The Enchanted Cateloged

Thanks to YA author Sally Apokedak, I found a post highlighting two resources for those interested in YA speculative literature. Reviewer Becky (not me) of Becky’s Book Reviews gives an overview of Encountering Enchantment: A Guide to Speculative Fiction for […]
on Jun 16, 2008 · No comments

Thanks to YA author Sally Apokedak, I found a post highlighting two resources for those interested in YA speculative literature. Reviewer Becky (not me) of Becky’s Book Reviews gives an overview of Encountering Enchantment: A Guide to Speculative Fiction for Teens and Fluent in Fantasy.

I don’t have either book, so have no way of knowing if Christian speculative fiction is included. The author of the first title, Susan Fichtelberg, has a Web site, and on one page she lists her favorite books in fantasy and science fiction:

Top Fifteen Fantasies
In Alphabetical Order by Author
(because there are too many to limit it to ten)

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Dreamhunter Duology by Elizabeth Knox
The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
The Riddle-Master of Hed Trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Beast by Donna Jo Napoli
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
East by Edith Pattou
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Top Fifteen Science Fiction Titles
In Alphabetical Order by Author

The Company series by Kage Baker
Spacer and Rat by Margaret Bechard
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
The Mount by Carol Emshwiller
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Pretty good list, I think, though I’m not so excited about Philip Pullman making her cut while C. S. Lewis did not.

Still, this might be a good resource for those working with kids, either as a librarian, teacher, homeschooling parent, or regular old parent.

On thing that caught my eye was the number of titles in the fantasy genre in just the last ten years. It shows how the general market, at least, has gravitated to speculative fiction. Another thing I noticed was in the description of the second book where fantasy is named as “one of the hottest genres going today.” With books like Encountering Enchantment and Fluent in Fantasy, put together with the purpose to catalog the most recent fantasy titles, I think “hot genre” is an apt description.

Press Release

A NOVEL IDEA Eight Fantasy Authors. Six West Coast Cities. One Faith DALLAS, TX, June 5, 2008 — “West coast or bust!” is the rallying cry of eight Christian fantasy fiction authors—representing eight separate publishing houses—on a fun-filled grass roots […]

A NOVEL IDEA

Eight Fantasy Authors. Six West Coast Cities. One Faith

DALLAS, TX, June 5, 2008 — “West coast or bust!” is the rallying cry of eight Christian fantasy fiction authors—representing eight separate publishing houses—on a fun-filled grass roots mission to spread good news about the fast-growing genre now blazing hot once again with the ongoing releases of the Narnia movies. This fall, the “Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour” has set its course due west to visit hundreds of fans at scheduled book-signings, school and church programs, humanitarian outreaches, and a book fair, October 4-11. For information, visit www.fantasyfictiontour.com.

More Authors, More Heart in 2008

The popular adage “the more, the merrier” best explains the Fantasy Fiction Tour’s decision to double its membership to eight authors in 2008. Two women and six men wearing medieval cloaks and armed with swords of steel—and truth—comprise the eclectic band of faith-based storytellers. Though from different publishers and parts of the U.S, the authors are bound by their love for God and the fictional worlds, characters, and themes they have created in 37 ground-breaking novels.

Also new is the sojourner’s partnership with Character 4 Kids, a charitable outreach to place good books with moral character and values into the hands of needy kids in hospitals and after-school programs.

The History

On a shoe-string budget and a prayer, in 2007 the first-ever Christian Fantasy Fiction Tour, known as the Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour, successfully launched with four authors caravanning to events in 15 cities throughout the eastern U.S. The unprecedented initiative drew the attention of fans, industry peers, and mainstream media who conjectured, “Could the next Harry Potter be a devout Christian?”

While interest in other literary genres has declined over the last several years, Christian book sales have steadily grown at a rate of about 30 percent with annual revenues reaching $2.4 billion.

