Episodes

In just 1.5 months, the inaugural Realm Makers Expo will arrive in Grand Rapids. Like the continuing Realm Makers writers conference, this event marks a fantastic chance for Christian fans and creatives to meet with like-minded believers in Jesus. But any big Christian-led conference also attracts people who like biblical virtues and ideas as well as Christians ourselves, yet are not truly believers. How then can we best shine the gospel at Realm Makers? Episode sponsors Realm Makers Expo 2025...

Books will last after Jesus’s return. That’s clear from Revelation 20:12, which refers to human life record books used for judging the dead. What then about other kinds of books, especially fantastical novels? Will amazing stories made by Christians, including those we explore at Lorehaven, last forever? Can we enjoy new stories? And what about great stories created by nonbelievers? Episode sponsors “1232” epic audio drama podcast Realm Makers Expo 2025 Omega Plan by Jonathon Karagiannis Earth...

Kathryn needs no magical stone, slingshots around the sun, or fantastic phone box. She can time travel quite naturally, falling asleep in Victorian London only to wake up in the World War II era. Now she’s caught up in a quest to save her sister from Jack the Ripper and choose only one timeline by her 25th birthday. Every Hour Until Then author Gabrielle Meyer joins us to explore: What is time travel romance, and why do readers love it? Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Warsafe by Lauren Sm...

‘Tis the season for graduations. Right now some students are happy to leave their textbooks behind. But what sorts of books should faithful readers want to take with them, not just in their childhood and teenage years, but into their lives as Christ-following grown-ups? Today’s guest has given many a graduation speech, and he’s also the author of middle-grade fantasy: Houston Christian University president Dr. Robert Sloan. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Warsafe by Lauren Smyth Realm Mak...

“This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began.” Seventy years after its publication on May 2, 1955, why do we still love Lewis’s sixth Chronicles of Narnia book, The Magician’s Nephew? Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Warsafe by Lauren Smyth Realm Makers Expo 2025 Omega Plan by Jonathon Karagiannis Earthburst by D...

This week, we’re still in Resurrection Sunday mood.[1. Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash.] So let’s consider a big biblical idea. It’s so important that all stories reflect this—the big idea that the Law of God should lead us to the grace of God. But how many stories get these concepts out of balance? When do they swerve too far toward “law,” and into legalism, or too far toward “grace,” and into cheap grace? Episode sponsors “1232” epic audio drama podcast Realm Makers Expo 2025 Joh...

Guess what’s big at the box office and the streaming-service menu, boys? It’s biblical fiction! From the giant-smash hit House of David on Amazon Prime, to The Chosen and its planned Bibleverse, to the new King of Kings animated Jesus movie and even more adaptations from Old and New Testaments, these creations are winning millions of fans but also some evangelical enemies. Few of these seem interested in asking: what is biblical fiction? Mission update Lorehaven action item: Captive last week,...

“Fallen, fallen is Disney the great! The Mouse has become a dwelling place for cringe, a haunt for every unclean secularist agenda, a haunt for every flopbuster franchise, a haunt for every unclean and detestable remake.” Yes, we know the line. But after facing fairy-stale adaptations, flippant super-capers, and the adrift vessels of “Stalled” Wars, how could we restore Disney? Mission update Lorehaven review: Ice retro review last week, Captive this week Subscribe free to get updates and joi...

Breaking news. A new casting or creative announcement has got fans in an uproar. Alack, it must be a new day ending with the suffix -day. But in this case, the reliably rumored cast announcement is so strange, and so ghastly, and so out-and-out weird beyond the worlds, that it warrants us bumping our planned episode and focusing a whole other episode on this most bizarre and terrible news instead. We’re talking about the notion that a female actor (no shade on her) is rumored to be the new voice...

At least one Christian astronaut, Butch Wilmore, recently splashed down in the Dragon capsule of Crew 9 (thereby resolving our spaceships versus dragons debate!). How many Christians, however, have created newer stories above the circle of Earth on the planet Mars? We’ll journey back to recap a few Christian-made Martian stories you may have missed over the last years. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Illuminary by Chawna Schroeder Realm Makers Expo 2025 Johanna Frank, author of Here Lyeth...

What happened to the once-popular Western genre? As a prospector doll put it, “Once the astronauts went up, children only wanted to play with space toys!” And yet the Western legend lives beyond the Earth, often mixed with the sci-fi genre. What is a space Western? We invite raygun-slinger and After Moses sci-fi Western author Michael F. Kane to ride into the studio. Episode sponsors Audio-Epic.com: “1232” dramatic audio podcast Realm Makers Expo 2025 Sunrise Publishing: Lord of Winter by Jill...

What if you woke up in a crumbling mountain castle with the beast of your nightmares? Then discovered this kindly dragon speaks like a man and reads books? And, whether literary or not, how would such a dragon—the mascot of traditional fantasy—fare in a battle against spaceships? That’s the burning question behind this week’s book “battle” between E. Stephen Burnett as well as Rachelle Nelson, author of the new Enclave release Embergold. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Embergold by Rachel...

