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Nomad
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Mar 5, 2021

Legend of the Storm Sneezer
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53. How Can Christian Fans React When Fantasy Creators Get Cancelled? Part 1
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Mar 2, 2021

My Novel ‘The Mermaid’s Sister’ Arose from True Depths of Mourning
Articles | Carrie Anne Noble on Mar 1, 2021

The Icarus Aftermath
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 26, 2021

My Screenwriter Mom Introduced Me to Fantastic Sci-Fi in the 1960s
Articles | Jason William Karpf on Feb 25, 2021

52. Do Christians Really Need Science Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 3
Podcast | Lorehaven on Feb 23, 2021

Join Our March 11 Livestream Exploring Christian Reactions to Fandom Cancel Culture
News | Lorehaven on Feb 22, 2021

The Hourglass and the Darkness
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 19, 2021

Venus is More Than Just a Love Goddess
Articles | Shannon Stewart on Feb 18, 2021

Introducing Fantasy Enthusiast and New Lorehaven Writer Shannon Stewart
News | Lorehaven on Feb 17, 2021

Stories with Bad Ideas Can Still Help Us Grow
Articles | L.G. McCary on Feb 15, 2021

Gretchen and the Bear
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 12, 2021

The Mandalorian is a Religious Fundamentalist, and Here’s Why That’s Awesome
Articles | Josiah DeGraaf on Feb 11, 2021

Introducing Fantasy Creator and New Lorehaven Writer Josiah DeGraaf
News | Lorehaven on Feb 10, 2021

51. Do Christians Really Need Fantasy? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 2
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Feb 9, 2021

The Death and Rebirth of Magic in Children’s Fantasy
Articles | R. J. Anderson on Feb 8, 2021

Torch
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 5, 2021

Fictional Magic Systems Can Go Beyond Rules and Reveal Deeper Characters
Articles | Elijah David on Feb 4, 2021

How God Uses Story Villains for Our Good
Articles | Zackary Russell on Feb 3, 2021

Introducing Sci-Fi Creator and New Lorehaven Writer Zackary Russell
News | Lorehaven on Feb 2, 2021

50. Do Christians Really Need Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 1
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Feb 2, 2021

Frank E. Peretti to Give Keynote Address at Realm Makers Writers Conference This July
News | E. Stephen Burnett on Feb 1, 2021

Fugue for the Sacred Songbook: In Eb Minor
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Jan 29, 2021

How A Year Without Superhero Films Rebooted Our Universe
Articles | Jason Joyner on Jan 28, 2021

New Book ‘Reading Evangelicals’ Will Focus on Famous Christian Fiction
News | E. Stephen Burnett on Jan 27, 2021

Introducing Superhero Novelist and New Lorehaven Writer Jason C. Joyner
News | Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2021

49. How Can We ‘Terraform’ the Church to Enjoy Fantastic Fiction?
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Jan 26, 2021

Militant Secularism Could Force Christians to Create New Subcultures
Articles | Mike Duran on Jan 25, 2021

Flight of the Raven
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Jan 22, 2021

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The Mermaid's Sister, Carrie Anne Noble
Etania's Worth, M. H. Elrich
Cinderella Spell, Laurie Lee
When Desperate Measures Are All You Have Left, J. C. Morrows
Fractures, James C. Joyner
Torch, R. J. Anderson
The Terran Summit, Anna Zogg
The Xerxes Factor, Anna Zogg
The Paradise Protocol, Anna Zogg
The Awakened, Richard Spillman
The Ascension, Richard Spillman
Love's Sacrifice, Kelsey Norman
Unbroken Spirit, Kelsey Norman
Seed: Judgment, Joshua David
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Nomad
“R. J. Anderson’s fantasy Nomad is a rollicking read with fascinating conflicts and plot twists.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 5, 2021

Legend of the Storm Sneezer
“Teen readers fond of lengthy, lighthearted ghost-and-zombie tales will enjoy Legend of the Storm Sneezer by Kristiana Sfirlea.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 5, 2021

The Icarus Aftermath
“Arielle M. Bailey’s The Icarus Aftermath spins a golden yarn of vivid characters and gripping emotion, set in a world ripe for exploration.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 26, 2021

The Hourglass and the Darkness
“Kyle L. Elliott’s novel The Hourglass and the Darkness posits a world before the great Flood, starting a promising series.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 19, 2021

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53. How Can Christian Fans React When Fantasy Creators Get Cancelled? Part 1
Fantastical Truth, Mar 2, 2021

52. Do Christians Really Need Science Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 3
Fantastical Truth, Feb 23, 2021

51. Do Christians Really Need Fantasy? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 2
Fantastical Truth, Feb 9, 2021

50. Do Christians Really Need Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 1
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The Fantastical Elements of Romantic Fiction, part 2
Parker J. Cole, Mar 4

Settling the Solar System in Science Fiction, part 3: the Moon
Travis Perry, Feb 24

