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I rarely cross post, but this is a subject I want to be sure fans of speculative fiction discuss, so I'm posting here (with some necessary changes) as well as on my personal blog.
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The idea to create an award for Christian speculative fiction came about two years ago when the Christy Awards omitted the speculative category. After considerable discussion here and at A Christian Worldview of Fiction, we settled on the Clive Staples Award as the name for this reader-initiated recognition of top Christian speculative fiction.
For the last two years we collected nominations, using the same guidelines as the Christy Awards. However, in both years, the actual awarding of a winner bogged down because we have no sponsor, no agreement with publishers to provide judges with books, and no judges.
The most serious problem was this latter issue. While I say "no judges," that's not completely accurate. We had a handful of people who volunteered to help judge, but no one who volunteered to head up the judging—requesting books, sending them out to judges, tabulating judge sheets and/or spearheading discussions to arrive at a consensus regarding finalists.
Beyond that, we agreed the award, if it was to carry any significance, would need finalist judges of some standing. I preferred someone outside the publishing business to avoid the appearance of partiality but well informed about speculative fiction. Unfortunately, the people I contacted for that role declined to take part.
So where does that leave the award? Is ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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As part of the CSFF Blog Tour, I read Vanish by Tom Pawlik. While this novel falls into the supernatural suspense (or horror) category rather than fantasy, it nevertheless serves as a perfect jumping off point to discuss the way speculative fiction can show Truth.
Critics of speculative fiction, and in particular fantasy, argue that the stories deal with things that aren't real such as dragons and fairies and gremlins and genii. In Vanish readers discover toward the end that this story all takes place in a pretend "Interworld," a place that isn't an actual place.
But how is this different from other fiction? Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell imagined a pretend place called Tara and peopled it with the pretend characters Scarlet and Melanie and Rhett and Ashley. Is the reader to believe that Tara really existed or that the characters are historical figures? Not at all. Readers are to believe that they are imagined by the author and only realistically believable.
So too with speculative fiction. Is the Interworld in Vanish to be accepted as an actual place? No. It is to be accepted as realistically believable, but not real.
Why then do authors write what is only imagined? Because in telling a story, Truth can surface. Let me illustrate from Scripture.
Romans 8:28 says God works good for those who love Him. Genesis records the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers but able as a result to ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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The Fantasy Nut post got such a good response, I decided a little more light-hearted rambling might be in order.
First an announcement. Fellow Spec Faith contributor E. Stephen Burnett just recently got married! I was fortunate enough to see some wedding pictures on Facebook. I also learned that Stephen is the moderator of the NarniaWeb Forum. I didn't even know there WAS a NarniaWeb Forum before I read Stephen's Facebook info.
Which reminds me ... if you're on Facebook, consider friending Stephen or me. Just mention that you're a Spec Faith visitor, and I know I'll be excited to add you to my network. When Stephen gets down from cloud nine, I suspect he'll be delighted to add you to his network as well.
Another for-fun writer tidbit coming up, but first for those who love reading fantasy, you might be interested in the short story I posted on my personal blog, A Christian Worldview of Fiction. The story is called "The Stones Cry Out." (I wrote it before I knew there was a popular novel with a similar title!) I posted it on three successive days, so if you're interested in reading the story, click on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
I promise, I will get back to the more serious discussion of fantasy I started weeks ago. I haven't forgotten. I just needed a break from heavy-duty analysis. All those Shack posts I mentioned last week took a lot out of me.
So this week is fun stuff.
And here's the writer fun I mentioned. Thanks to Rachel Marks, I discovered a quiz that will answer the question, Which fantasy writer are you? How fun is that! So go! Take the quiz, then post the results on your own blog. Be sure to come back here and leave a link in the comments so we can visit your site and find out which writer you are. For those of you who aren't blogging, tell us your results in a comment. Now I'm off to take the quiz myself!
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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Apparently I'm more one-track minded that I wanted to admit. I've been slogging out a series over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction that dissects The Shack, which has left me with no time to carry on the rebuttal to the anti-fantasy position some Christians take, as important as I believe it to be. I hope to come back to that topic next week.
