Watch this Monday for our first article from psychological thriller novelist and new Lorehaven writer L. G. McCary.

L. G. McCary is an old-school Whovian and a lifelong Trekkie. She has a bachelor’s in psychology which means she knows enough to mess with readers’ heads but not enough to diagnose their problems. She is the wife of an Army chaplain and the homeschooling mom of four rambunctious kids. She writes supernatural and dark science fiction on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, ghosts, sentient snowmen, and space hotels. Her first novel, That Pale Host, releases October 2021 from Monster Ivy Publishing. Her short story, “Rendering,” appears in Havok’s Rebirth anthology.

This Monday, her first monthly article explores how stories are not only the sneakiest form of apologetics, but have special power to shape our souls.

1. Laura, how did you first discover biblical faith and fantastic stories?

I grew up in a house saturated in classic literature, philosophy, and theology. I was homeschooled, and my mom encouraged my bookworm habits. I read The Hobbit with my dad in third grade, which happened to be the same year Christ saved me. I’ve loved fantastical fiction ever since. I read and reread The Chronicles of Narnia, and I’ve read my favorite, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, more times than I can count. In high school, I discovered Frank E. Peretti and read every one of his novels that I could get my hands on. Peretti’s stories showed me Christians can write creepy stories that glorify God, and I hope to do the same.

2. What stories are you enjoying presently, nonfiction and fiction?

I strive to have an even mix of fiction and nonfiction in my reading queue. I just finished The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and started M. J. McGriff’s pirate novel, Macario’s Scepter. I’m also reading Restoring Beauty: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the Works of C. S. Lewis by Louis Markos and The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing edited by Leland Ryken. I discovered Billy Coffey’s book When Mockingbirds Sing last spring, and now I’m collecting everything he’s ever written.

3. What are your fantastic goals for the future?

I write supernatural and science fiction with a dark edge, and my first novel, That Pale Host, a psychological thriller with a supernatural twist, is coming out this October with Monster Ivy Publishing. It’s a dark, spooky, but hopeful story, and I believe it will encourage women, especially new moms who feel inadequate to the huge task of parenting. I can’t wait to share it with the world.

And as if editing a novel for publication and homeschooling four kids wasn’t enough to keep me busy, this January, I begin a graduate certificate in literary and imaginative apologetics at Houston Baptist University. Story is the sneakiest form of apologetics, and I tell people I’m starting this program to become an apologetics ninja.

Look for L. G. McCary’s first monthly article, “To Shape a Story is to Shape a Soul,” this Monday, Jan. 18 at Lorehaven.com.