Fantastical Truth

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Fantastical Truth episodes

August 04, 2020 27. What Wackiness Awaits in the Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle? | with Bill Myers
Bill Myers shares his incredible worlds of Wally McDoogle, McGee and Me, and many other stories for kids and adults.
52 min
July 28, 2020 26. How Do We Defeat the Top Seven Myths about The Chronicles of Narnia? Part 2
Did C. S. Lewis doom Susan, bring Emeth to heaven, fill Narnia with allegories, or make it a "safe" series? We explore these four myths.
1 hr 27 min
July 21, 202025. Which Christian Fantastical Books Won Big at the 2020 Realm Awards?
Which Christian-made fantastical novels won big at the 2020 Realm Awards hosted at Realm Makers conference, just this past weekend?
Also, guess who’s coming to dinner at the 2021 Realm Makers conference, hosted (pandemic approval pending) again in St. Louis, Missouri?
Realm Makers Pandemic Edition wrapped just this past weekend
Stephen and Zack attended, and did a lot of work during this “staycation.”
Next year’s speaker will be Frank E. Peretti. (Last seen in this review and this Fantastical Truth episode.)
Realm Makers equips Christian writers of fantasy, sci-fi, beyond.
Yearly membership gets you access to ongoing material.
Annual conferences are scheduled for July, and usually in real life.
This year’s conference was of course different, held entirely online.
So was the 2020 Realm Awards ceremony, broadcast to everyone.
Realm Awards: complete list of winners
Alliance Award winner, chosen by reader vote
Brand of Light, by Ronie Kendig from Enclave Publishing
Get the full review, with “best for” and “discern” notes, from Lorehaven.
Heart of the Curiosity, H. L. Burke, with 2020 Parable Award-winning cover by designer Austin Lord
Parable Award winner for best book cover designs
Heart of the Curiosity, by H. L. Burke with cover by Austin Lord
Realm Award, children’s
Hello Ninja, by N. D. Wilson from HarperCollins
Realm Award, middle grade
Iggy & Oz: The Plastic Dinos of Doom, by J. J. Johnson from Dark Side Geeks
Realm Award, fantasy
Seventh City, by Emily Hayse from Hayse Publishing
Realm Award, science fiction
Brand of Light, by Ronie Kendig from Enclave Publishing
Realm Award, young adult
To Best the Boys, by Mary Weber from Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins
Realm Award, debut
Fyrian’s Fire, by Emily Jeffries from Sheepgate Press
Realm Award, horror/other
Amish Werewolves of Space, by Kerry Nietz from Freeheads
Realm Award, supernatural/paranormal
Mercury on Guard, Steve Rzasa, independently published
2020 Realm Award Book of the Year winner Seventh City by Emily Hayse
Realm Award, Book of the Year, chosen from all winners
Seventh City, by Emily Hayse from Hayse Publishing
Fantastic fans
This time we’re showing some feedback from first-year Realm Makers guests. See even more exclusive praise at this article on SpecFaith.
L. G. McCary
It was a bit of a miracle that I was able to attend Realm Makers 2020 (Thank you, Havok for that scholarship!). It was an incredible experience! I felt old trying to figure out Discord, but it turned out to be such a blessing! Video chat in the Mermaid room was definitely better than sitting in socially distanced circles and wearing uncomfortable masks for hours, trying to find a way to socialize safely. Best of all, I still got to celebrate with new friends when good things happened! That’s one of the best parts of conferences: comforting each other through failures and celebrating victories together. Realmies are the best at both! I can’t wait for next year and I’m already planning my costume!
Philip Wilder
I loved attending Realm Makers 2020. The people were very welcoming, friendly, and down to earth. I made many new friends, despite the fact that the entire conference was online. I also got the chance to play several games with others online. I even regained my passion for writing fiction and was able to get some great feedback on a new novel idea I’ve been rolling around in my head. Attending the conference online made me much more excited to attend an in-person Realm Makers conference. Perhaps one day Corona will stop trolling us all.