Meet the Authors

The “Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour” will feature the following authors, founding and first-time respectively:

  • Sharon Hinck is a wife and mother of four from Minnesota. Sharon was named 2007 “Writer of the Year” at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. In March, she released The Restorer’s Journey, the third book in her popular Sword of Lyric (NavPress) fantasy series for women. She is also author of the non-fantasy, award-winning The Secret Life of Becky Miller and the upcoming release of Stepping into Sunlight.
  • Bryan Davis, a former computer professional living in Western Tennessee, is the author of two best-selling series for youth, titled Dragons in our Midst and Oracles of Fire. In May, Bryan debuted Beyond the Reflection’s Edge (Zondervan) , the first book in his new fantasy series Echoes from the Edge, and the second book of the series Eternity’s Edge will release in October.
  • Christopher Hopper is an international speaker, recording artist and ordained minister who lives with his wife and two children in northern New York. Christopher’s first book was the popular Rise of The Dibor, The White Lion Chronicles, and his latest book The Lion Vrie (Tsaba House) released last June.
  • Wayne Thomas Batson is a public middle school teacher from Eldersburg, MD and author of two best-selling young adult fantasy series The Door Within trilogy and Isle of Swords (Thomas Nelson). His latest The Isle of Fire, the second in the Isle of Sword series, will release in October.
  • Donita K. Paul is a retired school teacher from Colorado, whose passion for literacy compels her to speak in schools and libraries about the importance of story. Dragon Keeper Chronicles (Waterbrook Press), her five-book series, has won acclaim.
  • LB Graham is a teacher at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, MO. LB is the author of The Binding of the Blade (P&R Publishing), an epic five-volume series for fantasy readers of all ages. The much anticipated final installment in the series All My Holy Mountain will release in June.
  • Jonathan Rogers grew up in Georgia near the swamps and riverbottoms where his The Wilderking (B&H Publishing) fantasy series is based. He holds a PH.D. in seventeenth-century English literature from Vanderbilt University and currently lives in Nashville, TN.
  • Eric Reinhold is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, who lives with his wife and three children in Longwood, Florida. Eric began writing youth fantasy to satisfy his children’s impromptu requests for bedtime stories. Eric is founder of the non-profit foundation, Character 4 Kids. Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword (Creation House) the first book in The Annals of Aeliana series, was released in May.
  • The 2007 Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour was covered in the Washington Post, Fox News, Christian Retailing magazine, Beliefnet.com, Publisher’s Weekly magazine, and The Associated Press’ Everything Sacred broadcast, among other media outlets.

    For more information about the Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour authors, scheduled events, book titles and blogs, please visit www.fantasyfictiontour.com.

    —–

    One Writer’s Journey

    Write what you know they say. In non-fiction, such as blog posts, you can change that phrase to read, Write what you learn. Problem is, I am in a pinch today. I took too long on my blog post at […]

    Write what you know they say. In non-fiction, such as blog posts, you can change that phrase to read, Write what you learn. Problem is, I am in a pinch today. I took too long on my blog post at my own site and have put myself on a schedule in order to get back to work on my trilogy.

    That means, I’m running out of time to figure out something wise, insightful, or even interesting to write here.

    So, I’m reverting to what I know, which is my own writing journey. It’s not the kind most people want to read because I have no publishing contract at the end of the road to report. I may or I may not end up seeing The Lore of Efrathah in print some day.

    Still, I am excited about a recent writing success. But let me back up.

    The first agent I ever contacted, back in 2001, asked me if I considered trying to publish with a general market publisher. My immediate and unprompted thought was, my writing isn’t good enough to get published by a house that puts books in Barnes and Noble.

    That revealed so many things to me. What I thought about Christian fiction, what I thought about my own writing, why I was trying to get published by an ECPA house. My thoughts have changed a lot since then.

    Back in 2004, one editor asked in his Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference workshop how many of us had read Christian fiction. When no hands went up, he pointedly scolded us (in a nice way), saying that we ought not try to publish our fiction with those houses if we didn’t even know what kind of fiction they were producing.

    That started me on a quest to learn about Christian fiction. In the three years plus, I’ve seen big changes. Those first books I read were, regrettably, quite predictable, even the ones that went beyond a formulaic approach to storytelling. Now? Not so much. I’ve read some books I think could hold their own with the majority of books in the general market. Christian fiction is growing as an art form.

    Which brings me back to my own writing experience. As I’ve labored away at an epic fantasy, I also dipped into editing, article writing, and short stories, the latter as a result of contests.

    Probably because of my competitive nature, I’ve gotten hooked on contests. Short story contests. I started writing Christian fiction for a couple of Dave Long’s (Bethany House editor, founder of Faith in Fiction) contests.

    Eventually I moved on to the Writer’s Digest Short, Short Story Competition. I tried contemporary moral fiction first, then wrote something symbolically Christian. At that point, I read one of their articles about the importance of voice in short fiction.

