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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
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When The English Fall
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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
Into Shadow's Fire, Mark Castleberry
Deceived, Madisyn Carlin
Arena (2022 edition), Karen Hancock
Kurt Nickle-Dickle of Whiskers, N. J. McLagan
"In a city where debts are paid in blood, one young man will learn that everyone needs help sometimes if they want to survive." New in the Lorehaven library: A Matter of Blood, Lauren H Salisbury
Son of the Shield, Mary Schlegel
Maxine Justice, Galactic Attorney, Daniel Schwabauer
Mordizan, Alyssa Roat
Prentice Ash, Matt Barron
Etania's Calling, M. H. Elrich
The Choice, Bradley Caffee
The Obsidian Butterfly, Lani Forbes
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When The English Fall
“When The English Fall tells a bittersweet tale of community and commitment that plunges fearlessly into hard questions about the end of the world.”
—Lorehaven on May 20, 2022

Clawing Free
“Clawing Free is an absorbing tale that seamlessly joins modernity and myth.”
—Lorehaven on May 13, 2022

Vivid
“Ashley Bustamante’s Vivid paints a world built on secrets and carefully controlled color palettes.”
—Lorehaven on May 6, 2022

Prophet
“If great fiction dares explore culture wars, it must show more than perfect people smiling before a flat backdrop. Frank E. Peretti’s 1992 novel Prophet reflects this reality.”
—Lorehaven on May 4, 2022

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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
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111. Why Do Your Kids Need Fantastical Stories for God’s Glory?
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Yes, Speculative Faith Is Closed, At Least For Now
E. Stephen Burnett, Dec 30

Last Stands, Custer, General Gordon, and Being a Christian Warrior
Travis Perry, Jul 2

How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 24

Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 10

Making a Story Visual UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Animal Eye Comic
Travis Perry, May 9

What Does “Woke” Culture Have To Do With Christian Fiction?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, Apr 26

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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Clive Staples Award: Note on Nominations

For now in the contest, self-published titles must be a later goal.
E. Stephen Burnett on Mar 11, 2013 · 1 comment

With the Clive Staples Award now revived for nominated Christian speculative novels published last year, and now hosted here at Speculative Faith, people are wondering why the contest is also limited to novels that have been:

published by a publisher which has no direct affiliation with the author and which pays a royalty (i.e. not self-published, even through any of the services offered by publishing companies)1

Today reader and self-published author Laura K. Cowan asked:

Are there any awards of this type that are open to self-pubbed titles?

We’ve been getting that a lot.

Speaking for the Clive Staples Award, anyway, Rebecca Miller responded:

When we first conceived of this award, one of the goals was to bring awareness to publishers of the kind of books readers want to see in print. We also wanted to recognize and therefore to encourage the best writing. In that light, we followed the guidelines of the other key Christian fiction awards–the Christy and what is now know as the Carol.

We did discuss the idea that “someday” we might include more than one award, either separating by genre (so that science fiction is pitted against fantasy and fantasy against horror) or by audience (so young adult and middle grade books aren’t up against adult books–a decided disadvantage to the latter ;-) ).

Since the explosion of self-publishing, I can see a real need for a self-publishing division, too, but that has to remain a “someday” goal. The last year we ran the contest, we had 19 nominations. Imagine how many there would be if we added into the mix self-published books? What we end up with is a best book chosen by a majority voting, but not a consensus. In the end we’d have the kind of popularity contest we want to avoid.

This is not a contest about who can get the most friends to click over to our site and punch in a vote for their book. We want genuine speculative fiction readers who have some discernment as to what makes a good book. That’s why we require voters to have read at least two of the nominations. It ought to be a higher number than that, but that will have to be a “someday” goal also.

  1. Reviving The Clive Staples Award, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Feb. 25, 2013. ↩
E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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  1. Ben Avery says:
    March 11, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    I understand, although don’t agree with, your reasons. It’s your contest, your rules. I think part of it comes from my background: in comic books, my medium, the divide between self-publishing and publishing is not nearly as deep as it is in book publishing. Self-publishing in comics is respected and expected. I know that I put just as much work and effort into my self-published works and my publisher sponsored works (although I do enjoy the advance payment!)
    Unfortunately, people from traditional book publishing tend to be short sighted — a serpent eating the tail situation from my understanding. Technology makes it possible for anyone and everyone to publish . . . but the big publishers have trouble figuring out how to reach people with anything but an established brand, so they do not take risks . . . so people with riskier materials are staying away from big publishers, even as big publishers are hemorrhaging readers.
    Anyway, I have not read anything that I would consider worth nominating that was NOT self-published. The few new Christian spec-fic books that I have tried to read from a publishing house I put down within a few chapters. (One I pushed forward, trying to make myself like it because it was by one of my favorite authors, but I realized that of his last few books, I have not actually been able to finish any of them.)
    Meanwhile, I’ve had some quite good self-published books recommended to me by friends and contacts through my podcast. There are ups and downs — some difficult to make it through, but a couple thoroughly enjoyable. (I highly recommend and really enjoyed Ryan Dunlap’s The Wind Merchant, which I would have nominated.)
    Again, I totally understand having to put limits on what can and cannot be submitted for the award. I just see it as a missed opportunity to celebrate what’s good, not just what’s “paid for”. The divide between traditional and self-publishing is closing.

    Reply

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.