I love to joke around. I’ve got the perfect joke for just this occasion. It’s an oldie, so stop Me if you’ve heard it: Way back when Jesus and I were creating the world, I turned to Him and said “Hey Jesus, let’s create a really gorgeous mountainous region, with lakes and rivers full of ...
Many of you are no doubt aware that almost all of the novel ExMormon has been posted online — serialized from here. And now it’s getting to be time to finally post the last chapter! There’s just one catch: Remember how I’ve said that each of the individual novellas can be read alone? Even the ...
The Our Visions, Our Voices: A Mormon Women’s Literary Tour is over now. It has been discussed quite extensively throughout the bloggernacle, but I find myself still thinking about the experience. I thought I’d share those thoughts with you. I was just back from the OVOV tour when my husband and I were watching a ...
It has been a big week for the arts!! First of all, check out Tom Clark‘s gorgeous book of photographs: The Utah Collection. (It’s a little bit NSFW, otherwise I’d post a picture of the cover here for you.) We’ve watched Tom build this collection over the past year, and now it’s finally available — ...
Critically-acclaimed author Walter Kirn — whose books and films include Thumbsucker, Up in the Air, andLost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever — has been voted “2009 William Law X-Mormon of the Year”!! Good choice, folks — Walter Kirn is a credit to the X-Mormon community! I hope he comes by to give ...
Really enjoyed these latest chapters. As an atheist with LDS friends, it’s a fascinating (and a little scary) look into the Mormon mission world. I’m also impressed with your ability to empathize with and accurately characterize a teenage male’s sexual drive! I went back and read the whole thing together in one sitting. I like ...
Feeling the light breeze on my face, I looked out at the water. The edges of the moving water between the feet of the bridge curled into little whirlpools here and there. I tried to drag up all the rusty memories of my former life in Orem, back when everything was so much simpler. I ...
Friday morning I gathered my things and Elder Beaverton helped me carry them to the other side of town to the mission office. Elder Beaverton didn’t have to move his own things this time — he just had to gather up his new companion, Elder Wilson, and bring him back to the apartment. Read the ...
On Wednesday morning we were having about the same luck as Tuesday morning. We were wandering around the Place Gambetta, thinking about finding some lunch, when we heard a familiar voice: Read the rest of the story » ...
By the time Elder Beaverton and I got back to our apartment, it was past 18 heures (6 p.m.), so p-day was officially over, and it was time to get back to work. The cool thing was that our work for the evening was hardly work. We finally had a referral for once — in ...
“In truth, I believe this book will save someone’s life,” says one of the blurbs in Jonathan Langford’s novel No Going Back. I agree, it’s quite likely. Through the experiences of Paul (a gay Mormon teen) — and of the LDS bishop who takes a special interest in his young charge — Langford paints a ...
I was back home fishing. The morning sun was filtering down the canyon as I rowed my boat out to the middle of a calm lake and started preparing my lines… Not really. But in my mind I was already gone. Anywhere but wasting the last P-day of my mission watching the rest of the ...
A few weeks ago, B10 Mediaworx released the Fob Bible, an anthology of Old Testament stories reimagined as short stories, poetry, and drama by members of the Friends of Ben–a collective of Mormon and ex-Mormon writers. (Full disclosure: I’m Ben.) Since then, the book has received a glowing two-part review from Tyler Chadwick at A ...
So, I’ve been reading a series of articles about the possibility of the Great Mormon Novel (the great fantasy of all Mormons since Chaim Potok came to the Jewish scene or since we all fell in love with that dairyman Tevye and his daughter)…some say that the Great Mormon Novel hasn’t happened because it is ...
Here’s my crazy theory about the problem with Mormon Literature: It’s not that most Mormons want to read something “clean” and uplifting. It’s that the folks who want only clean and uplifting reading are so worried about the possibility of reading or supporting something potentially “anti-Mormon” that they’ll avoid LDS-interest publishers or retailers that sell ...
Who wants to swap some stories? Multimedia: The exmo documentary In the Shadow of the Temple is now in the preview for focus groups stage! And our friends at Mind on Fire have added a regular video/podcast feature. Exit Stories: The Lyoness has recently started a whole blog devoted to exmo exit stories. Swing by ...
Didn’t anyone else see that Deseret Book has removed the Twilight series from their shelves? Who knew that a non-vampire teenage female NOT having pre-marital sex with a teenage male vampire was so risque that it was offensive to Mormon sensibilities, especially considering it was written expressly to be acceptable fiction for Mormons? And on ...
Sam was pretty lucky that his cousin Joe had come to live with him. The three of us were all in the same math class together, which meant that Sam got free help with his math homework every night while I only got help when they invited me over. I couldn’t figure out how Joe ...
I’m afraid this next segment (Orem High, beginning this Tuesday!) is probably the section that most needs a disclaimer. I’ll divide the warning into two parts: (1) the name, and (2) the sex. the name Why did I call this segment “Orem High”? I’ve never been there — I’ve never even seen the building. ...
Read Twilight. Seriously, do it if you haven’t. Because when it comes to entertainment on the Internet, there’s not much out there that can beat Mormon discussions of Twilight. That’s why I read it (explained in the comments here), and I don’t regret a single page. (And with the movie out, there are plenty of ...
It looks so small from a distance. Read the rest of the story » ...
I sat back in my chair as I listened to the teacher recite the same story of Joseph Smith that he had been repeating to us all week. The handful of other students in my class looked just as bored. The the teacher turned and asked, “Now who can tell us what year the Saints ...
On Tuesday I had my lunch interview with Paige. I started my school day as usual by swinging by the cafeteria and getting my meal plan breakfast and lunch as sack meals so that I would have some food to bring to share. After spending the morning in my Latin and Multivariable Calculus classes, I ...
Cindy seemed quiet and withdrawn at lunch on Sunday and also later at church. I couldn’t help but notice that Hyrum didn’t come by to meet her at church and walk her home this week. On the way home, she was kind of shuffling along looking at her feet rather than being her usual cheery ...
When I got to my room, I found that Janie was in there with her ironing board all set up and a huge pile of ironing she was working on. It looked like a bunch of men’s shirts, so I didn’t ask her about it because really I didn’t want to know. The Jesus-flavored pop ...
The week sped by, and the next thing I knew I was getting ready to go up to Jake’s uncle’s cabin with Cindy and Amy. Cindy and Amy’s Aunt Julie lent us her car, and Cindy drove us up following Jake’s map. Read the rest of the story » ...
I woke up to the most incredible feeling of dread. In those few moments of re-orientation while reaching consciousness, the full force of what had happened last night hit me. I ran my fingers along the side of my head, feeling the faint stubble on my fingertips and hardly believing what I had done. “Ah, ...
I watched the second hand slowly make its way around the clock face. For all of the bright, enthusiastic people running it, Sacrament Meeting in a BYU student ward really wasn’t any more interesting than the Sacrament Meetings put on by the worn-out, tired families back home. And here of course Sacrament Meeting had the ...
I couldn’t be more thrilled with the response I’ve gotten to the novella I posted about Saturday’s Warrior (part III of my novel Exmormon). According to my stats, hundreds of people read along in real time as I serialized it. And from the comments, I can see that number included Mormons as well as exmos ...
Walter arrived in his suit and tie since the plan was to go out to a fine restaurant. Dressed like that and with his haircut, he looked like he was on his mission already. With his gorgeous looks and friendly manner, it was clear that he would have no difficulty approaching people and convincing them ...