    Now I had something specific to work on. My next piece, I believe, was a contemporary multi-cultural story. It didn’t place in the contest, but I did sell the story, my first fiction in print.

    I followed that with a longer story for the Genre Short Story contest. This time I wrote a fantasy. It didn’t win, but it was a story I genuinely liked and hoped to sell elsewhere, too.

    Another contest, this one held by a webzine, netted another sale. Then the 2007 Short, Short Fiction Competition rolled around. Stories of all stripes vie against one another. I made the decision to write the kind of fantasy I write—symbolic, Christian. And lo and behold, out of 6000 plus entries, “Haj” placed in the top twenty-five.

    Not first or even fifth. Seventeenth, earning me a certificate and $50 worth of books. But here’s my real take-home, and the thing that excites me. Christian fantasy can find a place in the general market.

    Some people are probably laughing because they’ve known this. But I didn’t know that the kind of Christian fantasy I write could make it. Will it? Or will God open up a place in a Christian house? Or will my epic fantasy never make it? I don’t have a clue.

    Am I sad about this? No, not really, because I and my writing are in God’s capable hands. Of course I hope to publish The Lore of Efrathah one day, but for now I’m happy to know that I’m growing as a writer, that Christian fiction is growing as an art form. Will the twain ever meet? That’s the hook, isn’t it.

    News and Views on Fantasy

    Mike Duran at Novel Journey gave his selection of Ten Best Book Covers. Interesting to note that George Bryan Polivka‘s The Legend of the Firefish made the list. Wayne Thomas Batson‘s Isle of the Sword was a runner up, as […]
    on May 26, 2008 · No comments

    Mike Duran at Novel Journey gave his selection of Ten Best Book Covers. Interesting to note that George Bryan Polivka‘s The Legend of the Firefish made the list. Wayne Thomas Batson‘s Isle of the Sword was a runner up, as was R. K. Mortenson‘s Landon Snow and the Actor’s Riddle.

    Speaking of George Bryan Polivka, Sally Stuart reports at Christian Writers’ Marketplace that Bryan’s acquiring editor at Harvest House, Nick Harrison, is a finalist for the Golden Scroll Award for editor of the year!

    A friend of mine clipped an article from the January issue of Christian Institute Journal entitled “The Trouble with Harry: Authors Weigh in on the Potter Debate and Alternative Stories.” While not drawing a conclusion, the news item explored the diverse views among Christians regarding Harry Potter in particular, and fantasy in general. The article quoted at some length from Sharon Hinck (The Sword of Lyric, NavPrsss) and Bryan Davis (Dragons in Our Midst, AmG; Beyond Reflection’s Edge, Zondervan) in support of fantasy.

    Sharon refused to side one way or the other when asked about Harry Potter. Bryan did not condemn the books for their fantasy elements but took a hard line regarding the sinful actions of the main characters

    Interestingly, the article itself led me to one of the best anecdotal supports for speculative fiction I’ve read, a piece entitled “Fantasy and Faith” by Sally Thomas at First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life.

    Here’s a quote or two to whet your appetite:

    I devoured those novels [A Wrinkle in Time and its first sequel, A Wind in the Door] even as I devoured the Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, not because they satisfied my inchoate yearning for something beyond the world I knew, but because they stoked it.

    And this:
    As a child, raised on a relatively secular diet of mainstream Protestantism and utterly unaware of the existence of any theological problem beyond being mean to somebody on the playground, I was captivated by the notion that there was such a thing as evil and, conversely, that there was such a thing as good. The idea, further, that even the weak and the flawed were called to the battle—that there even was a battle—roused something in my imagination that years of Sunday School had somehow failed to touch.

    CSFF Blog Tour – Mindflights

    Yep, it’s that time. And what better way to start summer off than with a virtual tour featuring the online science fiction and fantasy publication, MindFlights. One of the especially cool things about tours for webzines is that you never […]
    on May 19, 2008 · No comments

    Yep, it’s that time. And what better way to start summer off than with a virtual tour featuring the online science fiction and fantasy publication, MindFlights. One of the especially cool things about tours for webzines is that you never know what to expect when you visit other bloggers. Will they do a site overview? Review a story? Highlight an editor? Or … clue you in about the MindFlights poetry contest?

    That’s what I’m focusing on here at Spec Faith, because … well, contests are cool. And poetry contests, especially speculative poetry contests, are not things you come across every day.