Kristen Aguilar
I heard about the Realm Makers Conference last minute when a friend invited me to go. Held virtually this year, I was able to register right before the conference started and I never looked back. Realm Makers is in a class all by itself. The people were friendly, fascinating and fun. Even virtually, Realm Makers went above and beyond to foster community and to encourage engagement with an immersive, positive experience. Whether it was branding, marketing, how to conduct media interviews, or how to take your writing or screenwriting to the next level, there was a plethora of incredible speakers and events packed into three days. I learned a ton. Plus, I went into the conference with one new friend and left with many more. Overall, a great experience!
Robert Sloan
My first experience at a Realm Makers conference was this year’s “Pandemic Edition,” and I’m very pleased with it. The quality of the panels, the keynote addresses, and the “pitch“ and mentoring sessions were excellent; and after years of going to various kinds of professional conferences, I confess they were truly better than I expected. By a lot.
Every session had something of substance to offer, with well prepared presenters, and significant opportunities to develop new relationships and networks. The people were very forthcoming and honest and I’ve benefited from each one.
The technological platform that supported this virtual conference was outstanding. The instructions were clear, and I experienced no glitches.
I’ll definitely be back.
Next on Fantastical Truth
We resume the postponed Narnia’s Top Seven Myths series. In part 2, How Do We Defeat the Top Seven Myths about The Chronicles of Narnia?, we will explore Susan’s “apostasy,” Emeth’s “universalism,” Lewis’s “allegories,” and Narnia’s “safety.”
Work to be faithful as a sub-creator, but first, be a faithful fantasy character in the fantastical world you live in.
—N.D. Wilson
37 min
July 14, 202024. How Do We Defeat the Top Seven Myths about The Chronicles of Narnia? Part 1
Is Man A Myth? asks a book belonging to Mr. Tumnus, a Faun from C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series. Yet Christians have our own myths about Narnia. Today we begin to explore a total of seven myths about Lewis’s famed fantasy world.
Myth 7: “The Chronicles show random myths.”
This is a more academic idea, and it goes something like this:
“C. S. Lewis, unlike Tolkien, was mostly messing around in his world-making.”
“He throws in all Greek creatures, plus other fantasy elements, at random.”
“And then, lo, Father Christmas comes bounding in besides.”
Scholars say: “Yeah, this isn’t like Tolkien. It’s just random. Fun, but random.”
Michael Ward in Planet Narnia engages a lot with this idea.
Ward has a grand awesome theory about each of the seven Chronicles.
He believes Lewis, a medieval scholar, was “influenced” by overarching myths.
These myths were about the seven worlds or spheres of medieval cosmology.
Each planet (including Sol or sun, and Luna/moon) has ideas, images, and colors.
Medieval literature and worldview all supported these cosmological associations.
For instance, The Lion … is very “Jovian,” about joy, kingliness, and summer.
The Horse and His Boy is very “Mercurian,” with speed and images of silver.
Lewis wasn’t a random person. Not at all. Not even when he seems to be.
Ward does a lot of academic wrangling to support his theory (which is plausible).
Some challenges: “By Jove!” occurs in all Chronicles. Each one influences the other.
Ward accepts this broad influence, but says each story has its own planetary theme.
Stephen believes he’s right, because of Lewis’s (as creator’s) own subconscious.
As a writer, your knowledge will get into your stories before you even know it.
Later, perhaps, Lewis started to get more organized about developing these themes.
After all, Lewis did end up with seven books, the exact number of medieval “spheres.”
The best proof? The Last Battle is “Saturnine.” Draft had Saturn, not Father Time.
Even apart from the Planet Narnia idea, Narnia isn’t just random myths.
The whole Narnian idea is that all these myths somehow “leaked” into the real world.
(You have to bend time a bit, though. Greek myths predate Narnia’s creation!)
But if the big idea is that Aslan is lord of all myths, and all serve him … ?
Well then, that’s the greatest idea: before Christ, all myths say “hail the King.”
It seems this may be lost on some scholars who don’t get Aslan’s central role.
Especially given the stories’ first audience, children, this is a fantastic approach.
Myth 6: “The Chronicles are just children’s stories.”
