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When The English Fall
Reviews, May 20, 2022

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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
Fantastical Truth Podcast, May 17, 2022

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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
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Arena (2022 edition), Karen Hancock
Kurt Nickle-Dickle of Whiskers, N. J. McLagan
"In a city where debts are paid in blood, one young man will learn that everyone needs help sometimes if they want to survive." New in the Lorehaven library: A Matter of Blood, Lauren H Salisbury
Son of the Shield, Mary Schlegel
Maxine Justice, Galactic Attorney, Daniel Schwabauer
Mordizan, Alyssa Roat
Prentice Ash, Matt Barron
Etania's Calling, M. H. Elrich
The Choice, Bradley Caffee
The Obsidian Butterfly, Lani Forbes
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When The English Fall
“When The English Fall tells a bittersweet tale of community and commitment that plunges fearlessly into hard questions about the end of the world.”
—Lorehaven on May 20, 2022

Clawing Free
“Clawing Free is an absorbing tale that seamlessly joins modernity and myth.”
—Lorehaven on May 13, 2022

Vivid
“Ashley Bustamante’s Vivid paints a world built on secrets and carefully controlled color palettes.”
—Lorehaven on May 6, 2022

Prophet
“If great fiction dares explore culture wars, it must show more than perfect people smiling before a flat backdrop. Frank E. Peretti’s 1992 novel Prophet reflects this reality.”
—Lorehaven on May 4, 2022

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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
Fantastical Truth, May 17, 2022

111. Why Do Your Kids Need Fantastical Stories for God’s Glory?
Fantastical Truth, May 10, 2022

110. Could We Enter a ‘Golden Age’ of Christian-Made Fantastical Fiction?
Fantastical Truth, May 3, 2022

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Fantastical Truth, Apr 26, 2022

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How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
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Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
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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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Do We Need Another Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Story?

James L. Rubart shares how he created his latest novel, “The Man He Never Was.”
James L. Rubart on May 1, 2018
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Novelist James L. Rubart and his latest book, The Man He Never Was, feature in the new issue of Lorehaven magazine. Subscribe and download your free copy here. Then, join fellow Christian fantasy fans in Lorehaven Book Clubs (starting online) to read through Rubart’s novel this month!

Why another story about the light and dark halves of ourselves?

Since Robert Louis Stevenson penned The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the late 1800s, there have been 120 stage and film versions alone, not to mention all the novels and short stories using the trope.

Why did I think I had anything to add?

For a number of reasons, I suppose.

First, I didn’t think I had anything to add. I didn’t find the story, the story found me. I heard Tim Keller talk about how Stevenson was likely inspired by Romans 7 for his classic tale, and I was fascinated.

In Stevenson’s story, Hyde wins in the end. With Christ, we win.

That fascination increased when Keller said, in effect, “With Christ we go from a civil war we can’t win, to a battle we cannot lose.” I wanted to know how to win more often. Not in the future. Now. Not in theory. In practice. Every day.

Second, I was struggling with how to love. Truly love. Not love the people that loved me, but the people who didn’t. How to love a relative I couldn’t avoid that is cruel and cutting and hurts people around me that I care deeply about.

The Man He Never Was, James L. RubartGod says to love these type of people the way He loves me. How is that possible? How can I love others without ever being offended? (Uh, have you watched the news or been on Facebook lately?)

How can I love without being provoked?  (See parentheses above.) How can I love without holding any record of wrong? Are you kidding? They’ll know we’re Christians by the way we love each other? Sure, in what fantasy world? But I wanted to know Christ’s kind of love, so I was wrestling with the question.

Third, I’d been reading Ted Dekker’s book, The Forgotten Way, and having long talks with Ted about his book and what he’d discovered on his journey about how to truly love.

And I realized that whereas in Stevenson’s story, Hyde wins in the end. With Christ, we win.

I wanted to write that story. I wanted to write about how I’d started to embrace the way of love like I’d never done before.

I can’t tell you how we win. That’s the Christian twist I put on the tale. But suffice it to say, my own life has been changed by writing this novel.

It’s my story, it’s your story, it’s the story of anyone who hates the dark half of themselves and wants to be free of that half.

You can be free, dear sister and brother. I promise, you can be free.





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“Rubart is careful to construct vivid settings and emotions, and builds in some unforeseen final twists.”
— Lorehaven Magazine

The Man He Never Was released in February 2018.

Explore the book at the Lorehaven Library.

Read our full review exclusively in the spring 2018 issue of Lorehaven Magazine!

James L. Rubart
James L. Rubart is a husband, dad, author, and speaker—in that order. He's the best-selling author of The Man He Never Was, The Long Journey of Jake Palmer, and The Five Times I Met Myself. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in broadcast journalism. During the day he runs Barefoot Marketing which helps businesses and authors make more coin of the realm. In his free time he dirt bikes, backpacks, golfs, takes photos, and does the occasional sleight of hand. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his amazing wife and teenage sons and still thinks he's young enough to water ski like a madman. Learn more at his website.
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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.