In the meantime, I thought you'd get a chuckle out of something I found today—"You Know You're a Fantasy Nut When ..." posted by Ëarwen and used by permission, as you'll see at the bottom:You know you're a fantasy nut when...
You and your friends speak *your* language, not english
You are shocked when you meet someone who has never seen The Lord of the Rings
All you want for your birthday is the latest christian fantasy book, a slice of cake, and thou
You go around offering to teach people elvish (Sindarin or Quenya? One lump or two?)
When you read a verse in the Bible and shout "That's like my character, when..." (has happened, by the way!!)
You are past your fifteenth birthday and still read 'Grimm's fairy tales' for inspiration
You drink tea out of your favorite 'alice in wonderland' oversized teacup (I have one! =D)
You can't watch a good fantasy movie without writing your own fanfiction to go with it
You drool every time you hear Howard Shore's music
You are adamant that Legolas does NOT look like a girl!
You are shopping for your archery things ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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What constitutes deus ex machina? My computer dictionary defines the term as "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, esp. as a contrived plot device in a play or novel." This question is especially pertinent because I've been looking at God in fiction over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction (see posts here, here, here, and here). Then during the current CSFF Blog Tour for Stephen R. Lawhead's final installment of the King Raven Trilogy, Tuck, one reviewer suggested that deus ex machina raised its ugly head to spoil the end of the epic myth.
Really?
SPOILER ALERT
In Tuck, Rhi Bran y Hud (a Welsh Robin Hood), realizing that he is out-manned, rides north to plead with his mother's relatives to help him in his quest against the Normans. After Bran performs admirably in service of his relative king, he leaves the north without the support he sought. However, in the end, as Bran is preparing for the ultimate confrontation with King William the Red, his relatives, and Mérian's as well, ride to the rescue.
Deus ex machina?
Granted, this ending is not God showing up to save the day, though much is said about prayer, but that an unexpected force showed up to rescue a seemingly hopeless situation certainly smacks of authorial contrivance, doesn't it?
Well, no, it doesn't, I would argue. The operative word, in my opinion, is "unexpected." If an author lays proper groundwork so that a reader can entertain the ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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by Jill Williamson
Eric Wilson’s Field of Blood is getting a bit of controversy. I enjoyed it. Some people didn’t like that his protagonist, Gina, was such a sinner. But didn’t we all start out there? Don’t we all struggle with sin? Doesn’t that make Gina more real to most readers? I’m not a big fan of Christian novels where the main character gets saved in book one. It just feels preachy and forced most of the time. I’m not trying to say it never happens that way in real life, but, well, as a Christian author, sometimes it’s difficult to choose who you’re writing for: the saved or the lost. Eric Wilson did present the gospel message in Field of Blood. His protagonist just wasn’t ready to hear it yet.
The story is about a group of Collectors who have been waiting to awaken some dead bodies that were buried at the Akeldama, the place where Judas Iscariot died. Collectors are Wilson’s representation of demons. Since these particular Collectors chose dead bodies, rather than possessing living ones, they must feed off the blood of the living in order to survive. Thus they are vampires. Gina is a young woman who is being hunted by the Collectors because they think she is one of the Nistarim, those immortal beings who rose at the death of the Nazarene to protect mankind.
What a creative idea! I was so impressed with how certain historical events inspired this story. And Matthew 27. How ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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Last time, I digressed from a look at fantasy through the writing of Richard Abanes to a discussion of "In Defence of Fantasy," a pamphlet by Andrew Lansdown answering the main objections some professing Christians hurl at fantasy. I left off with the explanation Mr. Lansdown gave for the occult from the perspective of those objecting to fantasy:they use the term "the occult" to describe an interest or an involvement in supernatural things that are evil and devilish. And they view fantasy as occult because its realms may accommodate evil people such as witches, evil spirits such as demons, evil creatures such as goblins, and evil practices such as sorcery. In addressing this issue, Mr. Lansdown turns to the Bible, pointing out that all kinds of occult activity is recorded in the text—from information about Satan, demons, witches (think, the Witch of Endor), mediums, false prophets, and false gods to idol worship, human sacrifice, sorcery, and magic. I'll even add that Daniel was put in charge, at one point, of the magicians in Babylon. These were not men of God, but nowhere did God tell Daniel to flame them. In fact, God gave Daniel one of the king's dreams, and its interpretation, which just so happened to save the lives of all the magicians, a group of which Daniel was a member.