This myth is more based on the little phrases Christians and other readers say.
Too often we minimize this series as, “C. S. Lewis’s children’s stories.”
We might presume fantasy altogether is foremost for children.
This leaves open a silly “grown-up” idea that adults must be Realistic.
Lewis, of course, not only implicitly but explicitly rejected this myth:
Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
—C. S. Lewis, found in “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” collected in Of Other Worlds
This isn’t just a Lewis idea but a biblical idea. Jesus endorsed childlike faith.
He didn’t endorse childlike thought, but childlike “faith.”
We must have mature minds like adults, but keep the faith and heart of a child!
Childlike faith and reception to wonder are essential to our growing as Christians.
So for anyone who says, “I read Narnia as a kid”? Read it again. Be blessed!
Myth 5: “There’s only one best reading order (chronological).”
Note this box set’s chronological order, with The Magician’s Nephew being book 1, and The Horse and His Boy being book 3.
Among Narnia nerds (and some scholars), it’s funny how controversial this debate can be.
This myth says, “Well, Lewis originally wrote the Chronicles this way. …”
“But now we ought to read them in chronological order.”
The publisher actually numbers them that way now. (Stephen re-sorts those.)
Sometimes they say, “Well, Lewis himself wanted them read that way.”
Stephen was once a NarniaWeb forum moderator. They have a great article about this.
For many years, both orders were in print. American editions used publication order while British editions were numbered chronologically.
Chronological order became the worldwide standard after HarperCollins took over the publishing in 1994. …
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book to be written and published, is generally considered the best introduction to Narnia by scholars and fans alike.
“Most scholars disagree with [the decision to re-number the books] and find it the least faithful to Lewis’s deepest intentions,” says Dr. Paul F. Ford, author of Companion to Narnia.
On the official website of C. S. Lewis, Dr. Charlie W. Starr claims that “Lewis scholars almost universally agree” that the original published order is superior. He suggests that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is more initially captivating than The Magician’s Nephew, that certain lines in Lion do not make sense when the book is not read first, and that Nephew has greater mythic power when read as a prequel.
—from “Narnia Reading Order,” author uncredited, date unknown, NarniaWeb.com
But what about the argument that this is what Lewis always wanted?
Lewis wrote a lot of letters. Sometimes you can just “make him say” things.
NarniaWeb quotes Lewis’s 1957 letter to a single boy named Lawrence Krieg.
In 1957, an 11-year-old boy named Lawrence Krieg was preparing to read the Narnia books for a second time. Lawrence wondered if he should re-read them chronologically, but his mother felt he should stick with the original published order. So, Lawrence wrote a letter to the author and received this response:
“I think I agree with your order for reading the books more than with your mother’s. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn’t think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last. But I found as I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them.”
—”Narnia Reading Order,” author uncredited, date unknown, NarniaWeb.com
That’s it. That’s the only “proof” that Lewis only wanted chronological order.
These arguments do bust the myth of insisting only on chronological order.
Reading The Magician’s Nephew, you’re meant to have read The Lion … at least once.
That’s not to say chronological order is bad! Just that it’s not the only order.
Douglas Gresham, Lewis’s stepson, admits to have started the chronological order.
So, there are two ways to read Narnia. But not only the chronological order way.
After reading them once, of course, you can just read them in any order you wish!
Fantastic fans
Brian wrote about episode 22:
I think that your worldview always shapes your interpretation of what is happening in the world. If you believe in the potential of aliens, you will look at UFOs as likely alien in nature. If you believe aliens are not possible, you will look at other potential sources for UFOs.
I also think there is a big difference between life and sentient life in the discussion of aliens. At creation, humans were never intended to die. Had we stayed in that state, Earth would have quickly become overpopulated. We would have had to go somewhere. With that in mind, there HAS/HAD to be life on other planets for us to be able to expand and not overburden Earth. I believe it was part of God’s plan for us to expand into the cosmos and that there would be entire ecosystems on other planets for us to use when we got there. But that doesn’t mean there was necessarily sentient life. I think Christians can claim and rejoice in the idea that there is life on other planets. But I think we can also expect that we will never find any life out there that is sentient.
