New!
Author resources • Lorehaven Guild
Podcast sponsors • Subscribe for free
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

The Chase
Book Quests, Apr 1, 2023

Once Upon a Ren Faire
Reviews, Mar 31, 2023

How to Disciple Your Kids With Dangerous Books
Ticia Messing in Articles, Mar 30, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · teens + YA · adults
All novels Search Add a novel
Enhanced, Candace Kade
Bear Knight, James R. Hannibal
The Wayward, Tabitha Caplinger
Fortified, V. Romas Burton
Canaan Sleeps, Daniel Camomile
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
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

155. How Might Sentimentalism Threaten Christian Fiction?
Fantastical Truth, Mar 28, 2023

154. What If You Had to Fake Being Genetically Modified? | Enhanced with Candace Kade
Fantastical Truth, Mar 21, 2023

153. When Can Deconstructionism Threaten Christian Fiction? | with Michael Young aka ‘Wokal Distance’
Fantastical Truth, Mar 14, 2023

152. How Can Christian Fantasy Fans Heal from Church Trauma? | with Marian Jacobs and L. G. McCary
Fantastical Truth, Mar 7, 2023

151. How Can Fantastical Satire Sharpen Our Theology? | The Pilgrim’s Progress Reloaded with David Umstattd
Fantastical Truth, Feb 28, 2023

150. Is the U.S. Government Covering Up Spy Balloons or Alien Spaceships? | with James R. Hannibal
Fantastical Truth, Feb 21, 2023

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs
Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review
Gifts

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Archives

The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

Speculative Faith | archives

Lorehaven issues (2018–2020)

Order back issues online!
New
Library
Podcast
Quests
Reviews
Gifts
Archives
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.
Subscribe free to Lorehaven
/ SpecFaith /

Fantastical Truth Explores the Aborted Future of 2001’s Suspense Thriller Oxygen

Today on Lorehaven’s Fantastical Truth podcast, we’re exploring the past-future with first-century thriller novelist Randy Ingermanson.
E. Stephen Burnett on May 5, 2020
No comments

Today on the Fantastical Truth podcast, we’re exploring the past-future with first-century thriller novelist Randy Ingermanson. He’s helping us explore his foray into sci-fi with his 2001 novel Oxygen (co-written with John B. Olson).

Get the complete show notes here, including a tease about his newest first-century thriller series. This year, Randy launched his new Crown of Thorns series. Book 1, Son of Mary released in April. It follows the biblical quest of the greatest Hero of all time.

https://media.blubrry.com/fantasticaltruth/content.blubrry.com/fantasticaltruth/FT015-Oxygen.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I scouted the SpecFaith archives, but interestingly we’ve never had a full article from Randy Ingermanson here.

However, his once-coauthor, John B. Olson, has stopped by to mull over some early marketing-for-writers thoughts.

I also fondly recall Olson’s tease at a writer’s conference:

Whispers, murmurs, and a few pauses from wiser ones waiting for the surprise ending, had spread amongst dozens of class attendees.,

To wit, these were Ladies of the Church™, a very powerful special interest lobby.

I was there also, enjoying my second attendance of an American Christian Fiction Writers’ conference (2007). And John Olson, co-author of Oxygen, had just said something heretical.

Yes, he said, “God can’t spell and has bad grammar.”

Then of course he went on to explain the context. As best I recall (it was a crazy weekend) he said that as a writer (also of Oxygen’s sequel The Fifth Man and thriller novels Shade and Powers), he’s met many people who show him their manuscripts. They’re in varying genres, though with conferences dominated by the LotC™ you can guess which genres predominate.

“Will you look at this?” they ask him.

Many will also exult: “God laid this on my heart. It’s such an amazing story. God told me to write this!”

Well in that case, Olson confessed to thinking: God can’t spell and has bad grammar.

We’ve also had plenty to say about Oxygen, such as this short excerpt. Here’s a clip from my own earlier review of the novel:

In Oxygen, God is glorified, at least implicitly, by the human drive to explore. Despite the unknown, threat of death by explosion, suffocation, or atmospheric entry, it’s worth it to go to Mars. Why? Not just to find life. Not just “because it’s there.” But because God created this other world for us. Thus, why can’t we do more than stand back and send probes there, as amazing as those are? Maybe because we doubt God created it and thus we also doubt that expenses and risks would be worth braving to see this world in person.

Well, we can go there fictionally, anyway.

And I’ll end with this bit from the more recent Lorehaven magazine review of Oxygen:

Valerie and her story uphold general themes of biblical faith: God does exist, and he will take care of people. Institutional churches mainly cameo in the form of culturally separatist Christians in the background, who seem to oppose the Mars mission. (Back in actual history, when too many people of all religions ignore space programs, NASA might plead for this kind of controversy.)

Our real villain, however, is unknown. Either way, after a wind-tossed launch and in-flight repairs, Ares 10 has a problem: an explosion that endangers the ship. Who’s the saboteur? Everyone aboard feels like a real, sympathetic person, so readers may not want any of them to be the villain. This uncertainty fuels the suspense of Oxygen. Still, it is the Ares mission’s success or failure, the crew’s competence, and the fear of unknowns, that provide the crew’s opposition en route to Mars.

Onward for his glory,

Stephen

E. Stephen Burnett, signature

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.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter

What do you think? Cancel reply

  • Podcast: R. S. Ingermanson Explores Jesus's Speculative Early Life in 'Son of Mary'Podcast: R. S. Ingermanson Explores Jesus's Speculative Early Life in 'Son of Mary'
  • The Road Not TakenThe Road Not Taken
  • Lorehaven, spring 2020Lorehaven's Newest Issue and Podcast Celebrate The Best of Christian Fantasy
  • Speculative Marketing: Re-imagining RealitySpeculative Marketing: Re-imagining Reality
Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

Wear the wonder:
Get exclusive shirts and beyond

Listen to Lorehaven’s podcast

Authors and publishers:
Reach new fans with Lorehaven

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.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter