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The Nature of the Beast

How does the idea of monsters fit into the Christian walk? · Mark Carver

No Other Gods

I didn’t catch Tom Cruise’s The Mummy in theaters, so I watched it on DVD when it came out last week. It wasn’t as awful as I was expecting, though it doesn’t hold a candle to the Brendan Fraser films […] · Mark Carver

When Monsters Change Sides

Some creatures are imaginary. I think of unicorns and heffelumps and vampires and zombies. Or orcs or elves or hobbits. Some of these beings have a basis in history. For instance dragons are mentioned in the Bible. At least one […] · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Moana: The Gods Must Be Crazy

This is all fun and games from our enlightened, high-tech perch where we can say, “Aw, that’s cute. The native is praying to his ‘fire god.’ Adorable.” Yet it’s important to remember that these “adorable natives” prayed with as much devotion, if not more so, to their gods, elders, and ancestors as we do to the God of the Bible. · Mark Carver

Mediocre Times

“These are mediocre times…People are starting to lose hope. It’s hard for many to believe there are extraordinary things inside themselves as well as others.” · Mark Carver

Merry Mythmas

I sat in the pediatrician’s waiting room with a sick child browsing a dog-eared parenting magazine. It was a glossy holiday issue full of colorful pictures of luscious goodies, glittering decorations, and happy families. The magazine contained an article by […] · Yvonne Anderson

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

Magic In The Story: What’s The Big Deal?

Magic — just the mention of it can cause many a “good Christian” to draw dividing lines, take sides and ready for attack. Are we being discerning or just overreacting? Join our new series: Magic in the Story. · Christopher Miller

What Constitutes “Derivative”?

Some scholars claim J. R. R. Tolkien owed a debt of influence where he claimed none. I find this criticism to be thoroughly ironic because the great accusation against writers of high fantasy today is that their work is derivative, a mere shadow of, you guessed it, J.R.R. Tolkien. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

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

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

Dark Is The Stain: Chiaroscuro

Delving into Darkness Welcome to the new series! Church brat points to whoever knows which song “Dark is the Stain” comes from. I decided, in honor of the season, to go with a dark speculation of story. As Brian Godawa’s […] · Kaci Hill

Mythopoeia Or … It’s Opposite

Mythopoeia, according to Wikipedia, is “a narrative genre … where a fictional mythology is created … The authors in this genre integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes into fiction.” When I first heard the term, I was confounded. Which is it, I wondered, the creation of a myth or the integration of traditional myth into a new story? · Rebecca LuElla Miller