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Have You Visited Your “Inmost Cave” Lately?

The following blog post was written by my brother (and co-author) Allan today while I’ve been on the road. Enjoy! ——————- I love exploring. Whenever I can, I like to take my family out on hikes to explore nature. I […] · Christopher Miller

What Makes Fantasy Work? Part 2

I hope our readers here at Spec Faith are thinking about the Christian speculative novel–fantasy, science fiction, supernatural, or whatever–they would like to nominate for the Clive Staples Award. Let’s find the books that work and pick the best of the lot to honor. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Magic In The Story: The Two Faces Of Magic

This week we delve deeper into the mysteries of ‘Magic in the Story’ and find ourselves confronted by the fact that there are two faces of magic in Narnia. · Christopher Miller

On The ‘Throne Of Bones’: A Q and A With Vox Day

“A Throne of Bones” epic-fantasy author Vox Day discusses how he’s moved from columns to fiction, controversial novel content, and his criticism (not imitation) of “A Game of Thrones.” · Vox Day

Old Soldiers

Veterans Day, aka Armistice Day, has a particular resonance for me, since it’s also my birthday. It’s a sobering thing to discover, at a very young age, that you were born on a day that commemorates the ending of a war—and not just any war, but arguably the most horrendous war in human history. · Fred Warren

What Makes Novels Mediocre?

How does sin influence our mediocre expectations? What makes reading novels a duty rather than a delight — or even makes you put down the book and refuse to read further? · E. Stephen Burnett

Speculative Politics 2: Perspectives From Marc Schooley

Author Marc Schooley explains why he believes the Church has over-entangled itself in politics. Yet he agrees much with his fellow Marcher Lord Press author Kerry Nietz’s perspective about how stories and authors touch on politics. · Marc Schooley

Shallow Reasons To Support ‘Narnia’ 1

Flawed, over-“spiritual” defenses of the “Narnia” series are not only annoying, but ignore the stories’s central beauties and childlike wonder. Even worse, such approaches ultimately make readers worship God less. · E. Stephen Burnett

Mixed Messages and Thin Themes

Christians shouldn’t be afraid of stories that hint at other ways of thinking. If the main message has merit and is presented properly, it will be clear among other ideas. · Kat Heckenbach

Rearranging Icons 7: Coming Full-Circle

The harder we try to make this icon metaphor fit into the practical business of writing and understanding literature, the squishier and messier it becomes. · Fred Warren

Rearranging Icons 5: In The Eye Of The Beholder

I’m more interested in the idea that readers can have a richer reading experience and writers can tell richer, deeper stories if they understand how this works. · Fred Warren

Rearranging Icons 3: Give and Take

As our e-mail conversation about icons continued, we moved into more of a give-and-take format, so you’ll see lots of quoting and commenting on things we posted last week. · Fred Warren

Rearranging Icons 2: Defining The Debates

What are icons? How have Christians viewed them in Church history, speculative stories, and evangelical art? If you think you or your denomination doesn’t deal with icons, in fiction or in faith practice, think again — and join our conversation. · E. Stephen Burnett

Rearranging Icons: An Introduction

A few months ago, Stephen and I wandered into a conversation about the meaning of icons in literature and their connection to Christian faith, and we agreed it was a topic worth examining in more detail in a feature here at Speculative Faith. · Fred Warren

Bringing The Personal To The Universal

Great fiction is made up of themes: Love and longing, coming of age, voyage and return, fathers, sons, daughters, mothers, overcoming the monster, death, birth, and more. These are universals, themes that can be, on one level or another, understood by any man or woman. · Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Dark Is The Stain: The Song & Dance

Jesus was frustrated because whether he calls his people in a spirit of celebration or comes weeping, they reject him. Christian storytellers can likely relate, when despite their efforts and pleas, they can’t please the audience. · Kaci Hill

Dark Is The Stain: Hallow’s Eve

I began this series because I wanted to explore the dark themes of Christian fiction. I don’t want to just discuss it; I want to touch it. I want light so bright that anything dark distracts, and darkness so black […] · Kaci Hill

Why I Wrote The DarkTrench Saga

Now that I’m done writing The DarkTrench Saga (from Marcher Lord Press), I’ll talk about it. The three-volume futuristic series has had some interesting criticisms, but surprisingly, the strongest reproaches have come from the Christian community. · Kerry Nietz
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