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

148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth Podcast, Feb 7, 2023

Into the Darkness
Reviews, Feb 3, 2023

The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
Jenneth Dyck in Articles, Feb 2, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · young adult · grown-ups
All novels Search Add a novel
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
Dream of Kings, Sharon Hinck
The Change, Bradley Caffee
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth, Feb 7, 2023

147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
Fantastical Truth, Jan 17, 2023

144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 10, 2023

143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 6, 2023

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, February 2023

Prince Caspian
Book Quests, January 2023

Dream of Kings
Book Quests, December 2022

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Book Quests, November 2022

Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review

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.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

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

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 /

The Importance Of Reading: A Biased Opinion

Bias doesn’t mean you’re wrong, as Neil Gaiman shows in a (London) Guardian interview.
Yvonne Anderson on Nov 13, 2013
No comments
Photo by Kimberly Butler 2005 From Neil Gaiman’s website

Photo by Kimberly Butler 2005
From Neil Gaiman’s website

I’ve been quoted as saying my grandkids are cuter and smarter than yours. The fact that I’m biased doesn’t mean it’s not true. But since I’m a grandmother, and everyone knows what grannies are like, people aren’t usually offended when confronted with a statement like that. In fact, when the hearers are grandparents too, they smile indulgently and nod, thinking, “Of course she thinks that. But I happen to know mine are far superior.”

Sometimes it’s impossible to be completely objective. But being biased doesn’t necessarily mean we’re wrong; having an intimacy with the subject can give us a deeper understanding and appreciation than someone with little familiarity with it.

Take, for example, Neil Gaiman sharing his thoughts about reading.

Having earned his living at writing for three decades, Gaiman is not an objective observer. As the recipient of numerous international awards—the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, four Hugos, two Nebulas, one World Fantasy, four Bram Stokers, and six Locus Awards, for an incomplete list—it’s fair to assume he enjoys a greater intimacy with books than your average man on the street. Hailed as being one of the creators of modern comics, he’s a prolific author of a variety of fiction and nonfiction prose, poetry, song lyrics, screenplays and dramas, and highly acclaimed journalistic accomplishments. This all puts him in the category of people who know – and especially, people who care – about reading, writing, and books.

Biased or not, when he speaks on the subject, the rest of us would do well to pay attention. And speak he did, on October 14 this year at a lecture for The Reading Agency in London, UK.

As the British national newspaper The Guardian reports, Gaiman has some good stuff to say. I’ll step aside and let you read it.

Yvonne Anderson
Yvonne Anderson writes fiction that takes you out of this world. Her first novel, The Story in the Stars, debuted in June 2011 and is an ACFW Carol Award finalist in the Speculative Fiction category. Her second, Words in the Wind, released August 1, 2012. Two additional titles will complete this Gateway to Gannah series. She is contest administrator for Novel Rocket's Launch Pad Contest for unpublished novelists. You may follow her wise words on the blog YsWords, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.
Website ·
  1. Julie D says:
    November 13, 2013 at 11:08 am

    Allow me a paragraph or two to geek out over Gaiman before getting to what he had to say.
    Neil Gaiman is the closest thing to Lewis or Tolkien that modern fantasy has managed to produce, especially if you consider his range of output along Lewis’s work. His work is brilliant at combining the mundane and the extraordinary…I first heard of him when he wrote the Doctor Who episode “The Doctor’s Wife” (one of the best episodes of the revived series, not only for prose and story but as a piece of a larger mythology) and promptly ran to find everything else he’d ever written.
    He’s got urban fantasy and fairy tale and the Sandman tales, which create a new mythology around the Endless “who are not gods and never will be”, personifications of Death, Destiny, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium.
    And as for what he says–spot on. I’m a college student, and even with my required reading, I still take the effort to bike to the public library and pick up materials I otherwise wouldn’t have access to, ranging from DVDs to books and audio dramas. My budget is small, but libraries are big…bigger on the inside.

    Reply

What do you think? Cancel reply

  • Are Libraries On The Way Out?Are Libraries On The Way Out?
  • A Time For GenerosityA Time For Generosity
  • Fairytales … Truer Than Real Life?Fairytales … Truer Than Real Life?
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