Lorehaven helps fans of all ages explore fantastical stories for God’s glory. Find the newest fiction for young readers plus teens+YA and adults. Get articles and podcasts that engage the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond. Subscribe free to join the Lorehaven Guild for monthly book quests!
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Fantastical books for middle grade readers!

Best for older children ages 8–12
Beneath the Swirling Sky, Elizabeth Groening
Skate the Seeker by Jeff Ayers
The Red Door, Chris Solaas
boys’ fiction · girls’ fiction · all fiction
Lorehaven Guild · Book Quests · subscribe

Top resources

  • Try These Three Practical Questions to Discern Fictional Magic
  • How Do We Discern Good and Bad ‘Magic’?
  • Three Fantastical Christian Stories to Help Your Kids Head Back to School
  • The Death and Rebirth of Magic in Children's Fantasy

New books for teens + young adults

Best for readers ages 13–18—and beyond!
The Looking-Glass Illusion, Sara Ella
The Eternity Gate, Katherine Briggs
Calligraphy Guild, R. M. Archer
young men’s · young women’s · all fiction
Lorehaven Guild · Book Quests · subscribe

Top resources

  • Beware the Real Danger of Entertainment
  • Christian-Made Fantasy Can Shine Light in the Grimdark
  • How to Disciple Your Kids with Dangeous Books
  • How Reading Epic Fantasy Helps Me Be Brave
  • Engaging Fictional Violence in Our Real Worlds
  • Engaging That @&*% Our Stories Often Say

New fiction for adults

Challenging novels for wise readers 18 and up.
The Looking-Glass Illusion, Sara Ella
Light of Eidon, Karen Hancock
Wandering, Loren G. Warnemuende
men’s fiction · women’s fiction · all fiction
articles · podcast · reviews · subscribe

Top resources

  • Even If We Like Fantasy and Sci-Fi, We Can Still Practice Accidental Legalism
  • How God Uses Story Villains for Our Good
  • Sensual Scenes in Fiction Pose Unique Temptations for Women
  • Stories With Bad Ideas Can Still Help Us Grow
  • Engaging Fictional Violence in Our Real Worlds
  • Engaging That @&*% Our Stories Often Say

Film, streaming, TV, video games

Help your kids engage their world for Christ!
Explore The Pop Culture Parent

Top resources

  • Let’s Not Excuse Movie and TV Porn For the Sake of ‘Redemptive’ Stories
  • Christians Can’t Consistently Blame Leftist Fiction While Pushing Our Own Propaganda

The Little Mermaid’s Live-Action Remake Fares Better Than Critics Forecast

Some new songs may flounder, but Ariel’s voice and Triton’s character redeem the 2023 Disney film. · Marian Jacobs
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Lorehaven helps fans of all ages explore fantastical stories for God’s glory. Find the newest fiction for young readers plus teens+YA and adults. Get articles and podcasts that engage the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond. Subscribe free to join the Lorehaven Guild for monthly book quests!
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

Share your novel with new fans!

Lorehaven is reaching Christian fans, homeschool families, church influencers, and cultural conservatives.

Yes, Christian Creators Can Hire Secular Staff

From sets of “The Chosen” to other positions, faithful employers face challenges when they work with unbelievers. · E. Stephen Burnett

Bilge and Beanstalks! Yahoo Scrawls Another Bad Take on C. S. Lewis’s Narnia

Watch this, she’s gonna say, “Susan Pevensie got lipstick and grew up and that’s why she’s going to hell.” · E. Stephen Burnett

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Lorehaven print issues (2018–2020)

New!
Middle grade
Teens + YA
Adults
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Lorehaven helps fans of all ages explore fantastical stories for God’s glory. Find the newest fiction for young readers plus teens+YA and adults. Get articles and podcasts that engage the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond. Subscribe free to join the Lorehaven Guild for monthly book quests!
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/ / Crew Manifest
E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com with its Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press. He and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they serve as members of Faith Baptist Church.
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Less Screaming, More Swashbuckling

Christian ministries and parents: let’s have less “they’re coming after our children!” screaming and more faith-based Godly swashbuckling. · E. Stephen Burnett