The Fantastical Elements of Romantic Fiction, part 1
Parker J. Cole, Feb 17

Settling the Solar System in Science Fiction, part 2: Venus
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The Continued Search For The Next C. S. Lewis

Lewis’s fiction did not spring to life in a vacuum, nor did it germinate exclusively from the fertile soil of his own imagination. Rather, he read widely, studied profusely, and spent hours discussing literature and theology with other scholars.
Rebecca LuElla Miller on Sep 9, 2013 | No comments

old-chain-2-1214217-mFrom time to time I’ve decried the marketing ploy that advertises an author as the next C. S. Lewis or the next J. R. R. Tolkien. Those greats are matchless, in my view, and we aren’t going to see The Next, as if they were simply links in a long chain of literary figures accomplishing more or less the same thing in their generation as those who went before and who will go after.

Recently, however, I read an article by Christopher Mitchell, professor at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, entitled “Still Looking for C. S. Lewis.” In it, he explores what C. S. Lewis gave the world and whether looking for another C. S. Lewis is asking for too much.

Dr. Mitchell’s opening caught my attention at once. He relates how for the past two decades he regularly has entertained the question, where are the C. S. Lewises of our day?

As I see it, then, on one hand marketing people are saying, here is the next C. S. Lewis, and on the other, everyday Christians are saying, where is the next C. S. Lewis? Either the everyday people are not listening to the marketers, the marketers aren’t speaking to the everyday people, or the two simply disagree.

I suspect there is truth in all three aspects. First, these marketers are speaking to a fairly small crowd–those who frequent Christian book stores and who pull a book by an unknown author off the shelf to read the back cover copy, because honestly, that’s about the extent of the marketers’ reach when it comes to Christian fantasy.

In addition, everyday people are not listening to the marketers. For one thing, they have become, by necessity, fairly jaded when it comes to marketing. In part they are adept at looking past it. But if they should allow marketing to penetrate their thinking, they are just as apt to be skeptical about what they’re told as they are impressed by it.

Consequently, any book with the claim that its author is the next C. S. Lewis had better prove it within the first few pages because, if the writing isn’t there, readers who turn to the first chapter will surely conclude the back cover is typical marketing hyperbole.

Thirdly, the marketers and the everyday people seem to be in disagreement about what they’re looking for. This point, I believe, is critical.

Are everyday people looking for stories set in a make-believe world like Narnia? Do they want books they can read to their children? Are they looking for stories with allegorical meaning like The Great Divorce? A Christian-ized retelling of a Greek myth in the vein of Till We Have Faces? A space-travel story about aliens, with Christian implications?

My guess is, those things are what marketers believe readers want in the “next C. S. Lewis,” but I suspect they miss the mark. Readers aren’t so much looking for the same kinds of stories as they are the same depth of story telling.

Eagle_and_ChildLewis’s depth first came from his interaction with Scripture, evidenced by his non-fiction apologetic works. Certainly his imaginative thinking also benefited from his interaction with his colleagues at Oxford, particularly those in the Inklings. In other words, his fiction did not spring to life in a vacuum, nor did it germinate exclusively from the fertile soil of his own imagination.

Rather, Lewis read widely, studied profusely, and spent hours discussing literature and theology with other scholars. Dr. Mitchell summed up Lewis’s ability as “a rare combination of theological reflection and poetic imagination.”

Perhaps he also enjoyed the rare environment of Oxford at the rare time of the post-World War II era.

But aren’t all times and environments rare in their own ways? I can only imagine what Lewis would have done if he’d had the opportunity to express his ideas in Facebook updates or Tweet his thoughts. The latter seems almost laughable, except for the fact that Lewis is so eminently quotable. His ideas are expansive, and he took books to explain his positions, and yet he had the knack of encapsulating deep truths in a sound bite.

In the end, I don’t think writers today should try to emulate Lewis’s stories or writing practices and certainly not his style. Rather, I think those everyday people looking for “the next Lewis” are actually looking for a writer whose fiction opens up spiritual reality the way Lewis’s does.

Of Lewis’s non-fiction, Mitchell says,

In addition to Lewis’ remarkable ability to translate Christian doctrine into lively, jargon-free, accessible prose, he also succeeded in communicating its essential depth and substance, turning what had become for many a mere religious relic into a potentially potent spiritual reality.

I suggest his fiction accomplished the exact same thing. This “next C. S. Lewis,” then, must delve into the depth of Christian doctrine and learn how to translate it into potent spiritual reality through the vehicle of stories. And that, I believe, is precisely what everyday people are looking for.

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. Lacee Hogg says:
    September 9, 2013 at 6:22 pm

    Excellent article. I am looking forward to reading the essay you referenced as well.