However, as Mr. Lansdown pointed out, the Bible is clearly not an occult book. It is God's revelation of Himself—His purpose, His plan, ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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Suddenly sci-fi nerd-ism is cool again. Today it’s on the front of my local newspaper (?) and last week a toy Enterprise graced covers of Newsweek (which turned the feature into a total sycophantic suckup piece glorifying Barack Obama™).
Yet even I, who have seen all the films and almost all the series, and even have some action figures, have gotten a little tired of all the Star Trek movie hype. And it hasn’t even really started yet. I’m keeping my expectations just average; and I’ll likely see the film early next month anyway. It seems I have my good reasons for the delay …
Naturally I’m out of step with the rest of geekdom by offering the second and last part of my suggestions for the Fox / Walden adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. While the Disney / Walden release last year of Prince Caspian is good, it didn’t quite achieve the magic of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which itself was more than little problematic already. But now, with a new distributor, new director, writers and composers, Narnia fans can hope the magic of the Voyage is enhanced even better.
In my last column I said the story must focus better on Aslan, and not mega-battle climaxes, portray the redemption of Eustace Scrubb pretty much just as it was in the book, and imbue better musical themes. Others in response quickly pointed out that Aslan’s country, and Aslan’s final words in the story to Edmund and Lucy, simply must be preserved. I have said much the same at the last of this column, though it is certainly a vital — if not the vital — story element. |
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Posted by E Stephen Burnett at
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About a
month ago I wrote a two-part column about what contributed to the failure of
the second Chronicles of Narnia film, Prince Caspian, to live up
to the success of its predecessor.
In the
first installment, I listed as two reasons marketing difficulties and differences
between Disney and the C.S. Lewis estate that likely led to the two separating.
And in the
sequel column, I speculated that adaptation issues and changes to the Caspian
book’s messages of faith and redemption did some damage to the story itself —
though overall the film was well done.
Now, similar to the third pending Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn
Treader, I have had some delays releasing my own third installment in this
series. Last time, I promised to offer some suggestions and a started
discussion about what Fox / Walden (new distributor, and same producers) needs
to bring for this Voyage. I’ve broken this down into eight suggestions, four
to follow in this column, with the next four in yet another sequel. Here we go
…
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Posted by E Stephen Burnett at
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So what should we make of dragons ... or magic or wizards or trolls or faeries? Do they belong in the stories our children read? Do they belong in the stories we Christian authors write? I ended Part 1 of the discussion about fantasy with that question, generated from my reading of Richard Abanes' fine book, Harry Potter, Narnia, and the Lord of the Rings. Well, I just received a copy of a pamphlet entitled "In Defence of Fantasy" (yes, the British spelling of defense is intentional) by Australian author Andrew Lansdown. In part this booklet opened my eyes to some of the stringent opposition to fantasy others have talked about. Mr. Lansdown systematically and thoughtfully takes the major objections to fantasy and discusses them from a Biblical perspective. I'd like to follow his line of thinking for a time.
He identifies these objections to fantasy:
- people in false religions like fantasy
- fantasy is linked to the occult
- fantasy is not true (and why should Christians spend so much time reading a lie)
- (and the corollary) fantasy depicts things that have no basis in reality
- readers (especially young ones) may become confused about what is real
- fantasy is escapist
Mr. Lansdown easily defeats the first objection: people in false religions like fantasy, first by admitting the element of truth in the statement. But he goes on to point out that people steeped in false religion or philosophy like all kinds of things, such as gardening ... |
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Posted by Rebecca LuElla Miller at
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