    You can read all the details in the MindFlights announcement, but here are some key points.

    Qualifications: poems centered on the theme Exile; must be original, unpublished works—no reprints.

    Two categories, based on length.

    Cash prizes.

    Entry fee: None!

    Deadline: midnight, June 30, 2008.

    So how about you? Think you’d like to try your hand at a poem? or two? or three?

    Be sure to check out the complete guidelines. You might also want to read some of the other poetry at MindFlights, such as Mary Jo Rabe’s Martian Weather.

    And take a few moments to tour the other blogs focusing on MindFlights this week: Brandon Barr
    Justin Boyer
    Jackie Castle
    CSFF Blog Tour
    Gene Curtis
    D. G. D. Davidson
    Jeff Draper
    April Erwin
    Karina Fabian
    Kameron M. Franklin
    Beth Goddard
    Andrea Graham
    Todd Michael Greene
    Katie Hart
    Michael Heald
    Christopher Hopper
    Joleen Howell
    Jason Joyner
    Kait
    Carol Keen
    Mike Lynch
    Terri Main
    Margaret
    Rebecca LuElla Miller
    Pamela Morrisson
    John W. Otte
    John Ottinger
    Rachelle
    Steve Rice
    Ashley Rutherford
    Mirtika or Mir’s Here
    Rachelle Sperling
    Stuart Stockton
    Steve Trower
    Robert Treskillard
    Linda Wichman
    Laura Williams
    Timothy Wise

    Looking on The Dark Side

    I spent eight stimulating years in Lebanon (as well as some pretty nasty days and some downright terrifying minutes). So as a veteran, I viewed the brief takeover of half of Beirut by Hizbollah just over a week ago with […]
    on May 18, 2008 · No comments

    I spent eight stimulating years in Lebanon (as well as some pretty nasty days and some downright terrifying minutes). So as a veteran, I viewed the brief takeover of half of Beirut by Hizbollah just over a week ago with some involvement. (Trust me, this is about speculative fiction). The situation in Lebanon is extremely fraught: an explosive mixture of pride, bluster, greed and hatred, stirred up by a wide range of internal and external troublemakers. The entire country stands on the edge of the abyss and it wouldn’t take much for it to topple over the edge. The trouble is, it may well grab at our ankles as it does.

    Anyway, shortly after Hizbollah flexed its muscles I was lying awake in bed early in the morning (I seem to suffer from caffeine intolerance these days) when the outline for a novel came to me in a rush. It would be set in the very imminent future and start in Lebanon. I would assemble the usual suspects: a proud warlord or two, a few conscience-free arms dealers, several political adventurers with an insatiable desire to meddle and all the usual assortment of insecurities, proud egos and bitter grievances. I would add to this unremarkable mixture as catalyst, a Christian with an end times fascination, a sense of personal destiny and the happy confidence that, if things started to go really nasty, God would press the eject button and the church would be raptured immediately. Aided by stupidity and abetted by apathy the result would be a perfectly credible and unstoppable escalation of events which would draw in Syria, Israel and Iran and ultimately the USA and Russia. The final outcome would be a series of nuclear exchanges which would obliterate cities and reshape history. (You will have gathered this is not Prince Caspian.) There would be no rapture, no end of days: the signs had been misread. As a counterbalance to the deaths of millions I would include a hero and heroine who would somehow survive. The end would include a vision of hope: the kingdom of God continues!

    Now I should say that I don’t think I will write this tale. (Although interestingly enough I have hinted at something similar as the back-story to my Lamb among the Stars trilogy.) It is too dark, I doubt it would be publishable and I would make a lot of enemies.
     
    But let me throw the gauntlet down. We may not like this sort of plot, but isn’t this ‘speculative fiction?’ Wouldn’t writing such a book be perfectly legitimate? Isn’t our medium perfectly suited for warning messages? Shouldn’t someone be writing this sort of thing? Or do want to be comforted too much? I am reminded of the situation that Jeremiah found himself in. The political scene was darkening, judgment was looming, yet the people preferred to ignore all the clear signs and put their trust in the vain confidence that disaster would be averted. Jeremiah was scathing about the false prophets of his day: “‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14). Without saying that disaster is inevitable, we need to be careful that we do not offer empty hope.

