New Review of Leaps of Faith from Yellow30 Sci-Fi!
"Leaps of Faith will undoubtedly go down as one of the best collections of Christian science fiction in this new century."
WooHoo!
Showing posts with label leaps of faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leaps of faith. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Hard Sci-Fi & Time Travel in Leaps of Faith
In this, the final installment of our feature on Leaps of Faith, we focus on two more types of science fiction: time travel and hard SF.
Click on the links to take you to excerpts from some great science fiction stories that are respectful of Christian beliefs.
Hard Science Fiction:
An astrophysicist finds the face of God in the stars of the universe in “The Smile.” (Greg Beatty)
God is a proven fact in “The Faith Equation,” leaving the question of the role of belief. (Peter Bell)
“The Relics of Venice” combines genetic engineering and love to create a miracle. (Leslie Brown)
Time travel:
In “Tampering with God’s Time,” time travelers find they cannot change the timeline, but are themselves changed as they encounter Christ personally. (Karina Fabian)
In “Moses Disposes,” King Solomon deliberately uses time travelers to bring the Bible to future generations in an idiom they can understand. (Frank C. Gunderloy)
Click on the links to take you to excerpts from some great science fiction stories that are respectful of Christian beliefs.
Hard Science Fiction:
An astrophysicist finds the face of God in the stars of the universe in “The Smile.” (Greg Beatty)
God is a proven fact in “The Faith Equation,” leaving the question of the role of belief. (Peter Bell)
“The Relics of Venice” combines genetic engineering and love to create a miracle. (Leslie Brown)
Time travel:
In “Tampering with God’s Time,” time travelers find they cannot change the timeline, but are themselves changed as they encounter Christ personally. (Karina Fabian)
In “Moses Disposes,” King Solomon deliberately uses time travelers to bring the Bible to future generations in an idiom they can understand. (Frank C. Gunderloy)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Encountering Alien Life: Leaps of Faith
Part II of our focus on Leaps of Faith looks at another aspect of science fiction: encountering alien life.Of course, the whole concept of Christian novelists including aliens or sentient non-humans (that/ who aren't later discovered to be demons) in their fiction is controversial.
Just last week the topic was discussed at Speculative Faith: E. Stephen Burnett summarizes the arguments around the existence of extra-terrestrial life, as related to Christian belief, and concludes: Thus, any speculation outside of Scripture needs to be clearly disclaimed for what it is. But I would argue that even Christians speculating — even in fiction — must conform to God’s Word.
Given that many Christians agree that scripture based- and Biblical based-logic argues against the existence of aliens or Christian non-sentient beings, the concepts explored in several of the stories in Leaps of Faith appear controversial.
In “Lost Rythar,” evangelists seek to bring the Word of God to long-forgotten human colonies. (Colleen Drippé)
In “Sometimes We Lie,” evangelism takes a bizarre turn when a native-born being tries to spread an ancient human faith. (Barton Paul Levenson)
Fr. Wren wonders if a sentient tree-creature can marry into the Catholic Faith in “The Convert.” (Susanne Marie Knight)
Fr. Travener faces persecution by ministering to sentient androids in “Comprehending It Not.” (Cherith Baldry)
Why not read these stories for yourself before dismissing the possibility that Christian fiction can speculate about sentient non-human life and conform to God's word?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Space Exploration: Leaps of Faith
In both Christian and mainstream science fiction, either religion or science always seems to take a back seat.In mainstream SF, religion may be portrayed as something mankind has outgrown or that has become as alien as the worlds visited; or only one faith is represented, as if the great tapestry of Judeo-Christian faiths has been bleached into a colorless whole. By the same token, in Christian fiction, accurate, plausible science may be downplayed to the point of device rather than vital story element.
Yet, in reality, faith and science have always nurtured each other.
Mendel, the father of genetics, was a monk, and some physicists have said the more they delve into quantum mechanics, the more they are convinced in a higher power as Creator.
Where is the SF to reflect the truer relationship between faith and science?
Here, in Leaps of Faith.
The stories in Leaps of Faith cover the entire spectrum of the SF genre, showing the positive relationship between science and religion.
Beginning this week, TWCP Authors site will be featuring excerpts from the anthology Leaps of Faith.
Today we start with the space exploration stories.
