Fantastical Truth

What if the future king’s squire and a struggling songstress teamed up to solve a medieval murder? Jill Williamson debuted her first fantasy, By Darkness Hid , in April 2009. Since then she’s written many dozens of books across fantasy, sci-fi, and teen-spy genres . Now she is returning to the Blood of Kings world for Squire of Truth , released last week, and joins our podcast. Share this episode...

Happy New Year! As we launch this podcast’s 2025 season, we look back at a website with a legacy that predates Lorehaven. Way back in 2006, several Christian fantasy creators started a team “blog” called Speculative Faith. Let’s look back on that project that led to thousands of great articles from dozens of creators, and then later grew into the Lorehaven mission and this podcast. Episode sponsor...

Merry Twelve Days of Christmas Season! After last week’s break, we return with our first New Year’s Eve special. Which top ten Fantastical Truth episodes and Lorehaven.com articles did readers love most in the last year? We’ll survey all of these, and give fun updates, to close our 2024 season. Mission update Christian-Made Stories Got Even Better in 2024 , Jenneth Dyck Later this week: new Onscre...

What’s the most annoying slogan from Christian critics of fantasy? That may be, “We’re not meant to enjoy stories; instead we must Preach the Gospel.” But what may be the second most annoying slogan about Christian fantasy? One surely is, “We don’t need newer stories if we have Lewis and Tolkien.” How then can we as fans respond with grace to Lewis-and-Tolkien-Onlyism? Episode sponsors Audio-Epic....

‘Tis the season for Christmas stories and stories fans claim are Christmas stories. Which ones have aged for every season? And which ones could be safely left back in childhood when we thought they were fun? In this special episode, let’s open the spiced eggnog, celebrate the best, and boo the rest. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Memoria by J. J. Fischer Laurie Christine: Garden of Mysteries...

Nov. 29 was C. S. Lewis’s birthday. The famous author and scholar was born 126 years ago in 1898. And while fans eagerly await whatever director Greta Gerwig and Netflix might do with Narnia, we decided to ask: how would we take Lewis’s other fantasy tales, the Ransom Trilogy, to adapt for the screen? Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Memoria by J. J. Fischer Laurie Christine: Garden of Mysteri...

We love stories with fine writing.[1. Photo by Jonathan Francisca on Unsplash .] As the Scripture says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” But sometimes readers just want basic style, quick tools for the simple job of getting you in and out of a fantastical work of fiction. Which kind of stories do you prefer and why? Episode sponsors Audio-Epic.com: “1232&#...

Boom. Doom. Gloom. Criminals pillage. Cities burn. Mobs rampage. Tyrants rule with iron fists. We live in a society! People here often feel we’re overdue for dystopia. Even now, dystopian tales prove popular among many readers. Let’s explore why and ask whether Christian fans really need these stories. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Lethal Kings by Victoria McCombs Laurie Christine: Garden o...

Hi! Wow. Middle of autumn. I know what you’re thinking about. Christmas! This weekend the new comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! releases in theaters. And five Thanksgiving seasons ago, in Nov. 2019, new fans began watching the second half of a new biblical fiction drama called The Chosen . This week, we’re thankful to host one of the three Chosen screenwriters who also cowrote The Best Chris...

What’s the red-headed stepchild of Christian-made fiction? If you said science fiction , you’re partly right. But here’s a happy prediction: this other wandering genre is probably getting adopted! That might leave outside the other orphaned books—in the genre called horror . Is this one genre above others doomed to be rejected? Mike Duran, author of the nonfiction book Christian Horror , returns t...

Most fantasy fans don’t truly believe that dragons lurk in caves or the Fae are dancing in the woods by moonlight. But if you’re a sci-fi or horror fan, you might truly believe that real creatures from space have come to Earth for nefarious ends. Or that they might dwell among us today. Now that we might know the name of the U.S. Pentagon’s secret UFO or UAP program, let’s consider: what are the s...

We just upgraded Lorehaven.com , especially the Library with its many genres and subgenres.[1. Photo by Camille Orgel on Unsplash .] Nearly 1,400 titles cover a wealth of Christian-made fantastical fiction going all the way back to The Hobbit . Most of those published titles are fantasy. That’s the most popular genre today. But what might be the future of Christian-made fantastical storytelling? K...