@JosiahDeGraaf, editor at StoryEmbers.org, tweeted:
One of the perks of re-organizing my school’s library lately has been the ability to catch up on @Lorehaven ‘s Fantastical Truth podcast while doing so. Great podcast for fellow lovers of speculative fiction!
Subscribe to Lorehaven
Our Narnia article appeared in our spring 2020 issue‘s cover story.
Our summer 2020 issue is out. You can get it free at Lorehaven.com.
Subscribe for free by email and get every issue and occasional news/reviews.
We’re also posting from our massive review collection, daily this summer.
Next on Fantastical Truth
Next on Fantastical Truth, we’re finishing this series with more myths:
Queen Susan “fell away” and will never return to Narnia again.
Emeth in The Last Battle reveals that C. S. Lewis was a universalist.
The Chronicles portray simple “allegories” for Jesus, Satan, and others.
Lewis’s world is safer for children than all that other fantasy magic.
“Further up and further in!”
51 min
July 07, 202023. What If You Could Turn Stories into Sculptures? | The Weaver Trilogy, with Lindsay A. Franklin
Lorehaven magazine has reviewed the complete Weaver Trilogy fantasy series, so Stephen and Zack invite author Lindsay A. Franklin to explore her fantasy series about Tanwen, the girl who literally weaves stories.
Lorehaven’s reviews of The Weaver Trilogy
This story spins a perfect array of delightful characters living with complex magical abilities in a truly unique world.
—The Story Peddler review
More adventure, higher stakes, and betrayal at every turn make The Story Raider a sequel that exceeds expectations . . .
—The Story Raider review
No tapestry is complete while loose ends remain. The Story Hunter is the final book in Lindsay A. Franklin’s Weaver Trilogy series, sequel to The Story Peddler and The Story Raider. The country of Tir is in turmoil. Queen Braith has been kidnapped and supplanted by a figurehead in thrall to an evil force. Famine and riots leave the people in unrest. Tanwen and the Corsyth Weavers set out on a quest to rescue the queen in order to restore peace to Tir, guided by the one person they know they cannot trust. Worse, not everyone is as they seem, and some people in their own party may betray them at any turn. Danger, intrigue, and unforeseen twists make The Story Hunter an entirely satisfying conclusion to the Weaver Trilogy series.
—The Story Hunter review
Weaving stories with Lindsay A. Franklin
Lindsay A. Franklin would wear pajama pants all the time if it were socially acceptable. She writes books, edits words, and homeschools her three geeklings. Lindsay lives in her native San Diego with her scruffy-looking nerf-herder husband, their precious offspring, three demanding thunder pillows (a.k.a. cats), and a stuffed marsupial named Wombatman.
Learn more at her website as well as by following LinzyAFranklin on Instagram, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Among our questions:
How did you first discover faith and fantastical stories?
Before fiction, you wrote two devotional books, starting with Adored: 365 Devotions for Young Women. What’s your heart behind this nonfiction work?
We love to explore how nonfiction truth and fantastic imagination are interwoven in God’s universe. How does this motivate your creative process?
What images drove the creation of Tanwen, Tir, and its turmoil?
Creators writing about creators can get pretty meta! Without spoilers, how might these themes be interwoven with the Weaver Trilogy?
How’s homeschooling going? Any thoughts on the unique appeal of fantasy to homeschoolers?
How have readers responded to the Weaver Trilogy?
What’s your work with Realm Makers Pandemic Edition this year?
What’s next for you, and where can people follow your own “weaving”?
Fantastic fans
From The Zignal, responding to episode 22 (the one about UFOs):
Nothing but applause! This was a fantastic discussion from an interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing!
From David Mock @DavidMock1, also about episode 22:
@EStephenBurnett thank you for the latest podcast! It helped me think biblically, realistically, and compassionately about UFO sightings. If aliens do exist, we may find ourselves in a Acts 11:18 place if they repent and believe including the imputation of Adam’s sin to them.
