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Into the Darkness
Reviews, Feb 3, 2023

The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
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Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
The Genesis 6 Project, Michael Ferguson
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
Frost, Winter's Lonely Guardian, E. E. Rawls
Dream of Kings, Sharon Hinck
The Change, Bradley Caffee
Quest of Fire: Desperation, Brett Armstrong
Wishtress, Nadine Brandes
Flight, Kristen Young
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147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
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146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
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145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
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142. What Christmas Gift ‘Tools, Not Toys’ Helped You Grow As a Person?
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On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
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Into the Darkness
“Charles Hack’s Into the Darkness summons a close-range science fiction story, focusing on the personal challenges of space warfare among alien cultures with a steady pace and serious tone.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 3, 2023

A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
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Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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Christian Speculative Fiction Awards Aplenty

This explosion of contests open to or designed for Christian speculative fiction is an encouraging sign, I believe. For one thing, writers and readers have some way of determining which of the many books that came out in 2015 are among the best.
Rebecca LuElla Miller on Jan 18, 2016
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ChristyAwardLogo[1]Not so very long ago, the Christy Awards were the only credible awards for Christian fiction, and they dropped their speculative fiction category. Upon further investigation, the powers that be informed the public that there simply were not enough entries.

In response, a number of speculative fiction writers began discussion of a Christian speculative fiction award. Several years later the Clive Staples Award was born.

At about the same time, the Carol Award, issued by the American Christian Fiction Writers association, added a Speculative Category. Membership in the organization and an entry fee are part of the requirements for submission. Carol_Award_trans-Winner

That same year the Christy Award again added the “Visionary” Category which encompasses all the speculative fiction subgenres. An entry fee is required for this “traditional publishers only” award.

Inspy awardsA few years later a group of bloggers established the Inspy Awards, the “bloggers award for excellence in faith-driven literature.” From the start they included a speculative category. Their nominations do not include self-published or ebooks.

More recently the Grace Awards came into being, and they have a speculative category. The Word Award, presented by the Canadian Word Guild, includes a Christian book category with a speculative division.

In addition, a number of writers’ conferences such as the Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference and the Oregon Christian Writers Conference now hold contests which include speculative fiction categories. These conference awards require attendance.

New this year is the Realm Award for speculative fiction only, hosted by the Realm Makers Conference. There are also six genre categories, open to self-published authors as well as print published. Submission includes an entry fee.

This explosion of contests open to or designed for Christian speculative fiction is an encouraging sign, I believe. For one thing, writers and readers have some way of determining which of the many books that came out in 2015 are among the best. Plus, I think a little healthy competition is good for writers. It pushes us to do better.

clive-staples-seal-2015All this information is by way of introduction. The nominations for the Clive Staples Award will soon be open. This award is reader initiated rather than author or publisher initiated. It also is a mixture of reader choice and judging selection.

Both self-published and traditionally published, by small press or ECPA member publishers, are eligible. There is no entry fee.

Voters must have read at least two of the books on the list of nominations, so one of the important elements for the Clive Staples Award is readers! But here’s the cool thing. As soon as nominations start coming in, anyone wishing to vote who hasn’t yet read two books published in 2015 can find a couple that look interesting and begin reading.

The bottom line is this: more and more organizations, writing groups, and readers are recognizing Christian speculative fiction. It’s a great development for the genre, and it’s a great help to readers looking for good books.

Be sure to watch for more news about the awards.

Rebecca LuElla Miller
Best known for her aspirations as an epic fantasy author, Becky is the sole remaining founding member of Speculative Faith. Besides contributing weekly articles here, she blogs Monday through Friday at A Christian Worldview of Fiction. She works as a freelance writer and editor and posts writing tips as well as information about her editing services at Rewrite, Reword, Rework.
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Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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