Fantastical Truth

Once upon a time, evangelical subcultures loved spiritual warfare books and prairie romances. We liked angel figurines and Amish novels. We shared adult coloring books starring small boys who have afterlife visions. Now our subcultures have been overtaken by another trend—politics. When and why did this happen? Should we try to change it? Welcome to Dystopian Doom, our next series of episodes abou...

You’ve heard about them in sermons. You’ve seen their name in dozens of Christian-made fantastical books’ back covers. And now, I’m not saying our next monster for Monster Month was nephilim, but it was nephilim. Join us for this giant controversy. They get such a quick cameo in Genesis 6 but get a starring role in many Christian speculations. Who were these critters? Why do they appear in s...

If it’s not one creepy critter, it’s another, here in Monster Month. Next to rise up moaning, not from the crypt but from the secret lab, it’s mad scientists. Whether it’s Victor Frankenstein from  Frankenstein , or all those Marvel villains, or the folks who let loose dinosaurs from Jurassic Park—or the scientists actively trying to experiment on mutilating humans in the real world—mad science ju...

Listen to them, the new fans of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. What music they make!  As we continue exploring the Count’s evil castle in this month’s Lorehaven Guild book quest, we plan to peer deeper into this crypt. This year, over 200,000 readers have been reading Bram Stoker’s original classic novel, cheering its earnestly good heroes who fight this evil vampire’s predations. What have they tho...

God reveals his truth to us through stories, especially the true stories and fictional parables in his word—and some of the stories he tells are scary. Horror is God’s idea, and he often uses this to prepare us for real-world monsters and dangers. Yet we’ve all seen or heard horror stories that are too disturbing. As a result, Christians often shun this genre. But how do darker stories...

What if humans who survived an apocalypse were forced to flee into the sky to escape a deadly mist? And what if one sky-diver, working aboard an airship, was hired to find the impossible: a way to eradicate the Mist for good? Of course, it helps little that the Mist is rising and threatening to turn humans into steampunk zombies. That’s the world of Morgan Busse’s Skyworld series that...

Sept. 7: Steve Rzasa public library director, prolific novelist Sept. 13: Steve Laube literary agent, publisher of Enclave Publishing Sept. 20: Steve Smith president of Oasis Family Media You’ve met a librarian and novelist who flies spaceships and hunts monsters on the side, Steve Rzasa . Next you encountered a secret agent man who hunts new talent and publishes fantastical Christian-made s...

The Steve Saga continues! Last week we invited librarian and novelist Steve Rzasa to explore his worlds of spaceships, superheroes, and a little steampunk. Now you could say we’re switching genres to a spy thriller. Well, perhaps not, but we do have a secret agent man arriving in the studio. He’s helped to discover some of your favorite authors, helped to create a lot of your favorite...

Sept. 7: Steve Rzasa public library director, prolific novelist Sept. 13: Steve Laube literary agent, publisher of Enclave Publishing Sept. 20: Steve Smith president of Oasis Family Media Not long ago we talked about church libraries and how these resources can help Christians find the best books, including (if not now, then in the future) Christian-made fantastical fiction. What then about public...

This week fans will be fixing to fight. This includes many Christian fans. We won’t say what they’ll fight about, except to say the topic is “prime” for debate. That’s like many topics that Christians dispute, not just relating to politics but relating to the stories we enjoy. Meanwhile in the Lorehaven Guild, we’re enjoying a respite from those clashes, and Lor...

Maybe you’ve heard about that one church that just did a “Christian” version of the musical “Hamilton,” and of course got criticized by the creators and savaged by secular media. Or maybe last Easter you heard about the other church that did a “Christian” version of “Avengers,” just as they’ve adapted (or parodied?) other fantasy franchis...

Okay, we admit, in recent episodes we have sounded more negative about popular culture. That’s justified. At the same time, secular pundits can sound even more negative about decent pop-culture traditions. For example, just two years ago, some critics spoke like movie theaters and the whole cinematic experience were finished, passé, the end! They assumed we’d all be sitting at home in...

