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Into the Darkness
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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
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147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
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145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
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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

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“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
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Prince Caspian
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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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Spec Faith 2019 Winter Writing Challenge – Evaluation Phase

Next week I’ll announce the three finalists, based on your thumbs up during this evaluation phase and the feedback offered last week as the submissions came in. From those three, I’ll create a poll, and we’ll vote for a winner.
Rebecca LuElla Miller on Jan 28, 2019 · Series: 2019 Spec Faith Winter Writing Challenge
10 comments

The Spec Faith 2019 Winter Writing Challenge is now closed to new entries. We received an outstanding group of submissions, both stories and story openings, and the evaluation phase is now underway.

We want all the entries, even those that came in yesterday, to have a fair shot at the finals, so please take time to read and give your evaluation of the ones you haven’t read yet. I’m speaking to myself here, because I have not had a chance to read and give feedback to all of them.

Remember, to indicate which you like best (no limit), reply to the entries with helpful comments as you see fit, and give a thumbs up. In your replies, tell the authors what you like about their story or give them constructive criticism which might benefit them (whether you choose to give a thumb up or not). Remember, no minuses, please. Such negative feedback doesn’t help a writer know what they need to work on, so it is not helpful.

Next week I’ll announce the three finalists, based on your thumbs up during this evaluation phase and the feedback offered last week as the submissions came in. From those three, I’ll create a poll, and we’ll vote for a winner.

The drawback of a readers’ choice challenge is that it might turn into a popularity contest. On the other hand, we need reader feedback for the challenge to be successful. With both these facts in mind, I think the best answer is for Spec Faith visitors to connect with family, friends, and followers (our share buttons make this quite easy) and encourage their fair and unbiased feedback (as opposed to, “Vote for mine—you don’t really need to read any of the entries,” which I’ve seen from some other contests).

Thanks ahead of time for letting others know that their feedback is a helpful part of the contest.

And special thanks to each of the authors who shared their work with us. The selection of wonderful entries will make choosing a winner a tough call. What a nice predicament! To find the entries, follow one of the links in this article (such as this one)—the entries are in the comments section of that post. You might consider reading them last to first.

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. Sarah says:
    January 28, 2019 at 4:40 pm

    The last link goes to the wrong contest, Summer 2018!

    Reply
    • Ann Milo says:
      January 30, 2019 at 1:34 pm

      Which link?

      Reply
      • Sarah Romanov says:
        January 31, 2019 at 11:26 pm

        The link in the last paragraph attached to the words “this one”!

        Reply
        • Ann Milo says:
          January 31, 2019 at 11:35 pm

          Yes, I realized that. Maybe just use the original link with all the comments and entries on it for now! 🙂

          Reply
    • Sarah Daffy says:
      January 30, 2019 at 1:39 pm

      You’re right.

      Reply
    • Sarah Daffy says:
      February 3, 2019 at 5:53 pm

      Do you know how and when the poll will be made?

      Reply
    • Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
      February 4, 2019 at 2:07 pm

      So sorry for that confusion. The first link should be for this year’

      Becky

      Reply
  2. Sarah Daffy says:
    February 3, 2019 at 3:00 pm

    Rebecca, when and how will you create a poll? And I am not quite sure on how the voting will work.

    Reply
    • Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
      February 4, 2019 at 2:06 pm

      Sorry I didn’t see your question sooner, Sarah. I use PollDaddy and will post the poll today.

      Becky

      Reply
      • Sarah Daffy says:
        February 4, 2019 at 6:10 pm

        Thanks so much!

        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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