Incarnation, Part 3: Conception

How did Jesus experience the incarnation? Did He sense an existence-shattering perception shift as He ”stepped into time”? How else can we, based on God’s Word, speculate on the incarnation? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 6: Out Of The Frying-Pan Into The Fire

(How) do you plan to see “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”? Be prepared for the film to climax with an expanded version of the book’s chapter 6, “Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire.” · E. Stephen Burnett

Incarnation, Part 2: Hero In The Flesh

Some stories rebel against God’s order of salvation; yet others do echo or even celebrate the Hero’s incarnation. Why does incarnation truth captivate us, and how does it inspire real and imaginative worlds? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 5: Riddles In The Dark

“The Hobbit” chapter 5, “Riddles in the Dark,” marks a turning point in the careers of not only Bilbo Baggins, but J.R.R. Tolkien. · E. Stephen Burnett

Incarnation, Part 1: Eternal Entity

Science fiction and false religions often insist that humans must change from physical to spiritual beings. But God the Son did the exact opposite. · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 4: Over Hill and Under Hill

Reviewers, publishers, and readers keep making up Middle-earth myths, including the notion that it can’t have “stone-giants,” as mentioned in “The Hobbit” chapter 4. · E. Stephen Burnett

Christmas: The Gritty Reboot

First it was a simple, cozy, possibly golden-glowing A-frame stable, then a slightly dirtier cave-stable, and then worse overnight lodging for poor Mary and Joseph. Why do people keep gritty-rebooting the first Christmas? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Superlative Stream’: Same Song, New ‘Verse

Some novels start like high-concept spacecraft. They launch into orbit all shiny, then crash. I’m glad to say this one glides with very few glitches.

‘A Willingness To Be Enchanted’

More people are saying self-distraction and materialism don’t bring real happiness. That’s true, but moralistic rules cannot fix this idolatry; only a willingness to submit to Christ, and submit to Godly enchantment. · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 3: A Short Rest

Do your fantasy-world Elves sing “tra-la-la-lally” from treetops? J.R.R. Tolkien’s do. And he entreats us to meet these unique Middle-earth residents in “The Hobbit,” chapter 3. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 12: Desiring God As Fantasy Fans

As we come to the end(?) of this series, I’m curious: How is your God-glorifying, worshipful, speculative-story “singing” voice? What fantastic fiction have you read, seen, or heard that moved you to worship the Author? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 2: Roast Mutton

In chapter 2, Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant member of Thorin Oakenshield’s Dwarf-company, first tries to put his “burglar” skills to the test. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 11: Glory Spectrum Of Stories

If God’s multihued glories shine in all of reality, how do we find such glories in stories and be moved to worship Him? · E. Stephen Burnett

Redeeming Culture In Stories and Politics

The Church is not anti-culture or pro-culture, but a gracious proclaimer of the Biblical Story, and what in culture reflects God’s truth or does not. This applies to stories, speculative and otherwise. And this applies to politics, the governance of culture. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 10: Glory Spectrum Of Reality

Before seeing how God glorifies Himself across a glory spectrum in many kinds of stories, often without their authors knowing, we must explore how He glorifies Himself in Scripture and in people’s real-life choices. · E. Stephen Burnett

Halloween, Horrors, and ‘Star Wars’

Do you “observe” or not observe Halloween? Have you changed from one view to another? Share your thoughts on that, or on the “Star Wars” empire assimilation, the horror genre, or that evidently heresy-flooded “Noah” movie. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 9: Spectrum Of Glories

All this talk of God’s glory, and enjoying fantastic stories for His glory. Yet what is His glory? How do we often imagine it as shades of white when it’s really a dazzling rainbow? · E. Stephen Burnett

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

Reading Is Worship 8: Source Of All Stories

Scripture is the source of all stories — the story of reality, the smaller “stories” of us as real people, and the stories we subcreate. We must recall that truth when we’re discussing how our stories glorify God. · E. Stephen Burnett

Anonymizing Novel Reviews

Would Christian speculative novel reviews be more useful, even honest, if they were written anonymously? And at least for some novels, would you prefer writing reviews anonymously? · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 7: More Than A Story

Do you suspect that claiming a story must have higher “purpose” somehow cheapens its quality? Or do you agree this actually makes stories more truthful and beautiful? · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 6: Curing Weirdness-Idolatry

How can we fight inclinations to idolize “being weird” for its own sake? We must see fantasy “weirdness” as normal in the Bible (and even in our culture), ask God to help us reach out to critics, and remember why we love fantastic stories. · E. Stephen Burnett

‘Changing The Future; It’s Called Marriage,’ Part 2

In Doctor Who, some people hated Rory’s and Amy’s relationship. Maybe people dislike seeing a stable relationship. Maybe, similar to the Doctor himself, they can’t stand committed, heroic, happy endings to a love story. · E. Stephen Burnett

‘Changing The Future; It’s Called Marriage,’ Part 1

After Doctor Who’s midseason finale, you may owe the British sci-fi series’ writers an apology if you believe the program pushed other agendas besides love, sacrifice, and God-given marriage. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 5: Identifying Weirdness-Idolatry

Brothers and sisters: loving speculative stories is not about you. Or us. Or the genre. Or, especially, Being Weird. That’s especially vital to recall after last weekend’s controversy over cosplay at the ACFW awards banquet. · E. Stephen Burnett

Share Your Crazy Conference Stories

Here at Speculative Faith, we’re reader-centric. But for those who have attended writers’ conferences such as ACFW, what crazy stories might you share? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 1: An Unexpected Party

One great way to explore “The Hobbit” is by reading it yourself. Yet if reading stories is worship, we should also read and discuss this classic together. · E. Stephen Burnett

‘Hobbit’ Film Hopes: An Unexpected Journey

Much has changed since my last “The Hobbit” update after the teaser released in December. Now with the new trailer’s release, what are your thoughts, hopes, and predictions for “The Hobbit” film series? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘Doctor Who’: When Justice Seasons ‘Mercy’

The “Doctor Who” episode “A Town Called Mercy” asked viewers to wrestle with the question: who decides who lives or dies? The answer is hidden in plain sight. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 4: Craft-Idolatry

Before discussing industry changes, editors, and manuscript proposals, we must love God’s Story and great stories more than their craft. Otherwise we may be vulnerable to other story-related idolatries. · E. Stephen Burnett

Entering The ‘Asylum’

“Doctor Who” series 7 began with an explosive opener last Saturday, raising questions about great battles versus personal ones, and particularly what true kind of love the greatest stories celebrate. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 2: Experience-Worship

It’s easy to break into others’ idol factories. But for most readers, including myself, the worst potential idol in enjoying speculative stories may be experience. How is this self-defeating? What is the Biblical cure? · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 1: Foreword

Whatever story we’re reading, seeing, or hearing, we’re not simply critiquing or being entertained. We’re worshiping. So what is Biblical worship? When you read epic stories, what or who do you worship, by intention or accident? · E. Stephen Burnett

Lewis and Literature In The Library

Work continues to collect all published, Christian speculative stories in one place — the Speculative Faith Library. This effort also helps reveal a few things about the Christian-spec story field and classic authors that you may not know. · E. Stephen Burnett

Shallow Reasons To Support ‘Narnia’ 2

Why do some force shallow, over-“spiritual” allegories on the “Narnia” stories — to the extent of claiming Aslan’s tent equals the Tabernacle, the Professor’s house equals the church, or the wardrobe equals the Bible? · E. Stephen Burnett

‘Oxygen’ Still Leaves Readers Breathless

As this review is published, in an alternate-world version of Aug. 14, 2012, Christian and scientist Valkerie Jansen is about to join the first manned Mars mission.

Reviewing Speculative Faith Reviews

Writing more blog entries lamenting the lack of good Christian sci-fi and fantasy novels doesn’t correct this problem. Instead, read Christian SF novels and write reviews. Not just for The Cause, but to help others worship God. · E. Stephen Burnett
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Lorehaven helps fans of all ages explore fantastical stories for God’s glory. Find the newest fiction for young readers plus teens+YA and adults. Get articles and podcasts that engage the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond. Subscribe free to join the Lorehaven Guild for monthly book quests!
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