Speculative Faith was the volunteer-led website that preceded Lorehaven. From 2006 to 2021, hundreds of Christian fantastical writers added their voices to this team blog. Many of those creatives now continue this work at Lorehaven. This archive preserves all the original SpecFaith articles and reviews. You may find, however, some outdated bios and missing images as well as occasional formatting glitches! Please note that some reviews have been updated and republished to Lorehaven.

Dark Is The Stain: Hallow’s Eve

I began this series because I wanted to explore the dark themes of Christian fiction. I don’t want to just discuss it; I want to touch it. I want light so bright that anything dark distracts, and darkness so black […] —Kaci Hill in November 2011

Heroes

Given the collective angst from the Christian community every year over Halloween, it seems odd to me how little attention is given to November 1. —Fred Warren in November 2011

Why I Wrote The DarkTrench Saga

Now that I’m done writing The DarkTrench Saga (from Marcher Lord Press), I’ll talk about it. The three-volume futuristic series has had some interesting criticisms, but surprisingly, the strongest reproaches have come from the Christian community. —Kerry Nietz in October 2011

Shooting At Halloween Pumpkins

At Halloween, do demons really run wild over neighborhoods and souls? Or might Christians “demonize” decorations, to the glee of the actual Devil? This former pumpkin-“killer” explores our actual worst enemies, and the One Who defeated them. —E. Stephen Burnett in October 2011

I Aim To Misbehave

This scene came to mind when I read an article by Sally Apokedak at Novel Rocket that Becky Miller highlighted this weekend. Sally asks if writers should aim to avoid offending publishers. It’s a good question, worthy of discussion. —Fred Warren in October 2011

Interacting With Culture

Are giving in to our culture as traitors or fighting against it as a lover of what is right and true our only two choices? Is there no intersection in which we who know the truth can show it to our society rather than running from the assault or turning to fight? —Rebecca LuElla Miller in October 2011

I’m Out Of The Spec Closet

I admit it now. Speculative fiction has been my passion since I was a kid, and I had wild dreams back then about writing it someday. —James L. Rubart in October 2011

Beyond Story Battles 1: Living For The Fight?

Christian visionary stories are not merely a means of fighting Christian novels with shallow themes, or without cusswords, violence, or dungeons and dragons. They are a means of worship, to praise and personally enjoy our Creator. —E. Stephen Burnett in October 2011

Dark Is The Stain: Chiaroscuro

Delving into Darkness Welcome to the new series! Church brat points to whoever knows which song “Dark is the Stain” comes from. I decided, in honor of the season, to go with a dark speculation of story. As Brian Godawa’s […] —Kaci Hill in October 2011

Speculative Love, Part 6: Love Does Not Compute

By way of closing this series on love in speculative fiction, I wanted to talk briefly about a quality of love that makes it problematical for science fiction in particular: love is not logical. —Fred Warren in October 2011

Sentimentality And Christian Fiction

I believe that stories that suggest God never brings things to right here in this life are just as untrue as those that imply He always does so. Perhaps J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were such masters because they knew how to show both the truth of this world and the truth of Christian hope. —Rebecca LuElla Miller in October 2011

An Apologetic Of Horror, Part 3

The defense of horror and thriller movies in principle should not be misconstrued to be a justification for all horror and thriller movies in practice. It is the mature Christian who, because of practice, has his senses trained to discern good and evil in a fallen world. —Brian Godawa in October 2011

Speculative Love, Part 5: Father Issues

Our barn-burner discussion of the non-spec-fic movie, C0urageous, reminded me (thanks, Stephen) that I haven’t talked about another sort of love (or lack thereof) we often find in speculative stories: parental love. More specifically, paternal love. Fathers are most often […] —Fred Warren in October 2011

A Look At Family Friendly Fiction

Unfortunately, the term “family friendly” has become entwined with the idea of “safe.” But safe from what? What is it that can do eternal damage to a soul? —Rebecca LuElla Miller in October 2011

An Apologetic Of Horror, Part 2

The portrayal of good AND evil, as well as their consequences, are two sides of God’s one honorable, pure, lovely, excellent, and praiseworthy truth. According to the Bible, pointing out wrong is part of dwelling on what is right, exposing lies is part of dwelling on the truth, revealing cowardice is part of dwelling on the honorable, and uncovering corruption is part of dwelling on the pure. —Brian Godawa in October 2011

An Open Letter To Truly ‘Courageous’ Storytellers

Christians should hate it when people base church services on entertainment. They should also dislike when people base entertainment on church services. —E. Stephen Burnett in October 2011

The Doctor’s Doctrines: Discussion Time

Doctor Who series 6 ended last Saturday, with the universe crumbling (again!) and only one clever Time Lord to stop it. Now on Spec-Faith: Discuss. Quote. Think Christianly about the BBC sci-fi series. Work it out of your system. —E. Stephen Burnett in October 2011

Speculative Love, Part 4: Alien Love

The issue was bound to come up once people started writing science fiction stories. You’ve got humans, you’ve got aliens, you’ve got robots–put them together in a dark room without parental supervision and you get… Eww. It’s revolting, it’s fascinating, it’s gooey, it’s radioactive…It’s alien love! —Fred Warren in October 2011

Christian Speculative Fiction In A Postmodern World

On one hand, Christian speculative fiction authors believe, in contradiction to our culture, that there are absolutes, that belief is essential, that beauty is recognizable, and that now pales in comparison to one day. —Rebecca LuElla Miller in October 2011

An Apologetic Of Horror, Part 1

Horror is not an inherently evil genre of storytelling. It can be used for gratuitous evil purposes, or for godly moral purposes. The Bible tells many stories using the horror genre in order to inspire holy fear of evil and admonish or chastise those in sin. —Brian Godawa in September 2011

Human Nature 2: The Greatest Battle Lies Within

Stories often like to make the real enemy a surprise. But they’re usually external, missing the worst enemy of all: our own sinful flesh. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2011

Speculative Love, Part 3: Standing The Test Of Time

By way of wrapping up last week’s discussion of romantic love in science fiction, or the lack thereof, I want to highlight a sub-genre that seems to grasp the power of the emotional bond between a man and woman devoted to each other: The time-travel story. —Fred Warren in September 2011

Are You Hooked?

Not long ago, I discussed the “It Factor,” that intangible something that sets a work of fiction apart and gets people to notice and talk and read. One thing most writing instructors agree on is that a novel opening needs to hook readers into the story. —Rebecca LuElla Miller in September 2011

‘Harry Potter’ and How We Learn To Discern

Whether you enjoy ‘Harry Potter,’ or believe it’s dangerous witchcraft, or try to find Christian parallels in the stories … 14 questions to ask. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2011

Human Nature 1: On The Enemies List

No good story is complete without some evil, and storytellers like to draw from at least ten common bad-guy standbys. But how do they try to throw in “surprise twist” enemies? And what enemy isn’t on the list of usual suspects? —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2011
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 66
  6. 67
  7. 68
  8. 69
  9. 70
  10. 71
  11. 72
  12. ...
  13. 85

Lorehaven epilogue sponsors