The planet Mars. Named after the Roman/Greek god of war. Fourth from our sun. A frigid desert, with gravity 38 percent Earthen level, and many secrets lurking in its frozen rock. This world looms large in the public imagination, thanks in part to the many fantastical stories orbiting this alien land. From princesses and Tharks, to inspiration for Arrakis, and from high fantasy and hard sci-fi, how and why does this crimson circle shine bright in our skies? Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: ...

The fight for the Space Mission begins in his homeworld. Brock Rivers never wanted to be a repairman on Mars. Years ago, he failed to protect his family, and now he labors across a frontier planet to keep his children alive and escape CAUSE. Now he is summoned back to Earth for an impossible dream: to resist CAUSE, confront the secret adversaries among his own people, and to restore gospel missions in the 22nd century, Above the Circle of Earth. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Above the C...

For all the years we’ve kept up with Christian-made fiction, many authors have hoped to “cross over.” They don’t want to reach only readers who are Christians. Instead, they also want to influence unbelievers. This is a great goal, to be sure. But when may our pictures of “unbelievers” not match with reality? And just within the last few years, has the “general audience” shifted so gradually that they might enjoy more overt Christian-made fiction? Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Above the...

We love Christ’s church. But sometimes really faithful Christians just don’t know how to story. Alas, that starts with the Book of books. Folks like to read God’s written word with axes and shovels to chop out blocks for building propositional doctrine. Other readers feel they need to read the Bible with magnifying glasses and tweezers so we can extract the shiny ore of valuable virtues to enrich our own lives. What might we miss if we treat the Bible like this? Why should we instead see Scriptu...

Once there was a fairly popular genre called Fantasy. He was well-known, great with kids, friendly with young men and women. But he wasn’t nearly as popular as the top-selling genre ever—Romance. Romance was everywhere. She was especially popular with female readers, who were carrying Romance everywhere. Fantasy began to grow jealous. But then something happened. Fantasy and Romance fell in love. And so they got a ship name: romantasy. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Truth Cursed by Angie...

After her fairy godmother’s magic act, Cinderella carefully slips her feet into—a set of fine glass seven-league boots.[1. Photo by Tim Rebkavets on Unsplash.] She clicks her heels three times and is whisked away to the land of Oz. Meanwhile, a beautiful princess flees from the prophecy of a deadly spindle. She discovers the house of seven dwarves, where she must hide from a wicked witch along with the witch’s evil sidekick, Rumplestiltskin. What are fairy tale retellings? How do they reenchant ...

Every week, at least a dozen new Christian-made fantastical novels arrive from aspiring authors. Now that fan demand might finally grow to meet this supply, it seems daunting to find the best of these stories. Today, learn how Lorehaven is curating the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond—with this flagship podcast and our new upgraded Library book search! Share this episode to enter our next drawing Stephen is giving away one signed ARC (a paperback prototype), for Above the Circle...

Once there was a family of three geeky little bears who decided to read this strange new genre called science fiction. The first reader, the traditional and wise Papa Bear, opened his 600-page hardcover showing rivets on the cover, read two chapters, then rumbled approval. “This science fiction is hard!” said he. The second reader, the curious and considerate Mama Bear, opened her 220-page paperback that featured rocket ships in the background behind a swooning couple, then read only a few pages...

What if the future king’s squire and a struggling songstress teamed up to solve a medieval murder? Jill Williamson debuted her first fantasy, By Darkness Hid, in April 2009. Since then she’s written many dozens of books across fantasy, sci-fi, and teen-spy genres. Now she is returning to the Blood of Kings world for Squire of Truth, released last week, and joins our podcast. Share this episode and win a copy! Sunrise Publishing is giving away two physical copies of Squire of Truth. Then you’ll...

Happy New Year! As we launch this podcast’s 2025 season, we look back at a website with a legacy that predates Lorehaven. Way back in 2006, several Christian fantasy creators started a team “blog” called Speculative Faith. Let’s look back on that project that led to thousands of great articles from dozens of creators, and then later grew into the Lorehaven mission and this podcast. Episode sponsors Enclave Publishing: Memoria by J. J. Fischer Garden of Mysteries: A Dragon Slayer Bible Story by...

Merry Twelve Days of Christmas Season! After last week’s break, we return with our first New Year’s Eve special. Which top ten Fantastical Truth episodes and Lorehaven.com articles did readers love most in the last year? We’ll survey all of these, and give fun updates, to close our 2024 season. Mission update Christian-Made Stories Got Even Better in 2024, Jenneth Dyck Later this week: new Onscreen articles from Parker J. Cole Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild Episo...

What’s the most annoying slogan from Christian critics of fantasy? That may be, “We’re not meant to enjoy stories; instead we must Preach the Gospel.” But what may be the second most annoying slogan about Christian fantasy? One surely is, “We don’t need newer stories if we have Lewis and Tolkien.” How then can we as fans respond with grace to Lewis-and-Tolkien-Onlyism? Episode sponsors Audio-Epic.com: “1232” podcast E. Stephen Burnett: Above the Circle of Earth Lorehaven: share the Fantastical...