Slightly unrelated, it’s encouraging to trace the Bible’s idea of aliens – alien to God’s covenant from Gen to Rev, incl. resident aliens in Israel and when “to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance”, and the cosmic scale shift described in Eph 2:11-22.
Straight after listening to the podcast I knew I needed some healthy Christian music and was encouraged by A Mighty Fortress is our God and It Is Well With My Soul, the eternal truths in every unsure situation 🙂
Next on Fantastical Truth
Lord willing, we will explore seven top myths about The Chronicles of Narnia! These are myths that Narnia readers, including many Christians, has often believed about the series. Have you ever heard about any of these, like “C. S. Lewis was a universalist,” or “Narnia is mainly an allegory about the Christian life”? We will explore all seven of these myths.
52 min
June 30, 202022. How Do Christians Discern UFO Accounts in Light of Scripture?
Aliens. Oh snap. Audiences love aliens. Aliens! Aliens, from space. Ancient aliens. I don’t know, therefore: aliens.
Zack and Stephen launch this latest fantastical truth-finding with clips from U. S. Navy pilots who encountered UFOs. We’ll explore those reports, other alien stories, and how Christians can respond to the very notion of life and even sentient life beyond our planet.
People tend to take two sides on UFOs.
Denial. This side unites materialists like Bill Nye with creationists like Ken Ham, although they dismiss the alien explanation for entirely different reasons.
Belief. On this side, folks will teach you how to communicate with aliens (for a small fee), as well as Christians who say they would gladly baptize an alien.
Here’s why we’re talking about this.
The issue of whether aliens exist and visiting Earth is becoming a huge topic.
The Pentagon has released some absolutely bonkers press releases about UFOs.
President Trump has been asked about UFOs multiple times and he’s given some interesting answers.
Scientists have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets. Soon our telescopes will tell us what might be located on these worlds.
Christians should take the forefront of these discussions. Let’s closely survey these issues, using our imaginations and thinking biblically.
Our own perspectives differ.
Zack is a fan of stories about aliens and UFOs, and has been researching the nonfiction accounts about UFO sightings.
Zack doesn’t have strong beliefs about whether aliens exist.
Zack enjoys this topic because of its weirdness and mystery.
Stephen is UFO-agnostic, and enjoys aliens as just another essential element of fantasy and science fiction.
Stephen believes sentient alien life would contradict Scripture’s emphasis on the earth, humankind, and Christ’s incarnation.
Stephen also enjoys this topic, partly because of wishful thinking that people have developed better space-faring technology.
Concession stand: hazards of UFO exploration.
Many UFO theories directly contradict Scripture, such as the “ancient aliens” idea.
A lot of paranormal interests coincide with UFO research about which most Christians are rightly wary.
We must be careful when exploring this entire cottage industry built around UFO research or experiences.
We explore three big topics.
UFOs are real and under investigation.
UFOs and the idea of alien invasions (or alien saviors) reveal our deepest fears and dreams about human society.
We get clearer glimpses of our own humanity and eternal issues through stories about aliens.
Watch Zack’s playlist about military UFO-sightings.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcCfUv9OlClNwWH351BtDI4o1glxth10d
Take action on aliens.
Read more SpecFaith blog articles about aliens, such as this one from Shannon McDermott.
Read the original New York Times article that broke the story about the Pentagon’s UFO program.
Read the newer Popular Mechanics article by Tim McMillan that takes a deep dive into the AATIP program.
Follow Zack on Twitter @ztrussell. He posts a lot of UFO news and other fun things about astronomy.
Visit the Lorehaven store to get our special t-shirt that celebrates God as the Creator of the cosmos: “He made the stars.”
Read Christian books about aliens.
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
For Us Humans, by Steve Rzasa
The Façade, by Michael Heiser
Alien Intrusion, by Gary Bates
Fantastic fans
From Sheri, listening to Episode 20:
I got to the Fantastical Truth podcast through Kerry Nietz’s post on Facebook about the episode about his book. I have been [binge]-listening to the podcast while sorting papers in my office–you have made a task I don’t enjoy much more enjoyable. Thanks! I look forward to reading the magazine.
