• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Nan Rinella

  • Home
  • About Nan
  • About the Book
  • Blog
  • Contact Nan
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Main Content

The Choice

The Series

What voices are influencing your choices?

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”
C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

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.

Show Me More

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.

Read More
Dreams in the Distance book cover

Want to get a sneak peak of the 2nd book?

Sign up for the latest blog posts and receive a free pdf prologue of book 2, Hopes on the Horizon

Did you miss the first book book, Dreams in the Distance?

If you sign up you will have a choice of downloading either or both prologues.

I respect your privacy. I will not share or sell your information.
Author Image

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.

Learn More
More About the Choice Series
Who are these characters who people THE CHOICE Series? Where did they come from? Where are they going? You’ll have to read the books. Their dreams and hopes are what the first two books are about.

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 and
Conception

Learn More

The Making of The Choice

A Writer's
Rolemodels

Learn More

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Watch Song
Videos with
Powerful Messages

View Here

Songs about Voices & Choices

Tips and Tricks
for Globe Trotting
Women

Learn More

The Turquoise Traveler

Quotes

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.

Dreams in the Distance

“To be exact, Eve wanted to be equal to God. We only want to be equal with men.” She gazed at him, challenging.

Dreams in the Distance

Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.

Laughter and Humility, G. K. Chesterton

“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.

Dreams in the Distance

Who let me brother in me brain?

Dreams in the Distance

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.

Dreams in the Distance

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?

The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

“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.”

Dreams in the Distance

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.

Winston Churchill

  Phila hated the way the war lingered on the edge of all of life’s pieces.

Dreams in the Distance

To construct plausible and moving ‘other worlds’you must draw on the only real ‘other world’ we know, that of the Spirit.

Of Other Worlds, C. S. Lewis

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.

The World Is My Home, James A. Michener

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.

First Speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, May 1940, Winston Churchill

History often resembles myth, because they are both ultimately of the same stuff.

On Fairy-stories, J. R. R. Tolkien

“Guid gear comes in sma’ bulk.” Ay, Nana, good things do come in small packages. She’s a bonny lass.

Dreams in the Distance

Coming Soon in 2020

Hopes on the Horizon

Book 2 of The Choice Series

"Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us." Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892)

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

Sign up for Nan's lastest posts and receive the full prologue of this book.

Hopes on the Horizon book cover

Recent from Blog

ATTN: Gen Y & Zers & Cool Gen Xers & Baby Boomers — Kindle Alert

Mar 25, 2019 · by Nan Rinella · In: Dreams in the Distance

DREAMS in the DISTANCE on KindleDive right into this story dodging German bombs on the first day of the London Blitz           Charge forward through clouds of sand as Panzer tanks advance in North Africa, but who’s that wee chap? Get your fangs out Ace in a dog fight with Jerry fighters after escorting Yank bombers over Berlin              Then . . . WWII is over it’s 1952 . . . five young people—two ingénues & three veterans—set about choosing the paths toward their dreams in the distance. But what voicesRead more “ATTN: Gen Y & Zers & Cool Gen Xers & Baby Boomers — Kindle Alert”

DREAMS in the DISTANCE Debuts

Mar 2, 2019 · by Nan Rinella · In: The Choice

It Does Take a Village (Team) Patti Townley-Covert – Nan’s editor — joined me at the C.S. Lewis Foundation Faculty Forum & Conference at Cal Poly on Feb. 22-23 for the actual book launch for DREAMS in the DISTANCE. Jonathan Price of Jonathan Price Design designed the interior. Paul Trif of TwinArtDesign designed the cover. Author James L Rubart wrote the back copy. IngramSpark did the printing. Karen Ball of Karen Ball Publishing Services, LLC did the developmental edit. Honor Clare Parkinson my dear British research & editing assistant & musical consultant & poetry contributor. I owe Steve Laube ofRead more “DREAMS in the DISTANCE Debuts”

Giving Thanks to God

Nov 24, 2018 · by Nan Rinella · In: Uncategorized

Thanksgiving 2018 Grateful Gleanings     GOD YOU are Good * Grand * Glorious * Gorgeous * Generous * Gracious YOU’RE not Gullible -greedy – grouchy – grumpy But we are YOU give Grace * Gifts * Goodness * Glory * forGiveness We are Grateful * We Grow * Gain Glory YOU                Grieve for your lost children  

I Left My Heart in Scotland

Oct 29, 2018 · by Nan Rinella · In: The Choice

Nessie Nods Farewell After 12 days in Scotland I take off from Edinburgh this morning. My head & my body are ready to go home. But not my heart. I look out the aircraft window and there is Nessie nodding goodbye. Can you see his head? If not, you’ve not the heart of a true Scot. Sairy (sorry).   Who’s Nessie, you ask? The Loch Ness monster, of course. He’s lived in Loch Ness since forever and only specially selected people catch sight of him. Like me this morning. Here’s a story about him I picked up for my granddaughter.Read more “I Left My Heart in Scotland”

The Wearing of the Kilts

Oct 28, 2018 · by Nan Rinella · In: The Choice

Sunset in Forfar Palo Duro Canyon can’t boast of all the gorgeous sunsets in the world. Wednesday evening the sun dipped into the hills west of County Angus in the Lowlands of Scotland. What an enlightening couple days of visiting Kingston Farm and touring Glamis Castle—home of the Queen Mother’s parents and birthplace of Princess Margaret. Some spirits had been through the castle decorating with ghosties, skeletons, cobwebs, black cats & such. Halloween night there will be a midnight tour to scare the wits out of the tourists. We’ve been blessed by gorgeous October weather … a few clouds andRead more “The Wearing of the Kilts”

  • « Previous
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Next »

Copyright © 2023 · Website by Stormhill Media Log in