    Way, Way, Way For ‘Prince Caspian’

    “We come to it at last” — the U.S.release date of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second sure-to-be-fantastically-successful fantasy film in the Narnia series, adapted from the famous C.S. Lewis stories. One could easily guess that only a […]
    on May 15, 2008 · No comments

    “We come to it at last” — the U.S.release date of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second sure-to-be-fantastically-successful fantasy film in the Narnia series, adapted from the famous C.S. Lewis stories.

    One could easily guess that only a few of you know by now that the film releases at midnight tonight — and by “a few of you” I don’t mean “you Speculative Faith readers,” but “you people on the whole internet.” That’s because Disney and Walden Media (the latter is the film’s real producer) has been advertising this film like crazy for the past several months.

    Directed again by Andrew Adamson (along with the first two Shreks), and also starring the same cast and crew of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian is the second of the Narnia books and takes the four Pevensie children back into Narnia. There, it turns out a thousand years have passed in that world’s time, while only one year has
    gone by in their homeland of England. Now all of Narnia’s fantastic creatures have been driven into hiding by an invading force of men called the Telmarines, and the four children must find their purpose, and the title character, in the now-“darker” Narnia.

    The film’s tone will indeed be darker, I’ve heard and read, and even more so than in LWW, book purists won’t be too pleased with the film. Yes, some of the rumors are true — I’m seeing the film tonight, but know this is the case — the Pevensies somehow meet Caspian much sooner than in the book. There’s a heckuva lot more Mega-Action Battles than in the book. Girls fight, unlike in the book — girl centaurs, and girls Susan and Lucy.

    Perhaps worst of all, girl Susan smooches guy Caspian at the end. Excuse my just-slightly-juvenile reaction: bb-b-bbbleccccch.

    But, I submit these differences are tolerable — and the film’s redeeming qualities and fantastic plotting, characters, action and budget will certainly overcome any adaptation shortcomings. (The book, I feel, did need some storyline enhancement, especially for a film version, and Lewis’s stepson and film producer Doug Gresham agreed.)

    Let geeks everywhere rejoice — and particularly Christ-following geeks who love seeing wondrous, epic-vision, Biblical-worldview fantasy fiction receive the accolades and treatment it deserves! It’s indeed another great moment for Christ-honoring fantasy!

    Soon, at likely midnight tonight, I’ll be undertaking the release of my spoiler-purity vow at the Holy Order of the Spoiler-Free Monastery, and will be beholding this Beatific Vision myself. How will any of you be viewing the new film? And what are your thoughts on the continuing recognition and success of Lewis and the Narnia series in book and film, and what this might mean for Christ-honoring creativity and the — God willing — growth of actual epic stories that honor Him?

    Introducing The Laser & Sword

    Guest blogger Adam Graham is the creator of a new quarterly magazine of serialized fiction, Laser & Sword Magazine. Here’s is a reprint (used by permission) of his initial introduction (with a few editorial format changes) of the periodical. – […]
    on May 12, 2008 · No comments

    Guest blogger Adam Graham is the creator of a new quarterly magazine of serialized fiction, Laser & Sword Magazine. Here’s is a reprint (used by permission) of his initial introduction (with a few editorial format changes) of the periodical.
    – – –

    What do Buck Rodgers, Zorro, and Flash Gordon have in common? All were heroes born in the pages of pulp fiction magazines that became cultural icons.

    With television and comic books taking over, pulp fiction disappeared. Short story magazines have become filled with forgettable one-shot characters. The age of easy to afford, quality fiction has passed.

    Or Has It?

    This is where Laser & Sword Magazine comes in. Laser & Sword seeks to bring back the fun and excitement that Pulp Fiction and early comic books in an action short story magazine. Like the pulps of old, Laser & Sword has a serial format. One story builds upon another. The characters and stories transport
    readers into exciting adventures. The magazine is available for download online at a cost of $1.25 an issue, well below national costs, thus recreating the effect of the pulps-to bring quality stories to people at a reasonable price.

    We launched in January with two series and added a third in our April issue.

    • “The Order of the Sword” features a new universe of costumed heroes as they begin an exciting adventure that will take them to a dangerous new
      world.
    • Our dystopia, “Rise of the Judge,” tells the story of a hard luck teenage boy who, to dodge a hate crime rap for the attempted lynching of a child molester, joins the army of the one-world government a post-New World Order America has succumbed to.
    • In the hilarious parody, “Tales of the Dim Knight,” a mild-mannered janitor goes from Superfan to Superhero when he discovers a mysterious alien cylinder.