    Reply
    • Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
      September 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm

      Thanks, Lacee. Here’s the line I like most in Dr. Mitchell’s article–I could do a whole blog post on this alone:

      What Lewis did, if I may summarize, was to create a both rational and imaginative space where faith in Jesus Christ becomes plausible for those who do not believe, and where the faith of those wo do believe can grow and mature.

      As I read that, I’m thinking, Exactly!

      Becky

      Reply
  2. Galadriel says:
    September 9, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    I’m currently taking a topics in literature class on C.S. Lewis, and one of the things I brought up was how wide-ranging Lewis is. We have a satirical epistolary novel, “children’s” fantasy, a science fiction trilogy, what might be considered ‘literary’ fiction with a mythological basis, apologetic, nonfiction essays, literary criticism/history, and more.
    I think the days of such broad authorship has passed, partially due to increasing specialization in publishing and also to narrower education. How many college graduates today read the Illiad or Homer or Milton, unless they’re literature majors? We won’t get another Lewis, because that background is gone. We may find some of his aspects in other writers (theology directed at the layman, etc), but all those traits in one man?

    Reply
    • bainespal says:
      September 11, 2013 at 5:49 am

      I think the days of such broad authorship has passed, partially due to increasing specialization in publishing and also to narrower education. How many college graduates today read the Illiad or Homer or Milton, unless they’re literature majors? We won’t get another Lewis, because that background is gone. We may find some of his aspects in other writers (theology directed at the layman, etc), but all those traits in one man?

      I think you’re right, but don’t attribute everything to Lewis’s academic environment. That would diminish the uniquenesses of the man himself that made just about all Christians like him. He was a deep philosophical thinker, but he was also an unshakable optimist. He was easily understandable but also intellectual. His arguments were probably controversial and radical to the academia that he was a part of, but he was rarely condemned anyone by name and was almost never cynical.

      I think some people may find a writer who is a modern C.S. Lewis for them, but the appeal of modern writers is probably generally less than Lewis’s near-universal Christian appeal. In the realm of nonfiction, there is a writer who has affected much the same way that Lewis has, but speaking to me in the context of my own time and culture. For fiction, I’m still waiting for The Next Tolkien. 😉

      Reply
  3. notleia says:
    September 9, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    As much as I love talking animals in fantasy and sci-fi form, Till We Have Faces is probably my favorite. We had some good play between the id/ego/superego of Bardia, Orual, and the Fox in regards to religion (not to mention a healthy dose of Greek philosophy and Fisher-King mythos), the most developed exploration of Lewis’s mini-trope of the possessive mother, and probably the most accurate representation of an early Iron Age society in Europe that I’ve ever seen in fiction. But what’s pretty funny is that you could chop off the second part of the book (or maybe just include the revelation of Orual’s possessiveness before the trippy dream-myth stuff) and have a pretty TS Eliot-y, Modernistic work.

    Reply
    • Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
      September 11, 2013 at 3:43 pm

      Notleia, Till We Have Faces is my favorite Lewis, too, but it is because of the “trippy dream-myth stuff.” 😉 The story up to that point is strong, but that segment baptizes it in truth, I think. And when you say TS Eliot-y, I’m assuming you mean pre-conversion, am I right?

      Becky

      Reply
      • notleia says:
        September 11, 2013 at 6:45 pm

        Yeah, I had “The Waste Land” in mind when making the Eliot comparison (though even after conversion he still seemed pretty melancholy [and eternally drowned in marginfulls of references]).

        Reply
  4. charmainetdavis says:
    September 9, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    As for me–I want reading that is new, different and amazing. No one can be____. God created who is for their moment in time–there is no going backward, only forward. No one can be duplicated and that’s a blessing.

    Reply
  5. Carol S. Fitzpatrick says:
    September 9, 2013 at 11:17 pm

    One of your best blogs, Becky. I think you went right to the heart of the issue.

    Reply
    • Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
      September 11, 2013 at 3:39 pm

      Thanks, Carol. I’d be curious what you think of Galadriel’s idea that specialization has put to death the kind of thinker and writer who may have become the next C. S. Lewis. I’m still mulling that one over.

      Becky

      Reply
  6. Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
    September 11, 2013 at 4:29 pm

    Dr. Mitchell did point out Lewis’s ability to steer clear of “Christian controversy” by focusing on “mere” Christianity–the doctrines we hold in common. He also noted his ability to cover deep concepts in a clear way, quoting Dorothy Sayers’ praise of him for this very thing:

    [Sayers wrote] Professor Lewis writes with delightful and humorous candour, and shows all his accustomed skill in translating complex abstractions into vivid concrete imagery. The limpidity of these waters may disguise their depth, so clearly do they reveal the bottom. But any illusion about this can be quickly dispelled by stepping into the river.

    I can see a writer in our time accomplishing this kind of thing, but I’m wondering if the gulf between people with a Christian worldview and those with a different framework would make it too hard for such a writer to have universal appeal.

    Becky

    Reply

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