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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
Fantastical Truth Podcast, May 24, 2022

When The English Fall
Reviews, May 20, 2022

Realm Makers Bookstore Returns to Orlando for FPEA Conference, May 26–28
News, May 19, 2022

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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
Into Shadow's Fire, Mark Castleberry
Deceived, Madisyn Carlin
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
Reviews

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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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Maxine Justice: Galactic Attorney
Book Quests, May 2022

The Green Ember
Book Quests, April 2022

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Power On
Book Quests, February 2022

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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
Fantastical Truth, May 24, 2022

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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The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

site archives | statement of faith
Articles Questions? Writers

Yes, Speculative Faith Is Closed, At Least For Now
E. Stephen Burnett, Dec 30

Last Stands, Custer, General Gordon, and Being a Christian Warrior
Travis Perry, Jul 2

How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 24

Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 10

Making a Story Visual UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Animal Eye Comic
Travis Perry, May 9

What Does “Woke” Culture Have To Do With Christian Fiction?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, Apr 26

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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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EStephenBurnett.com: Week One of Weekday Blogging, Complete

On this new web portal, explore topics like Aquaman’s “cheesiness,” the widow’s mite misinterpreted, and a weird search term.
E. Stephen Burnett on Jan 8, 2019
4 comments

Wow—I’d forgotten what a rewarding challenge that is, to blog once every weekday.

In this case, my new daily website articles, Monday through Friday, are being released for my new personal platform at EStephenBurnett.com.1

This shouldn’t take away from my Tuesday work at Speculative Faith (and certainly not Lorehaven Magazine). If anything, this means SpecFaith readers can expect even better content from me. Now that I’m covering, say, some nonfiction biblical articles, general geeky and popular culture, and other topics at my own site, my SpecFaith articles can focus more exclusively on our mission.

In fact, we’ve just added our revised mission slogan to the site’s logo at the top left:

EXPLORING TRUTH THROUGH STORIES FOR GOD’S GLORY.

Possible exception: today’s article, which previews the last week’s stories over at EStephenBurnett.com. Can you please pray real quick that I can keep up this exhilarating pace?

Jan. 1: Jesus’s People Need Fantastic Stories

Jesus’s people need fantastic stories.

We need them like we need food, water, air, love, and above all, Jesus himself.

Really? Can we say we “need” fantastic stories? Why not just say “want” or “can use”? [Continued …]

Jan. 1: Tim Keller: Jesus versus the ‘Religious People’?

Tim Keller (accidentally?) reinforces the old myth that the Pharisees and Sadducees were “Bible believers.”

No, they weren’t.

Jesus constantly called the Pharisees to task for not believing the Old Testament, which pointed to Himself as its fulfillment.

Also, it’s tiresome to hear an (accidental?) “irreligious versus religious” people mantra.

In fact, everyone is religious in some way. [Continued …]

Jan. 2: Aquaman Isn’t Simply ‘Big Dumb Fun,’ So Why Do Critics Claim It Is?

Most people, when they hear “cheesy,” think about low quality. They think of poorly made Christian movies, in which characters don’t speak or act like they’re in any place resembling the real world. Or they think of formulaic Hallmark movies for Christmastime.

Aquaman doesn’t qualify for any of those. The movie is well-made and makes its aesthetic choices by design, not by accident. And where it follows any “formula,” this is simply the classic hero’s journey played underwater.

Only if you believe the superhero genre is intrinsically cheesy would you apply this label to Aquaman. But then, why apply the label at all?

Which also leads to my question of why people, with good intentions, call Aquaman “(big) dumb fun” or “cheesy.” [Continued …]

Jan. 3: People Keep Finding SpecFaith By Searching for ‘Spells’

christian magicTwo of the most popular 2018 articles on Speculative Faith share a surprising connection.

It’s the word “spells.” [. . .]

So why are these two articles so popular?

I’m not sure. But I am concerned about recent headlines, such as “millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology.” I hope that, in an occult-crazed culture, these two articles are not popular because people are actually searching for “Christian white magic” or Progressivist spells. To try out. [Continued …]

Jan. 4: The ‘Widow’s Mite’: It Might Not Mean What You Think it Means

Right after Jesus observes the widow, he foretells the Temple’s destruction (Luke 21, verse 5 and onward). This is hardly a natural followup to praising the charitable recipient of a heartfelt gift—to prophesy its doom!

But even more telling, just before this account, in Luke 20: 45–47, Jesus specifically warns against legalistic, authoritarian scribes. Jesus says that, among their other sins, they “devour widows’ houses” (verse 47). After such a warning, it would make no sense for Jesus to suddenly switch themes. Why would Jesus turn around to comment about this good widow who gave all she owns to support this (suddenly good?) religious cause? [Continued …]

Jan. 7: ‘Young Justice’ Fans Actually Got the Show Renewed, So Why Do Some Still Complain?

Last Friday, the new season [of the animated superhero series Young Justice] debuted with the title Young Justice: Outsiders. With one “catch.” (If you could even call it that.) DC had chosen not to host Young Justice season 3 on a preexisting streaming service, such as Netflix (where many fans, including myself, first found the story). Instead DC debuted the season exclusively on its own relatively new media/streaming service, DC Universe.

Plenty of fans are overjoyed with this. But plenty of fans are not at all whelmed. [Continued …]

On a final note, here’s one action item I neglected to share in last week’s update!

Given the rising backlash against social media control of content, we at SpecFaith would greatly appreciate if you subscribe by email to this site. You can bypass the social-media middle man, and receive daily Monday–Friday updates each time we share a new SpecFaith article. Also, you can get free access to download Lorehaven Magazine. (Those updates are a bit less frequent, mostly to announce new issues.)

Godspeed!

Stephen

  1. That distinct web portal, like Speculative Faith, is organized under the Lorehaven banner. ↩
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 and cohost of the 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 (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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  1. notleia says:
    January 8, 2019 at 10:42 am

    I’m still skeptical of Aquaman NOT being big and dumb or cheesy to some degree. Even the Justice League cartoon that scraped up all lame odds and ends of old DC heroes didn’t really have much idea of what to do with Aquaman. I don’t even have a clear idea of what his powers are supposed to be besides talking to dolphins or some crap. Did they make him a waterbender in this one? That seems to be about the only non-lame direction to take it in.

    Reply
    • E. Stephen Burnett says:
      January 8, 2019 at 7:28 pm

      Even the Justice League cartoon that scraped up all lame odds and ends of old DC heroes didn’t really have much idea of what to do with Aquaman.

      That’s where you lost me. Or have a poor memory of the Justice League animated series. They knew exactly what to do with Aquaman: he was the noble yet rough-edged ruler of Atlantis, at first annoyed with the surface world, and then proving truly heroic in order to save his son, save Atlantis, and ultimately help join the League to save the surface world. This series was literally the sole reason I appreciated Aquaman in the first place.

      Reply
      • notleia says:
        January 9, 2019 at 12:18 am

        Well, it was a few years ago that I watched it, so you can tell what kind of lasting impact it had on me. I remember some about Atlantis, I can’t remember Aquaman doing much besides punching things.

        Reply
        • E. Stephen Burnett says:
          January 9, 2019 at 7:33 am

          A lot of that series was punching. But that’s typical for the genre.

          Seen any of Young Justice?

          Reply

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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.