We’re finding many Christian-made fantastical novels that want to appeal to Christian and secular readers. Many aspiring authors want to conjure a literary elixir that has evaded all but the most elite creators. They call this “crossing over,” not just reaching readers in evangelical markets, but finding a bigger fanbase in general markets. Should these stories try to help secula...

Now that Zack and Stephen have returned from their separate summer road trips, we need to catch up on all the big news from the Realm Makers conference. This tenth annual gathering, from July 21–23, brought together fantastical creators and publishing pros at an Atlantic City hotel. Lorehaven was there too, sharing with new and existing fans how we explore fantastical stories for God’s glory...

Last week Zack and Stephen left town and headed opposite ways.[1. Photo by Gregory Stewart on Unsplash .] Meanwhile, fans are separating from franchises once thought too big to fail. Star Wars, DC, Marvel, Amazon’s try at Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who—they’re all coming in for much criticism. Some call this “toxic fandom.” Others say this is fans keeping creators accountabl...

Here’s a topic we have been postponing for quite a while, and it’s summarized by a simple question: If we as Christians believe Jesus will come back to judge all people and rule the planet in person, what about any space travelers or colonies at that time? In other words, if our Lord returns to Earth, what happens to people who aren’t on Earth? Today we will explore these possibl...

Freedom! We all say we believe in this. No one’s out there saying “down with that sort of thing.” But how does the Bible define freedom and how do Christian fantasy fans find this virtue reflected and challenged in our favorite fictions? With cohost Zack Russell taking to the free roads this July, Stephen takes over the studio, launching for a solo show about Galatians 5:13 and o...

Last month we heard some mighty and seemingly impossible news about human life. That means government leaders, especially in the United States, will probably focus more on human life. But what about supposed life that is not human? Yes, we’re talking about them aliens. This May the U.S. Congress held a hearing about evidence for UFOs, or lack thereof. They had expert witnesses and non-revela...

You might remember our promise to explore whether humans will colonize the cosmos before Christ returns. And we intend to fulfill that vow—at a future date. Really, we should have promised, “Unless, say, some big news happens between now and then.” Well, big news dropped on June 24. For more about that, see other podcasts! Today on Fantastical Truth, we will instead explore fantastical...

So many books. So little time. And often, so little space. You are mortal, with little control over time and space for your books. How then do you both store and creatively feature the fantastical stories you’ve collected? Lorehaven fans and staff creators have found many methods, and today we’re going to share some of our techniques for building your own fantastical lending library. S...

Homeschoolers. We often talk of them at Lorehaven. That’s because so many homeschool families love Christian-made fantastical stories. But of course, this ’twas not always so. Like some Christians before and now, some families have not been so happy about fantasy and sci-fi, and others have been downright hostile about them. What changed? Why are these families flocking to Christian fa...

Stephen has returned from a busy and then restful weekend. Next time we will recap his Florida event with Realm Makers Bookstore. But first let’s open our Bibles and review the Lorehaven faith statement, which we updated at the turn of this year. In a world of confusion about reality and imagination, how do we at Lorehaven strive to uphold the holy Scripture? Subscribe to Lorehaven articles...

What if the government had a device that provided a vivid, dreamlike access to your memories? What if it allowed you to remove traumatic events from your past? How might such a device further the human condition, or corrupt it? Would you trust Uncle Sam with the deepest parts of your mind? Subscribe to Lorehaven articles • news • library • reviews • podcast • gifts • guild Episode sponsors Realm M...

What if you had a water buffalo, like everybody’s got? But you couldn’t find your hairbrush? And your Swiss veterinarian wouldn’t stop yodeling, while you sang love songs to your cheeseburger? And then to jump universes, you found two salt-preserved squirrels in a cave by the Dead Sea, and tried to sneak them home, but then they came to life? One man has helped create all this fa...

Our world is “a very nasty place. Full of—enemies.” Christians don’t want to be sheltered and sentimentalist, hiding from the reality of our grimdark world. At the same time, our victorious Lord calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. How can fantastical stories, about heroes versus villains, help us train to show love to our enemies even if we must figh...