Next on Fantastical Truth
We’ll explore The Weaver Trilogy with fantasy novelist Lindsay A. Franklin, whose heroine, Tanwen, has the ability to turn stories into scupltures.
1 hr 44 min
June 23, 202021. In a Blind World, What If Only One Boy Could See? | For Whom the Sun Sings, with W. A. Fulkerson
Stephen and Zack are joined by W. A. Fulkerson, whose novel For Whom the Sun Sings just released this spring.
Our new summer 2020 issue of Lorehaven magazine shares even more from this story: our full review and a preview chapter. Plus we ask W. A., or Wes, more about the images and themes behind this story. Go to Lorehaven.com and subscribe for free. You’ll get your digital copy of the new issue and access to all our reviews and articles.
Story sponsor: C. S. Wachter’s The Light Unbound
In The Light Unbound, the fourth and final installment in C. S. Wachter’s The Seven Words series, Rayne Kierkengaard faces his greatest trial yet. Cast into the decrepit frame of an obscure old man, his spirit at last rebels against the path of sorrows charted for him by the One—the Creator Father—ever since his sixth birthday. For Sigmund, that sorcerous demon who stole his childhood has returned from defeat to steal everything Rayne regained through blood and tears—his power, his family, his very identity. All but his faith in a God who views death as but a portal to victory.
Ambitious in scope and relentless in speed, this novel concludes Wachter’s saga on a high note.
For Whom the Sun Sings, back cover
The world is blind. . . then one boy is born with sight.
Nestled in a mountain haven, the remaining people of the world live in a village that is ordinary but strict. A severe peace must be kept severely, as they say. It’s all that keeps them from descending into the chaos that claimed the world a hundred years ago.
Led by the Prophet Valdas and his Regents, the villagers work, play, marry, and have families. They gather in ceremony once a year to celebrate their Day of Remembrance. Life is planned, precise, and predictable until the special abilities of eleven-year-old Andrius threaten to undermine it all.
From Lorehaven magazine’s review
W. A. Fulkerson constructs For Whom the Sun Sings on an ingenious premise. He carefully builds a society without sight, working out the idea to consequences both obvious and unexpected.
Interview questions
How did you first discover fantastic stories?
How did this novel For Whom the Sun Sings come to you?
What thoughts have you about novels for grown-ups, or at least older readers, that just happen to feature heroes who are children?
What is your purpose as a biblical Christian who creates fantastical stories?
What other stories might lie ahead for you?
Next on Fantastical Truth
Barring any abductions or invasions predicted for 2020 by internet memes, we will explore aliens. So much aliens. Audiences love aliens. Ancient aliens! In this case, we’ll delve semi-deep into all the good stuff: UFOs, conspiracies, and possible demonic deceptions—all from as biblical a vantage as we can muster.
33 min
June 16, 2020 20. What if a Space Plague Turned the Amish into Zombies? | clip from Amish Zombies from Space
For this episode, we’re sharing our very first audiobook excerpt. It’s from the new audiobook version of Amish Zombies from Space, book 2 of Kerry Nietz’s sci-fi series Peril in Plain Space.
Nietz started this series when he took a “joke” title for a book, and turned it into a fun-yet-serious exploration: Amish Vampires in Space.
It went pretty viral, based on that title alone. At one point even late-night host Jimmy Fallon held up a copy of the book on national TV.
Those Amish in space not only fought vampires, but then had to undergo a zombie plague. And now, lately, they face werewolves. Why not?
Here in this excerpt, narrated by Randy Streu, we catch up with the Amish on their new planet. It’s where a certain undead-type plague is about to begin. Our thanks to Kerry Nietz for sharing this excerpt from chapter 8 of Amish Zombies from Space.
Next on Fantastical Truth
In our next episode, W. A. Fulkerson himself will join us to share more about For Whom the Sun Sings, which follows the tale of the one person who can see in a world of blind people. This will be a fascinating and in-depth conversation, and we’ll also preview our book review.
30 min
June 09, 202019. How Do Christian Authors Stay Sensitive About ‘Grittier Than PG-13’ Content?
