contemporary fiction
Kohelette: A Novel
Clay Patin Press
(Forthcoming April 2026)
She wants to do something new with her life, but she may need the dead to help her do it.
When Kohelette (“Lettie”) loses her job, she needs a new way to support her family. She also needs to deal with her critical ex-spouse, Ian, who shows up after years of silence wanting to reconnect with their pre-teen daughter, Jenn. Emotional and financial pressures mount, and Lettie considers selling the family house to simplify things, but the ghosts of relatives intervene. They keep reminding her about the family dream of opening a yarn shop in the front room, and she’s realizing she might want to make that dream her own, after all. But will Lettie find a way to keep the house before losing more than she even knew she had?
Domestic fiction meets magical realism in this story of piecing together a life after loss.
the sacred grounds series
In this contemporary coming-of-age-at-30 series, a woman working at a coffee shop is trying to simplify her life, but her life is refusing to stay simple for long. And as her friendship deepens with Paul Miles, a pastor with a complicated life of his own, he fast becomes more important to her than she’d ever have expected. But what they mean to each other, and what the future holds for the quirky collection of people showing up at the Sacred Grounds Coffee Company, only time will tell.
For short fiction set in the Sacred Grounds world, click here.
For resources for individuals and groups reading the Sacred Grounds series, click here.
Kat’s Dreams: A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 1
Clay Patin Press (2022)
“Barista, mountain biker, seminary dropout – Kat Kent has done it all. Except for move on. Even as she enjoys getting to know Paul Miles, the handsome new customer at the coffee shop where she works, her dreams take her back to a different time and place. When the man she hoped never to see again returns to town, Kat must decide whether she’ll keep their secret. She must also decide how much to tell her new friend Paul. He might be able to help her, but only if she’s willing to trust him. Revisiting love, loss, friendship, and betrayal, Kat makes her way through the season of Lent hoping she’ll find the strength to do what she needs to do before anyone else gets hurt. But will she figure out what to do before it’s too late?”
This short novel undertakes one woman’s long #MeToo journey with deep faith and hope. Discussion questions are included at the end for individual readers as well as study groups.
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Suddenly Color:
A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 2
Clay Patin Press (2023)
Even the dead have secrets. Kat Kent stumbles upon one while cleaning out a closet, and it threatens to steal what she thought she knew about her family. Kat’s own secret, though, may prove the even greater threat. As symptoms of something for which she has no name become harder to ignore, she wonders what’s happening inside her. She also wonders what’s happening in her deepening friendship with Paul Miles, the man who’s already helped her through so much. While mounting a new art exhibit, dealing with nosey customers, and dipping her toe back into church life are all keeping her busy, Kat is trying to hold onto the important things. But will she find the help she needs before losing more than she can bear?
Readers of Kat’s Dreams will lose themselves once again in Suddenly Color, the continuing story of the Sacred Grounds Coffee Company barista who still hopes her life will calm down enough to listen for the still, small voice of God. The second book of Smith’s Sacred Grounds series, this short novel brings a grace-filled glimpse into the silences around mental health and mental illness. It includes discussion questions at the end for individual readers as well as study groups.
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The Joy of a Field:
A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 3
Clay Patin Press (2024)
All Kat wanted was a simple holiday season of putting up decorations and enjoying her new significant other, Paul. That’s not the holiday she’s getting, though. Paul has surprised her by interviewing for a job six hours away, and a mystery art buyer is raising questions Kat isn’t sure she wants answered. When Paul’s parents show up for their visit, they bring a whole new set of troubles that threaten to push Kat and Paul to their limit. They’re doing their best to make it through a first Christmas together, but will the new year bring Kat and Paul the new beginnings they need?
Fans of the Sacred Grounds Novels will relish spending the holidays with The Joy of a Field, the third book in the series. This short novel takes a humorous but serious look at holiday stress. Discussion questions are included at the end for individual readers as well as study groups.
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Coincidentally Yours: A Sacred Grounds Novelette
Clay Patin Press (2025)
The Sacred Grounds prequel is here!
Kat Kent knows there’s more to life than coffee, but lately she’s had trouble finding it. Work at the Sacred Grounds Coffee Company is wearing her down, and her efforts to help her best friend Sandy get a new project off the ground keep failing. But when a stranger shows up asking questions about one of her customers, Kat realizes there’s more going on at the cafe than she’d imagined. There’s also a bigger problem with Sandy’s project than either of them guessed. They just might learn enough to try and right some wrongs, but can they succeed before another opportunity is lost?