In "High Hopes for The Dead" we see Christian evangelism though the faithful example of Luke "High Hopes" Kittery, a member of a band of space explorers for whom every trip is potential suicide. (author: Alex Lobdell)
"Quantum Express" examines the status of one's soul when the body is destroyed and reassembled through teleportation. (author: Vincent Malzahn)
"God's Gift:" faith is the key to preventing insanity brought on by a new method of interstellar travel. (author: Greg Beatty)
"Leap of Faith" highlights the new industry of space search and rescue though the intrepid nuns of Our Lady of the Rescue. (Karina & Robert Fabian)
In "Confirmation" harvesters of an exotic space fuel suspect they're harvesting intelligent life—or perhaps the angels themselves. (author: Michael S. Poteet)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Editors Karina and Robert Fabian Talk About Leaps of Faith
Leaps of Faith is not skepticism of Theology, but rather a new Christian sci-fi anthology of short fiction, edited by close personal friends Karina and Robert Fabian. Here, in this six minute Grace Bridges video (from Graces video blog across the US), the Fabians talk about the project:
If you want to learn more about Leaps of Faith, go to the official website
To purchase the book, you can go to the publisher's site The Writers Cafe Press, or Barnes & Noble (or amazon, if you must!).
If you want to learn more about Leaps of Faith, go to the official website
To purchase the book, you can go to the publisher's site The Writers Cafe Press, or Barnes & Noble (or amazon, if you must!).
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Christian Faiths and NOT Writing Just What You Know
I've had some interesting comments on Rob's and my latest anthology, Leaps of Faith. This is a collection of 14 stories of Christian science fiction. While I didn't fully itemize each faith represented, there are Anglican, Catholic and Christian stories and one Old Testament Biblical.
However, I've gotten a couple of comments to the effect that Leaps is a Catholic exclusive book. "written by Catholic writers" "a Catholic anthology" "I'm not Catholic but I enjoyed it." And the one that, frankly, insults the non-Catholic Christian contributors, the Christian publisher and my husband and me: "My only problem with this anthology is that uncomfortable feeling that the Catholics are the only people of God."
I'm not going to argue that here--you can check out the reviews on Amazon to see what people think about the mix of Christian and Catholic themes. What I want to talk about today is the ironic fact that many of the "Catholic" stories in Leaps--and some in Infinite Space, Infinite God, for that matter--were written by non-Catholics. In fact, we never asked anyone their denomination when we read the stories, and sometimes have been surprised ourselves to find out who practices what faith.
I'm always ticked at how that amazes and even scandalizes some people, even fellow writers. We think nothing of a housewife writing a detective novel or a computer technician writing a chick lit. Guys write romance with female protagonists while women write military sci-fi with predominantly male characters. Yet a person writes honestly about a particular faith, and people immediately assume the author practices that faith. Why is that?
I'm sure some people believe that to do anything different is to blaspheme in some way. I don't agree. To me, writing the faith that is right for the story is staying true to the creative talent God gave me. As long as I'm not glorifying a heresy or encouraging a sin, I feel safe in exploring other ideas, whether it's an atheist being pursued by a vampire or nuns living in outer space.
So what about writing what you know? I think writers that limit themselves to that do not go very far. There's such a wealth of adventure out there, some of which we will never know about first-hand. But we learn. I don't know asteroid mining--but I'm learning about it as I write Discovery. I didn't know Norse mythology until I started writing Live and Let Fly--and as I learned more, I had to change the story. That's what I love about writing. That's why I do it, even when I don't make the big bucks or get yet another rejection letter.
One person e-mailed me that he believed I preferred Catholic stories because that's what I'm more "comfortable" with. That's not true, not for me, not for a lot of writers I know. I'll stick with me, however. First off, I don't read a lot of Catholic fiction. (Yes, my fellow Guildies, I have not yet read Chesterson or Flannery O'Connor. They're on my list.) I read about wizards and aliens and serial killers and all kinds of non-comfortable things. I've written a story about a psychic teen who was mentally tortured. I've tortured one of my favorite characters while her best friend was forced to watch, and I have a scene for an upcoming book where the main character has to fight off a rapist. Think these were comfortable? Not at all, but they were disturbingly interesting to write and necessary to the story.
If I were to write what I "know" and what is "comfortable," I'd be putting out stories about how my kid didn't want to wear his jacket in the blizzard. That's about as much angst as I get in my life and believe me, I like it that way!
So it is with writing faith--not all my stories are Catholic. In one trilogy, the alien planet is Deist, and the other has its own odd mix of faith. They each had their own salvation stories, too. My Faerie world has what is called a Catholic Church, but "catholic" means "universal" and while it's similar to the Roman Catholic, there are enough differences that it is a unique religious organization. I could have (and maybe should have) called it the Faerie Church; I'm betting I take some heat from both Catholics and non-Catholics for it as time goes on. But if I do, I know it's because I've written a convincing world.
I'm starting to ramble here, but my point is that writers with real talent do not need to be limited by their current knowledge or beliefs. Imagination can take us to many exciting--and sometimes uncomfortable--worlds, and writing talent can help us share those worlds convincingly with others.
That's what the writers of Leaps of Faith and Infinite Space, Infinite God did. That's why I'm proud to have edited these anthologies.
