Fantastical Truth

What if you were a piskey girl, born without wings, raised underground, and desperate to learn to fly so she can venture in the strange world beyond? That’s the start of author R. J. Anderson’s series The Flight and Flame Trilogy, whose book 2, Nomad , just released in November. Now, R. J. is our guest on Fantastical Truth. Lorehaven reviews Swift A famous movie colonel stated, “You ca...

Every Christmas, you see this image as a painting, meme, card, or ornament: a devoted Santa Claus, with his red elf-hat removed, kneels before the Christ-child in a manger. Still, many well-meaning Christians see Santa as a pretender to Christ’s throne rather than a worshiper before Him. How do faithful fans respond? What do you think about the “Santa Claus vs. Jesus Christ” clas...

What if you put Yoda, a G. I. Joe, He-Man, Skeletor, a Care Bear, and more nostalgic 1980s toys into a yellow box, and sent it hurtling at you through a green void, hurled by a shadowy figure in the background that could only be The Devil? That’s the cover of a book from vintage 1980s evangelical culture, and we’re exploring turmoil in toy boxes just in time for this holiday season. Sp...

What if you lived in an Arctic-like frontier, trying to survive despite the Invaders who keep moving into your native land? Then the Invaders kidnapped your brother, who told the captain the secret location of a lost treasure? Explore the award-winning fantasy novel  Seventh City  with us and author Emily Hayse! From Lorehaven’s featured review of Seventh City : Cold weather can bring wintry...

This year, one of us at Fantastical Truth cancelled Netflix, and the other did not. Maybe you should too? Or maybe you are not actually “supposed” to join this “cancel culture.” More recently, we just had another Halloween, a subject of many boycotts. Should Christians join this habit of boycotting things? Will this change anything in them? Or could this change anything in...

For generations, politics have been taking over imaginations. This seems especially true in the United States this election year. But is this really true? In fact, we all have little imaginations, experiences and pictures hidden deep in our minds, that influence our views on politics and public policies. Today’s sponsor Lorehaven has released its fall 2020 issue! You can read it today exclus...

“Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will! … Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring. … I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome …” He’s no cartoon. He’s no misunderstood monster. Instead, the infamous Count Dracula is a hideous perversion of humanity. This parasitic undead being preys spiritually and...

Want to be perfectly safe? Want to guarantee your own life, foretell the future, and control your world? Want to … become a god? Then just follow this four-step method: Believe a lie. Practice some occult method that the real God forbids. ???? Profit. Of course, this kind of idolatrous witchcraft doesn’t work in reality. It also isn’t usually the same as reading a fantasy novel w...

Our hero rides a broom. The sidekick turns his enemy into a toad. Then things get even dicier when another character talks with a ghost, or predicts the future. What’s a Christian fan to think about fantasy stories that include magic? Or creatures? Or (especially around this time of year) creepy and evil-looking creatures? How does Scripture actually warn us about the occult, and why? Episod...

We’ve re-entered the most “spooktacular” season of the year. In our next episode, we’ll explore occult magic and concerns Christians often have! But today, how might such paranormal or even horror elements like ghosts and spirits and such-like actually help awaken our imaginations to the good and evil worlds around us? Mike Duran, author of many books including the Reagan M...

Christian creators often say things like, “C. S. Lewis didn’t create his fiction to teach Christian truth. Instead he only used his imagination.” But is this what Lewis actually wrote? And is this how Christians ought to create stories today? Stranger Than Fantastical Fiction Life-sized Gundam in Yokohama is now in testing mode This Life-size Gundam Robot Built in Yokohoma, Japan...

“Viral pandemic takes over year 2020. Everyone is hardest hit, but especially the recreation economy!” Now that you’ve likely spent months struggling with work, school, and all the rest of it, how goes your enjoyment of books? And how can an outreach like Lorehaven, devoted to finding the best Christian fantasy, fare In These Uncertain Times™? Stranger Than Fantastical Fiction It...

We often explore the joys of exploring fantastical worlds in books or film. But what’s it like to actually bring these characters to life in a theater setting? Or to help guide the production of live performances for families and churches? Zack explores this creative challenge with Christian Youth Theater artistic director Julie Novak. Christian Youth Theater : mission and values Mission Chr...

If God gave humans the gift of making culture, including popular culture , what does that mean for us now? How does human sinfulness corrupt our stories and songs, despite the good reflections in these gifts? And what five questions can help us engage the messy mix of popular culture, and—for Christian parents and leaders—teach our kids to do the same? Zack and Stephen continue exploring Stephen&#...

Popular culture. It’s all around us. Christians debate whether popular culture is mostly good, mostly bad, or else kind of pointless. But why haven’t we been asking the hidden big question: what is the point of popular culture in God’s universe anyway? Introducing The Pop Culture Parent Parents often feel at a loss with popular culture and how it fits in with their families. They...

Why use jokes to make a point? What does satire reveal about human imagination? Babylon Bee senior writer and comedic sci-fi creator Frank J. Fleming joins today’s episode. (It’s nicely timed, too, after our cohost Zackary Russell wrote the headline of this viral Babylon Bee story .) Episode sponsor This episode is sponsored by author J. J. Johnson, who just released his fantasy novel...

What if eternal life was a curse, and the Tree of Life was reappearing in a place even angels dare not tread? What if you didn’t know whether you’d killed your own father? And most recently, what if you escaped from captivity but left your brother behind? Novelist Shawn Smucker explores such mystic challenges at the margins of life, and he’s our guest on today’s episode. Ex...

Where did Jesus’s apostles come from? What was Peter doing, or Matthew, before the Savior arrived on Earth and called them to leave their jobs and follow him? Moreover, how much can Christians ask these kinds of questions—or even create movies, or a whole streaming drama series, to explore this? That’s what we explore today, especially about the fantastical biblical drama series The Ch...

What happens when a twelve-year-old Wally McDoogle, also known as a “walking disaster area” and “Dork-oid,” battles a bully at summer camp? Or gets cast as the victim of an alien invasion movie? Or gets dragged into a hot air balloon, or gets lost in the jungle of a mission field? All while writing his own hilarious superhero stories? If you’re Wally McDoogle, you get...

Does the wardrobe equal the Bible, the White Witch equal Satan, and Peter equal—well, Peter? Some people read C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series as if only its “allegories” matter. Should you? That’s one of our four myths we explore in this episode to conclude our Narnia’s Top Seven Myths series. 4. Queen Susan “fell away” and will never return to N...

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 Editio n wrapped just this past weekend Stephen and Zack attended, and did a lot of work during this &#...

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, unlik...

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 rev...

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 te...

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...