This week, you can hear how bestselling fantasy novelists (including many Christians) wrestle with challenging fiction content.
This is a special panel discussion from the 2019 Realm Makers conference. You’ll hear novelists Terry Brooks, Brent Weeks, Robert Liparulo, and C. W. Briar—plus our own E. Stephen Burnett—explore character swears, violence, sexual content and all the rest of it.
What is Realm Makers?
Realm Makers is a professional organization for Christian writers of fantasy, sci-fi, other fantastical genres.
They have a membership program, online community, and monthly webinars
Realm Makers hosts summer conferences every July.
This year’s conference is a special Pandemic Edition.
Authors can meet virtually and get training in writing craft and trade.
For more information, go to RealmMakers.com.
This year’s faculty include Thomas Locke, N. D. Wilson, C. J. Redwine, and Steven James.
Stephen is actually doing mentor sessions, too. Slots have filled up but reply to us here if you want to learn more.
Lorehaven will be there, with a virtual booth in the virtual marketplace.
‘Grittier Than PG-13: Writing and the Christian Author’
This panel’s original audience was authors, but readers and fans can benefit just as much.
It may help to hear authors working through these issues.
Many of these authors are professing Christians.
The moderator is Randy Streu. He has the deepest voice.
Next on Fantastical Truth
Our next episode features an audiobook excerpt from Amish Zombies from Space. That’s book 2 in sci-fi author Kerry Nietz’s Perils in Plain Space series. Narrated by Randy Streu (the same as the Realm Makers panel moderator), this excerpt catches readers up with the spacefaring Amish, and just possibly a zombie. Or more zombies. From space, no less.
1 hr 16 min
June 02, 202018. Who Are the First Real Superheroes Hiding in the Bible? | with Chase Replogle
Superhero fans know the Bible is full of heroic characters. But today’s guest, Chase Replogle, points out the plot twist: Scripture rarely presents them as truly role models.
Chase Replogle pastors Bent Oak Church in Springfield, Missouri. He hosts the Pastor Writer Podcast, interviewing pastors and authors such as Max Lucado, Philip Yancey, and Karen Swallow Prior. His podcast has been featured by The Gospel Coalition and his writings have appeared in Christianity Today. A native of the Ozark woods, he enjoys being outdoors with his wife and two kids.
With Chase Replogle, we explore questions like:
Why do we love superheroes who are drawn to reveal our deepest desires?
What are our favorite superheroes and/or superhero stories?
Why are we so fascinated with these stories?
What does Samson’s story reveal about our own flawed view of heroism?
What “heroes” in our culture exemplify our unique notions about identity and self-fulfillment?
Quotes and notes
From Chase’s article “Why Every Millennial Man Should Reread The Samson Story”:
We’ve been told our entire lives that you can be anything you want to be, but by thirty the truth has finally started to set in. It’s not entirely true, at least not the way we imagined it would be. . . .
We think we can choose our way to discovering our identity. We think we can keep choosing and continue to refine our destiny. The great enemy of our day is any restriction on our free choosing. . . .
Individuality and the pursuit of your own way have become the new hero’s journey. There is no calling higher than self-discovery. There is no greater adventure than the pursuit of originality. . . .
The pursuit of who you uniquely are is the American dream. . . .
Samson is everything a man might imagine becoming. I like to imagine him in Ray-Bans, a man bun, and a CrossFit t-shirt, hiking through some remote red stone canyon, documenting his adventurous life on Instagram. He is the model man, driven by passion and restless for adventure and romance. . . . His ultimate destination was the furthest imaginable experience from the ideal that drove him to pursue it. His desire cost him the very thing that compelled him.”
Next on Fantastical Truth
We’re asking a big question: what about “PG-13 content” in fantastical fiction? This time we have a different sort of episode, thanks to friends and allies at Realm Makers. That organization and annual conference for Christian authors had a panel last year about this topic. Stephen was on that panel along with several novelists, including Brent Weeks and Terry Brooks (yes, that one). So we all got to explore this together, and now, courtesy of Realm Makers, so can you.
1 hr 3 min