However, I've gotten a couple of comments to the effect that Leaps is a Catholic exclusive book. "written by Catholic writers" "a Catholic anthology" "I'm not Catholic but I enjoyed it." And the one that, frankly, insults the non-Catholic Christian contributors, the Christian publisher and my husband and me: "My only problem with this anthology is that uncomfortable feeling that the Catholics are the only people of God."
I'm not going to argue that here--you can check out the reviews on Amazon to see what people think about the mix of Christian and Catholic themes. What I want to talk about today is the ironic fact that many of the "Catholic" stories in Leaps--and some in Infinite Space, Infinite God, for that matter--were written by non-Catholics. In fact, we never asked anyone their denomination when we read the stories, and sometimes have been surprised ourselves to find out who practices what faith.
I'm always ticked at how that amazes and even scandalizes some people, even fellow writers. We think nothing of a housewife writing a detective novel or a computer technician writing a chick lit. Guys write romance with female protagonists while women write military sci-fi with predominantly male characters. Yet a person writes honestly about a particular faith, and people immediately assume the author practices that faith. Why is that?
I'm sure some people believe that to do anything different is to blaspheme in some way. I don't agree. To me, writing the faith that is right for the story is staying true to the creative talent God gave me. As long as I'm not glorifying a heresy or encouraging a sin, I feel safe in exploring other ideas, whether it's an atheist being pursued by a vampire or nuns living in outer space.
So what about writing what you know? I think writers that limit themselves to that do not go very far. There's such a wealth of adventure out there, some of which we will never know about first-hand. But we learn. I don't know asteroid mining--but I'm learning about it as I write Discovery. I didn't know Norse mythology until I started writing Live and Let Fly--and as I learned more, I had to change the story. That's what I love about writing. That's why I do it, even when I don't make the big bucks or get yet another rejection letter.
One person e-mailed me that he believed I preferred Catholic stories because that's what I'm more "comfortable" with. That's not true, not for me, not for a lot of writers I know. I'll stick with me, however. First off, I don't read a lot of Catholic fiction. (Yes, my fellow Guildies, I have not yet read Chesterson or Flannery O'Connor. They're on my list.) I read about wizards and aliens and serial killers and all kinds of non-comfortable things. I've written a story about a psychic teen who was mentally tortured. I've tortured one of my favorite characters while her best friend was forced to watch, and I have a scene for an upcoming book where the main character has to fight off a rapist. Think these were comfortable? Not at all, but they were disturbingly interesting to write and necessary to the story.
If I were to write what I "know" and what is "comfortable," I'd be putting out stories about how my kid didn't want to wear his jacket in the blizzard. That's about as much angst as I get in my life and believe me, I like it that way!
So it is with writing faith--not all my stories are Catholic. In one trilogy, the alien planet is Deist, and the other has its own odd mix of faith. They each had their own salvation stories, too. My Faerie world has what is called a Catholic Church, but "catholic" means "universal" and while it's similar to the Roman Catholic, there are enough differences that it is a unique religious organization. I could have (and maybe should have) called it the Faerie Church; I'm betting I take some heat from both Catholics and non-Catholics for it as time goes on. But if I do, I know it's because I've written a convincing world.
I'm starting to ramble here, but my point is that writers with real talent do not need to be limited by their current knowledge or beliefs. Imagination can take us to many exciting--and sometimes uncomfortable--worlds, and writing talent can help us share those worlds convincingly with others.
That's what the writers of Leaps of Faith and Infinite Space, Infinite God did. That's why I'm proud to have edited these anthologies.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Leaps of Faith on a virtual book tour
Leaps of Faith is on a virtual book tour for the month of November! Find out what folks are saying about this new anthology of Christian sci-fi from The Writers Cafe Press.
For more information, check out www.leapsoffaithsf.com.
1( Book Info and Interview with Editors) Free Spirit http://inspiritandtruths.blogspot.com/
1 (Author's Interview and Book Info) Time with Tannia http://timewithtannia.tripod.com
3-9 (information, reviews, interviews) Christian Fiction Review Blog Roll www.cfrblog.blogspot.com
2 (Book Information) Tree-lady http://tree-lady.livejournal.com/
2 (synopsis of some of stories) Cathi's Chatter http://cathischatter.blogspot.com
3 (Interview with Karina) Bibliophile's Retreat http://bibliophilesretreat.com
3 (book trailer) Cathi's Chatter http://cathischatter.blogspot.com
4 (Interview with Susanne) Bibliophile's Retreat http://bibliophilesretreat.com
5 (review) Cathi's Chatter http://cathischatter.blogspot.com
5 (Information, Interview) Joy in the Journey www.teresaslack.blogspot.com
7 (Review) Bibliophile's Retreat http://bibliophilesretreat.com
12 (Interviews) Review Hutch http://reviewhutch.blogspot.com
13 (Interviews) The Book Connection http://www.thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/
14 (Interviews) The Book Connection http://www.thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