Readers of the Sacred Grounds novels will relish the series prequel novelette Coincidentally Yours. The paperback edition also includes the bonus Sacred Grounds short stories “Sanctinomious” and “The Fodder Shock Maze.”
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fantasy
Cake & Pewter
Smith’s debut fantasy romance novella, Cake & Pewter, will appear in the Forever Yours anthology.
Forthcoming from Dragon Soul Press (February 14, 2026)
Click here to preorder the Kindle edition. The paperback edition will not be available until 2/14/26.
In a land where magical powers are restricted to the privileged few, Lucy Baker doesn’t trust power or the people who have it, especially not when they visit her family’s bakery café and cause trouble. Then Liam Girard shows up, a playful monk with some power and some trouble of his own, and Lucy begins to rethink her position.
Liam has come to Azure city on an assignment. He’s pursuing rumors about a hidden collection of banned books with truths about powers their society has long forgotten. The stakes are high enough, and Liam proves charming enough, that Lucy decides to join his search. But will they find what they seek before important books falls into the wrong hands?
essays
A Prayer on Waking:
Contemplative Essays and Poetry
Clay Patin Press (2025)
“I’d found a spiritual place because – I believe – all places are spiritual, all places are sacred, and the divine is present where human beings, as spiritual creatures, are living out our lives.” – from A Prayer on Waking
How we respond to grief, how we linger with the lives around us, in what situations we allow ourselves to get playful or creative – these decisions add up to practices that shape our lives. Mundane choices can be spiritual as well as creative acts that infuse seemingly little things with great meaning. Paying attention to these meanings can tilt our perspectives in contemplative directions.
The contemplative essays and poetry collected here are loosely gathered around themes of memory, adaptation, experimentation, and creativity. They reflect Smith’s creative forays into daily life as a blogger, novelist, clergy person, and introvert and include the prize-winning essays “On Memories and Acts of Care” and “The Book Accident: On Absence, Presence, and Grief.” Each section offers questions and other prompts to support individual reflection and group discussion.
“Relatable and well-written …. Callie weaves together multiple vignettes … [from] a deep place of continuity and warmth.” – Praise for Callie J. Smith from The Polk Street Review
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The Beauty of Rest: Contemplative Essays
Clay Patin Press (2023)
How do we balance our lives? To what do we give our time? Which things do we count worthy of our attention?
In this collection of contemplative essays, Smith looks beyond mere productivity and accomplishment to a spectrum of values that nourish our lives. Loosely gathered around the themes of “rest and play,” “grief and memory,” and “hope and imagination,” these essays invite readers on a journey of slowing down, exploring their days, and listening to what God’s Spirit is doing inside and around them. Readings invite individuals both to ground themselves and to look beyond to the nourishment of their companions and communities.
Suitable for individuals as well as groups, The Beauty of Rest concludes each section with questions for individual reflection or group discussion. Additional resources are available here.
Read a free preview:
“On Memories and Acts of Care”
Smith’s essay was given the Award of Merit (Best in Book) prize in The Polk Street Review 2025: Behind the Veil anthology
Community Education Arts Press (2025)
“Behind the veil, beneath the curtain, through the door that opens even just a crack, I find myself seeing more than I used to see. Perhaps it’s a gift of age. Every direction I turn, I notice the past winking at me from somewhere just beyond the present.”
– from “On Memories and Acts of Care”
“Relatable and well-written … Callie weaves together multiple vignettes to form a nostalgia that is sweetly pleasing … [and] a deep place of community and warmth.”
– The Polk Street Review
“The Book Accident”
Smith’s essay was awarded third place in the Gals Guide Anthology: Female Friendships collection
Gals Guide Press (2025)
“It was a mystery to me how Christine could love Hemingway like she did. Not all friendships require understanding, though, and Christine was a friend to me. She offered me friendship in the way an older woman sometimes does with a younger one: less formal than a mentor and with more (helpful) distance than a family member. She consistently treated me like a capable woman who had insights to share. I didn’t always believe I was that kind of person, but she persevered.”
– From “The Book Accident”
“The Practice of Sabbatical as Renewal“
Smith’s chapter (co-authored with Robert Saler) appeared in
Sacred Habits: The Rise of the Creative Clergy
The Davies Group, Publishers (2016)
“Like prayer, like community, like Sabbath and sabbatical, some practices spread through a person’s soul or a community’s life and, in one way or another, bless us profoundly for the long-haul.”
– From “The Practice of Sabbatical as Renewal”
Callie J. Smith 