Episodes

Christian fans want to build bigger audiences for fantastical stories. Yet how might we help our Christian family and friends share in this happiness? How can we help transform Christian deserts into thriving lands that love excellent fantastical fiction? Here’s a hint: we can’t wait for “the chosen ones” to come along and defeat the darkness and save the land. Instead, we actually need to skip the fantasies and borrow from sci-fi, and commit to the multi-generational project of “terraforming” o...

Last year wasn’t all about politics and pandemic-pandemonium. From little space babies eating tadpoles, to that Jesus TV show, to not-quite-forgotten trends, we’re exploring the top seven most-discussed issues at Lorehaven.com today on Fantastical Truth. We take these in descending order: 7. Fantastical Truth ep. 2: What Do We Mean By Saying ‘It’s a Christian Story’? 6. On Canceling the ‘Baby-Eating’ Baby Yoda, Parker J. Cole In The Mandalorian, from what I’ve seen of posts, Baby Yoda is eat...

Will this be the year we finally get to see the aliens? Are we living in an alien invasion movie? According to headlines, it depends on whether a supposed Galactic Federation decides we are worthy. These ideas and questions are coming at us at light speed, and they often bring along competing mythologies. So as Christians, we should think through how to respond. More importantly, we should dwell on why these questions come up at all. Why do alien stories fascinate us? We’ll explore that, today. ...

Want to feel old at Christmas? The first Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, released in 2005 and is now fifteen years old. Five years later, the third Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, released in 2010, so it’s now ten years old. Let’s explore these films’ successes and failures, as we’re joined by a special guest and “prince” of Narnia here on Fantastical Truth. Introducing ‘Rilian’ of NarniaWeb Rilian started a podcast called “Narnia News and Notes” This became th...

What if you were a piskey girl, born without wings, raised underground, and desperate to learn to fly so she can venture in the strange world beyond? That’s the start of author R. J. Anderson’s series The Flight and Flame Trilogy, whose book 2, Nomad, just released in November. Now, R. J. is our guest on Fantastical Truth. Lorehaven reviews Swift A famous movie colonel stated, “You can’t handle the truth!” But just as often it’s even harder to handle getting to the truth itself. In R. J. Anders...

Every Christmas, you see this image as a painting, meme, card, or ornament: a devoted Santa Claus, with his red elf-hat removed, kneels before the Christ-child in a manger. Still, many well-meaning Christians see Santa as a pretender to Christ’s throne rather than a worshiper before Him. How do faithful fans respond? What do you think about the “Santa Claus vs. Jesus Christ” clash at Christmas? Concession stand If you just got here to Fantastical Truth, this episode builds on many others. We ...

What if you put Yoda, a G. I. Joe, He-Man, Skeletor, a Care Bear, and more nostalgic 1980s toys into a yellow box, and sent it hurtling at you through a green void, hurled by a shadowy figure in the background that could only be The Devil? That’s the cover of a book from vintage 1980s evangelical culture, and we’re exploring turmoil in toy boxes just in time for this holiday season. Sponsor: The Pop Culture Parent Parents often feel at a loss with popular culture and how it fits in with their f...

What if you lived in an Arctic-like frontier, trying to survive despite the Invaders who keep moving into your native land? Then the Invaders kidnapped your brother, who told the captain the secret location of a lost treasure? Explore the award-winning fantasy novel Seventh City with us and author Emily Hayse! From Lorehaven’s featured review of Seventh City: Cold weather can bring wintry mixes of ice and freezing rain, which in turn can give us mixed feelings. Songs may romanticize falling sn...

This year, one of us at Fantastical Truth cancelled Netflix, and the other did not. Maybe you should too? Or maybe you are not actually “supposed” to join this “cancel culture.” More recently, we just had another Halloween, a subject of many boycotts. Should Christians join this habit of boycotting things? Will this change anything in them? Or could this change anything in ourselves? Sponsored episode Lorehaven’s new issue has released for fall 2020! This includes our cover feature with Seven...

For generations, politics have been taking over imaginations. This seems especially true in the United States this election year. But is this really true? In fact, we all have little imaginations, experiences and pictures hidden deep in our minds, that influence our views on politics and public policies. Today’s sponsor Lorehaven has released its fall 2020 issue! You can read it today exclusively at Lorehaven.com. Our cover story features novelist Emily Hayse with her award-winning Arctic fant...

“Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will! … Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring. … I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome …” He’s no cartoon. He’s no misunderstood monster. Instead, the infamous Count Dracula is a hideous perversion of humanity. This parasitic undead being preys spiritually and physically on the innocent, and must be destroyed. Join us as we explore Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and its incredible reflectio...

Want to be perfectly safe? Want to guarantee your own life, foretell the future, and control your world? Want to … become a god? Then just follow this four-step method: Believe a lie. Practice some occult method that the real God forbids. ???? Profit. Of course, this kind of idolatrous witchcraft doesn’t work in reality. It also isn’t usually the same as reading a fantasy novel with “magic” people, practices, or things in it. But what if Christians can’t tell them apart? Or feel genuinely t...