’ll have an opportunity to share your struggles and solutions. It’s our choice, who will we listen to? Join me. You never know whom you might meet.
Book 1 of the Choice Series
Faced with your greatest choices, how do you know which one is right?
It is 1952 Britain. The war is over, but not the personal battles for beautiful Lily Whitely; brilliant Phila Claiborne; blueblood Hugh Claiborne; brave Ollie Ogilvie; and beguiling Dan McCauley.
But they have an enemy more insidious than they could ever have imagined, one bent on destroying their dreams – and their souls.
They find themselves tangled in a web of personal crises and deception, in London and Oxford, where they encounter angels, dark whispers, and choices that will change their lives forever.
Infused with the influences (and appearances) of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Nan Rinella has crafted a powerful tale about the decisions we make (and where those decisions take us) that will delight readers far beyond their expectations.
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Nan Rinella
A Hobbit in Narnia
What? If you’re a J. R. R. Tolkien & C. S. Lewis fan, you get the gist. Once upon a time (2004), this petite down-to-earth journalist ventured into “The Fantastic Worlds of C. S. Lewis & J. R. R. Tolkien” (a C.S. Lewis Foundation, CSLF, event)— my own personal Narnia (a world inhabited with academic scholars—elves, so to speak). I went forth in fear and trembling after reading the academic tomes of some of the speakers. Once there, I found a home-away-from-home. In 2009 the CSLF president invited me to direct its Texas retreats.
Meantime get to know them. The two English ingénues (love the definition: innocent, unsophisticated young women). The giant Scottish hero. The cultured Royal Navy Intelligence operative. The cocky California scholar and former fighter pilot.
The Dublin Press journalist Nan Rinella will be interviewing Dreams in the Distance and Hopes on the Horizon author Nan Rinella and her characters.
Special Features

LOTR to The Choice andConception
Learn MoreThe Making of The Choice

A Writer's Rolemodels
Learn MoreC.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Watch Song Videos withPowerful Messages
View HereSongs about Voices & Choices

Tips and Tricksfor Globe TrottingWomen
Learn MoreThe Turquoise Traveler
Quotes
“They do prepare tea properly at the embassy, but outside they just throw a bag in a cup and pour on hot, but not necessarily boiling water.” “Roughing it are you, son, in the colonies?” “Tough duty, sir.”
Who let me brother in me brain?
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger, Strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had?
You ask, what is our aim? . . . It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
“So, should I desire tae court ye, milady, I would hae to ride up to your castle on me white stallion an’ fight another knight frae ye?” “Indeed, Sir Knight.” O. C. hooted. “Weel, milady, I fear I left me stallion an’ armor back in me castle.” He said it so matter-of-factly, she almost believed he meant it.
Phila hated the way the war lingered on the edge of all of life’s pieces.
History often resembles myth, because they are both ultimately of the same stuff.
To construct plausible and moving ‘other worlds’you must draw on the only real ‘other world’ we know, that of the Spirit.
“To be exact, Eve wanted to be equal to God. We only want to be equal with men.” She gazed at him, challenging.
Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
When people tire of the forty-eight-minute television novel, they will yearn for a substantial book within whose covers they can live imaginatively for weeks. The eighteenth-century, discursive-type novel will enjoy a vigorous rebirth, because readers demand it.
It will take more than affronts from a little person with a big opinion of herself to influence those with whom I choose to consort.
“Guid gear comes in sma’ bulk.” Ay, Nana, good things do come in small packages. She’s a bonny lass.
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.
Oh, precious little Kit and her book about the wardrobe. If only I could enter a magic place where the last few months hadn’t happened and be happy again. But make-believe doesn’t happen, there are no magic wardrobes, and one can’t undo the past.
Coming Soon in 2020
Hopes on the Horizon
Book 2 of The Choice Series
It’s the New Year 1953. The Second World War has been over for eight years. But the war for the souls of Hugh Claiborne, Ollie Ogilvie, and Dan McCauley rages on. Dreams in the Distance revealed that this enemy has a range of weapons so insidious and deadly—and, oh so very subtle—aimed at infiltrating their minds intent on defeating their hopes. In Hopes on the Horizon the battle continues for these veterans and the young ingénues, Lily Whitely and Phila Claiborne.
-From Hopes on the Horizon prologue
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Recent from Blog
THE CHOICE WWII Veteran Morns Lost Love
· by Nan Rinella · In: Character Sketches, Dreams in the Distance

Dateline Oxford 1952— St Valentine’s Day Dublin Press reporter interviews Dreams in the Distance O. C. Ogilvie Reporter – Sergeant Ogilvie, may I have a word? C. – Aye. Reporter – Do you know what day it is? C. – Believe ’tis Thursday. Reporter – I mean the holiday. C. – Och, dinna believe I do, sairy. Reporter – It’s St Valentine’s Day. Have you a sweetheart Sergeant. C. – Och, ye can go ahead an’ call me Ollie if ye wish. An’ naw, I dinna. Reporter – A fine handsome veteran like yourself, noRead more “THE CHOICE WWII Veteran Morns Lost Love”
Still Looking for Prince Charming on Valentine’s Day
· by Nan Rinella · In: Character Sketches, Dreams in the Distance

Dublin Press reporter interviews Dreams in the Distance Phila Claiborne Reporter – How’s it looking for tonight Ms. Claiborne? Phila – As in a date? Surely you jest. As in young men knocking my father’s door down to court me? I’m plain, pudgy, and percipient, with insane frizzy red hair, a riot of freckles, no fashion sense, an intellect that petrifies the male sex, and a photographic mind that makes me a victor in any contest. What kind of chap will run barefoot over cut glass to date me? Reporter – It can’t be all that bad. YouRead more “Still Looking for Prince Charming on Valentine’s Day”
Interview with the Author of THE CHOICE Series
· by Nan Rinella · In: Character Sketches, Dreams in the Distance

Dublin Press Reporter interviews Nan Rinella The first in this SKETCHES series Whatever Happened to Susan? Reporter – “Where do you get your ideas?” is a common question asked of authors. So, where did you get the idea for your series THE CHOICE and the first two books, Dreams in the Distance and Hopes on the Horizon? Author – “Whatever happened to Susan?” was the question left unanswered at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Last Battle, the seventh and final book of the series, all the leading characters perish in aRead more “Interview with the Author of THE CHOICE Series”
Reflections on Pearl Harbor
· by Nan Rinella · In: Dreams in the Distance

On Friday, December 7th, 1973, I drove from Wheeler Field in the center of Oahu down through Kolekole Pass towards the Honolulu International Airport . . . and it occurred to me . . . Today is December 7th. I did a quick calculation—73-41=32 years ago. It was about 7ish, not a Sunday, but so quiet it might as well be. I glanced back towards Wheeler, Scofield Barracks, and the small village of Wahiawa, & further makai (towards the ocean) the beach at Haleiwa. That was the direction the Japanese planes came from. Kolekole Pass As I descended down through theRead more “Reflections on Pearl Harbor”