“Judge not” gets twisted to shut down God’s Law.[1. Photo by Peyman Shojaei on Unsplash .] The phrase “money is the root of all evil” gets twisted to shut down biblical ambition. And “no eye has see, no ear has heard” often gets twisted to shut down a longing for Heaven. But what twisted Scripture most often gets used to reject Christ-exalting fantastical imagination? This top text may be 1 Thessa...

Many fantasy worlds have people groups that don’t like each other. And many people in fairy-tale lands warn you never to go in the forest. But in Ellie Castor’s community of Bishop’s Gap, the feud between her family and the Levy family is getting worse. And the root of it lies at the heart of the forest where she must never go—unless it’s to fight the curse. Today we’re tramping into the dead leav...

Christian parents often ask whether stories for their kids have bad words and bad language. Today they’re also asking: “Does this story have Agenda?” Often they look for clean stories, that is, stories empty of objectionable elements. But do readers of all ages really need only clean fiction? Instead of stopping at minimalist stories that don’t contain obvious poisons, shouldn’t we also seek stori...

Just this month we’ve seen three examples of a polarity shift. Up is down. Water is dry. And heroes are actually villains—while the villains get justified by tragic backstory. How does this happen? In reality and fiction, why do some modern storytellers keep reversing the polarity of heroes and villains? Special mention In Memory of Daniqua Grace White ♡ Support Siblings With Funeral Episode spons...

In the year 2099, imagine having to cancel your family vacation plans to St. Louis or that Oklahoma ranch. How come? Because, unfortunately, it’s dystopian times and there’s a wall there. It’s even worse inside those middle districts for Asher, son of The Defiance, because his one true love is now trapped on the Lazurite side, and her father runs totalitarian government. This month we’re crossing...

“Back in the olden days, Christian art was king.[1. Photo by Jelly Dollar on Unsplash .] Top artists like Michelangelo and Da Vinci pioneered in their creative fields, and later composers like Bach and Handel revolutionized their day’s music. Then later, of course, Lewis and Tolkien did this for fantasy! So why today do all the Christian artists copy The World instead of leading in culture?” How o...

Space. The next-to-final frontier. So what’s the final one? It’s the future. As sci-fi fans, Stephen and Zack enjoy debating space travel possibilities, Moon stations and Mars colonies (likelier now after the liquid water finding?), and of course those armies of the aliens. Now we’ll ask whether today’s scientists and speculators recognize Christianity’s crucial role in their disciplines, and whet...

When was the last time you were reading a story or hearing music, and you felt those chills and sense of wonder that made you think, “Oh, wow, thank you, Lord”, or consider that the Holy Spirit was active in this artwork?[1. Photo by John Price on Unsplash .] We might say the story was “inspired,” similar to how we believe the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But as we celebrate stories #Mad...

A new power is arising. Saruman’s forces, often joined by some wild Men who don’t know better, are felling the good trees of Middle-earth to make weapons of war. In response, some would-be trolls come out of their hoards to stomp all over this land and forget the true meaning of Tolkien. How then do today’s fans still love The Lord of the Rings —books, films, and/or memes? Episode sponsors Enclave...

You are being haunted.[1. Photo by grayom on Unsplash .] Specters from your past, or someone else’s past, lurk in your world. They twist meaning and distort symbols. They make you jump in the night, recoil from stories others find wonderful, and make the upright seem downright wicked. There is a cure that helps us imagine better, but first we must recognize the problem. What on earth is Church Bac...

“Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.’” Well, there you have it. God opposes artificial intelligence. But when many people see advantages to these generative tools, how can we celebrate the virtue of stories made by humans? Lorehaven has one way: a hashtag campaign (along with buttons and book stickers) just launc...

Cain Cross once dreamed of helping make dream-worlds. Now their world is being attacked by another pandemic. This one strikes as you sleep, sending victims into dark tunnels of despair to fight for their waking lives. We seek a cure for The Nightmare Virus , the new YA sci-fi thriller from Nadine Brandes. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing at Realm Makers The Katrosi Revolution series by Jamie Fo...

Twenty years ago, two authors, one publisher, twelve action thriller novels, and forty teen spinoff books came to a grand finale with the fictionalized return of Jesus Christ to Earth. One of those top authors, marriage and prophecy teacher Tim LaHaye, has since passed to his eternal rest. The other author who’s written hundreds of novels, Jerry Jenkins, is still working! And today, Jenkins joins...