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Into the Darkness
Reviews, Feb 3, 2023

The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
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Rose Petals and Snowflakes
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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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144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
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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.”
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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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Let’s Look At Openings

A couple weeks ago, I posted the openings of six different novels on my personal blog and had visitors vote for the ones that captured their interest. It was a useful exercise and proved to be lots of fun. I […]
Rebecca LuElla Miller on Sep 23, 2011
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A couple weeks ago, I posted the openings of six different novels on my personal blog and had visitors vote for the ones that captured their interest. It was a useful exercise and proved to be lots of fun.

I began to think we at Spec Faith might like to do something like that too, but instead of me giving novel openings to you, you could give me excerpts to post.

This would be something like the one-page critiques sometimes offered at conferences. Anonymous participants who aren’t afraid of the comments they’ll receive submit their work, and a panel of professionals says if they would like to read more and why or why not.

In this case, the “panel of experts” would be the Spec Faith visitors.

First we need anonymous participants who are brave enough to put their work forward for the public to shred discuss. 😉 If you would like to volunteer, you may email the first hundred words of your unpublished novel to rluellam at yahoo dot com. Sometime soon I’ll post the first five I receive, and then the fun can begin.

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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  1. Galadriel says:
    September 23, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    I would be willing to do so.

    Reply
  2. Kessie says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Well hey, why not? I have a weak opening scene that could use some shoring up. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    Cool, send them in when you’re ready. But if we have more than five we may have to spread this out over several days or not post everyone’s entry. We’ll see what the response is.

     

    Becky

    Reply
  4. Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    ACK! I just reread my post and realized I said the first five, so now if it’s to be anonymous we probably shouldn’t give away who is or isn’t going to send something in.

     

    Becky

    Reply
    • Kessie says:
      September 23, 2011 at 10:02 pm

      *shifty eyes*
       
      You never saw this comment. *Jedi hand wave*

      Reply
      • Kaci Hill says:
        September 23, 2011 at 11:53 pm

        Your Jedi mind tricks will never work on me!

        Reply
  5. Morgan Busse says:
    September 24, 2011 at 8:56 am

    This sounds like a great idea. It was interesting to read what people voted on over on your post, Becky.

    Reply
  6. Keeny says:
    September 26, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    Kessie, count me in as well.

    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.
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