    George Will Presents Star Wars

    Those who know me from my political work as a conservative Christian activist, columnist, and blogger might be scratching their heads. “Adam Graham presents super heroes? How about George Will doing Star Wars.”

    Fiction has long been a passion of mine. For cultural conservatives, it is quite easy to complain about the state of American entertainment media. But what do we do about it? As the Chinese Proverb says, it is better to light a
    candle (or in this case, a laser) rather than curse the darkness. We must offer a counterbalance to the poison of our culture, and that is what Laser & Sword seeks to do. Our stories are written in the tradition of earlier hero stories. Whether particular writers were Christian, the Judeo-Christian
    worldview that dominated earlier times found its way into the pages of fiction.

    For example, compare the central theme of Spiderman (`With great power comes great responsibility.’) to Luke 12:48. Our culture was bathed in the Judeo-Christian tradition and even secular works couldn’t help but get wet.
    Today, many of the same characters are still around, but have been radically redefined by post-modern writers. Clearly, the time has come for a new generation of heroes.

    The heroes of Laser & Sword are imperfect human beings who make mistakes and sin. A Laser & Sword hero may or may not be “a super hero” but is not a “Super Christian” and may even not be a person of faith at all. Our issues are not Sunday School quarterlies, but rather show truth even through human failings while avoiding being preachy.

    If Laser & Sword is of interest to you, you can download the first issue for absolutely free. Please let
    friends know who may be interested. Also, we appreciate feedback on our issues, including reviews, and will gladly print letters to the editors. We also accept advertising for publications, products, and websites of similar values or otherwise judged to be of interest to our readers.

    Again, thank you for your time and attention,

    Adam Graham

    Fourth ‘Doctor’ Season Brings New Alien Agendas, Part 2

    Some makers of the fantastic sci-fi series “Doctor Who” want to present humanism and even pro-homosexuality beliefs. Instead the time-traveling Doctor often gives echoes of the true Time Lord, whether or not they hear those truths.
    on May 8, 2008 · No comments

    Last week’s column (my first in a long time on Speculative Faith) focused on not-so-hidden intellectual invasions inherent in Doctor Who, courtesy of the British sci-fi programme’s head writer/producer, Russell T. Davies.

    His goals were made more explicit in a British newspaper’s article early last month, as the series’ fourth season was underway: Davies gushes, for example, over a guest appearance by angry Atheist Richard Dawkins in a forthcoming episode, and claims directly that he hopes young boys will imitate one series character’s example and declare their own homosexuality.

    However, I’m actually not going to undertake another one of those anti-culture Christian rants, like the kind you read about in email forwards. To be sure, Christendom often needs those sorts of rants (even in email forwards), to oppose truly harmful movies, television programs or other art forms, politicians, organizations or whatever. This column, continued from last week, just isn’t going to be one of them.

    Instead, the Doctor practices such heroism and wages true battle against evil influences, resembling Christ like other famous fictitious Christlike-figures, that it’s well worth seeing.

    This meat may have indeed been sacrificed to idols by its makers (a la 1 Corinthians 10: 23-33), in the hope of furthering anti-Christian agendas. But Biblical truths are there in these epic stories anyway — like the time-traveling TARDIS ship itself, surrounded by a perception filter, it seems the writers may just not be able to see such “spiritually discerned” elements.

    Echoes of the true Time Lord

    For those unfamiliar, the Doctor is a 900-year-old “Time Lord,” the last of a benevolent species of time-traveling aliens from the planet Gallifrey. In the new series, he is the (almost) last of his kind, following a great war between the Time Lords and the evil Daleks. Roaming time and space in his fantastic time-ship, the TARDIS, the Doctor repeatedly finds himself saving the Earth and universe, often with the aid of one or more human companions.

    Previous Spec-Faith columns, including this one and this by guest blogger Jim Black, have pointed out how the Doctor might well be called a “Messiah” in some circumstances. Any character, of course, can be shown as saving the world just as the true God-Man Hero, Christ Jesus, is truly saving it. Yet the Doctor often does so in a manner that tributes — imitates, though not in a blasphemous way — the real Lord of Time, Who not only travels within the vortex of eternity, but created Time itself and dwells infinitely beyond its limitations.

    Perhaps the most poignant portrayal I recently saw was in the third-season episode The Family of Blood, part 2 of a 2-part adventure. The Doctor and his human colleague, Martha Jones, have hidden away in 1913 England to avoid the titular Family, a group of aliens who want to kill him. Because this species can detect his presence by smell, the Doctor has temporarily transformed himself into a human, storing all his Time Lord characteristics and memories in a special fob watch that can only be opened at the proper time.

    A boy at the school at which the Doctor (in his human incarnation as a professor) teaches, takes the watch and discovers its secret. While the aliens finally do invade and wreak their carnage, the boy keeps the watch to himself, until finally he gives it to the Doctor.

    He did not want to give up the watch at first, he explains, because he found that at first, the Doctor was a terror to behold. “He’s like fire and ice and rage,” Tim explains in quiet awe, tinged with lingering fear. “He’s like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. . . . He’s ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and can see the turn of the universe. . . . And — and he’s wonderful.”

    If that wasn’t enough for a terrible-and-yet-beautiful Messianic meme, the manner in which the Doctor finally returns to his true form and dispatches the evil alien Family is even more so.

    After the Family’s spaceship is destroyed and the Doctor stands tall and angry over the hunters who are now the hunted, the son of the Family — “Son of Mine” — unexpectedly enters the story for a voiced-over summary of what happened next.

    He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing — the fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why: why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.

    He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there, forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that’s her. That’s always her.

    As for me, I was suspended in time and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector.

    We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure we did.

    And that — reflecting and portraying the truth of God’s wrath and eternal punishment of evildoers — is something more intentionally “Christian” fiction would do well to emulate.

    Messages like these are happening even while Davies and others are trying to push a gay-rights agenda or de facto evolutionary propaganda. It’s not just religious symbolism — a hymn sung in the episode Gridlock, or a cross-shaped space station or angelic figures — that makes the program convey Biblical truth. It’s incidental portrayals of God Himself, in the most surprising ways — and in fantastic, awesome ways that Christians can appreciate.

    So bring on your gay-rights not-so-subtext Russell T. Davies, and fall down along with others and “worship” professional God-hater Richard Dawkins if you wish to. I don’t mind at all; with the true Time Lord’s help, I can see Him there, and avoid the junk.

    However, hmm, perhaps Dawkins could be cast as a villain, or at least a victim who’s among the first to go during another alien invasion. I wouldn’t mind, in the slightest, seeing a Dalek “ex-terrrrr-min-ate!” his character. Yes. In slow motion. Because the fury of the real Time Lord is indeed unmatched against rebels who defy Him — yet He can be kind, and even the rebels can reflect His truths in epic storytelling, whether they want to or not.

    Spec Fic Online

    Christian speculative fiction is catching on, and as it does, it seems more and more people are adding their voices to the promotion/marketing/instruction mix. Good! There’s lots to talk about, lots to learn. But it seems to me it would […]

    Christian speculative fiction is catching on, and as it does, it seems more and more people are adding their voices to the promotion/marketing/instruction mix. Good! There’s lots to talk about, lots to learn. But it seems to me it would be helpful to catalogue all these sites.

    Jeff Gerke, publisher of Marcher Lord Press, heads up WhereTheMapEnds, a site touting itself as the home of Christian Speculative Fiction. One of the Writer’s Tools on the site is a listing of books available. In addition, he has a list of “Fantastic Visions,” speculative artists, followed by a list of online magazines, manga, gaming sites. It’s a good stab at the catalogue I mentioned.

    Problem is, it needs to be updated.

    So I’m thinking, why not a supplemental list? … Why not a CONTEST? We could have a Commenters’ Choice—best Christian Speculative Fiction site online. What do you think? From the nominations, we could create the catalogue—most loved sites, or something.

    We won’t start the contest just yet. I need to get your input though, on how to work this.

    Here are my thoughts. Just like the Clive Staples Award, we take nominations from … you.

    Then we set a vote day, which we publish well in advance, giving those interested in participating a chance to visit the sites that are nominated. Then on vote day, a person leaves a comment here at Spec Faith, with the name of the site they’re voting for.

    One vote per person—honor system.

    Winning site gets to display an award symbol (could use some help designing that).

    Question. Are blogs eligible? Or only webzines and forums. And what constitutes a Christian speculative fiction site? My thought here is, the site needs to be wholy dedicated to the topic. Spec Faith would qualify (if we include blogs), for instance, but A Christian Worldview of Fiction, though I talk about fantasy frequently, would not.

    OK, this could be fun! Your thoughts?