Christian SF/Fantasy Recommended Reading

Roger J Carlson · Jul 21, 2006

Here is an interesting site which identifies "Christian-friendly" Fantasy and Science Fiction.

http://www.spectacle.org/396/scifi/pavlac2.html

C. L. Richardson · Jul 27, 2006

Awesome. Thanks for sharing that.

Soyarma · Jul 29, 2006

That's a pretty good list. I've read a good portion of those, going to have to look into some of the others. Authors I can't go without mentioning are:

Terry Brooks - Anything in his 'Knight of the Word' Series: Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East. He seems to have taken a much more spiritual turn with his later works, most of the make mention of the battle between the Word and the Void.

Karen Hancock - Arena (Great SF story), and her Legends of the Guardian-King series: The Light of Edion, The Shadow Within, The Shadow over Kiriath.

Stephen R. Lawhead - Anything of his. He's like the Paul of SF, F and Historical Fiction. If he wrote it, its in. Some of his notable series are: The Dragon King Saga, Empryion Series, The Pendragon Cycle (#1 Arthurian Legend), The Celtic Crusades and several other books following historical individuals. He's also the world's leading authority on Celtic Mythology so his celtic stories are very acurate.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Could a list mention C.S. Lewis and not mention Tolkien? The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Silmarillion are all must reads (though many people find the Silmrillion to be a must hate).

Nateskate · Jul 29, 2006

Soyarma said:
That's a pretty good list. I've read a good portion of those, going to have to look into some of the others. Authors I can't go without mentioning are:

Terry Brooks - Anything in his 'Knight of the Word' Series: Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East. He seems to have taken a much more spiritual turn with his later works, most of the make mention of the battle between the Word and the Void.

Karen Hancock - Arena (Great SF story), and her Legends of the Guardian-King series: The Light of Edion, The Shadow Within, The Shadow over Kiriath.

Stephen R. Lawhead - Anything of his. He's like the Paul of SF, F and Historical Fiction. If he wrote it, its in. Some of his notable series are: The Dragon King Saga, Empryion Series, The Pendragon Cycle (#1 Arthurian Legend), The Celtic Crusades and several other books following historical individuals. He's also the world's leading authority on Celtic Mythology so his celtic stories are very acurate.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Could a list mention C.S. Lewis and not mention Tolkien? The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Silmarillion are all must reads (though many people find the Silmrillion to be a must hate).

The Silmarillion is one of the greatest stories told, but it's a hard read, especially in the beginning where it is mostly mytho-poetic narrative. And he also uses many names which are exhausting to remember. When I read it a second time (after getting the basic characters) it was so powerful. I once pondered asking permission from the Tolkien Estate to write a "Paraphrased Version" like a paraphrased Bible to make it a bit easier to read. Honestly, if written like a conventional novel, the story is better than Lord of the Rings.

HoosierCowgirl · Jul 29, 2006

Maybe you should check it out, Nate. I have two versions of Pilgrim's Progress -- illustrated paraphrase written about Junior High reading level, and The Real Thing. I would have been so lost if I had not read the paraphrase first!

On the other hand -- maybe there is already some sort of reader's guide out there for book.

bylinebree · Jul 31, 2006

Soyarma said:
Stephen R. Lawhead - Anything of his. He's like the Paul of SF, F and Historical Fiction. If he wrote it, its in. Some of his notable series are: The Dragon King Saga, Empryion Series, The Pendragon Cycle (#1 Arthurian Legend), The Celtic Crusades and several other books following historical individuals. He's also the world's leading authority on Celtic Mythology so his celtic stories are very acurate.
quote]

Ditto on Lawhead, I've read most of his work. Song of Albion...WOW. Latest one was Avalon-The Return of King Arthur. Hope he'll continue this story. I didn't know he was the world's foremost on celtic stuff, either! And his take on Druidism and Christianity is really thought-provoking.

I want to add Kathy Tyers to this list. Her Firebird series is excellent and very, very original in my opinion. She wrote some Star Trek books and her latest is...oh man. I forgot the title! It's about terraforming other worlds and has alot of biology in it, which I like.

Also, Carol Berg's books aren't "Christian" but excellent and clean.
Kathyrn Mackel's Outrider is up there - hope she gets the next one out soon!

Ralph Rinklemann · Aug 3, 2006

Is Bradbury a Christian? I was never sure about that.

I'd add to the list a couple of Lewis books they didn't mention:

Till We Have Faces (was his masterpiece)

The Great Divorce

The Dark Tower (unfinished but a great read as is, and don't listen to any nonsense that he didn't really write it).

George MacDonald:

Lilith

Phantastes

At the Back of the North Wind (written for children but adults love it too)

The Golden Key (a short story also written for children)

Herbert Spencer:

The Faerie Queen

Novalis:

Heinrich von Ofterdingen

ETA Hoffman:

The Devil's Elixirs (actually its not great but it has some great ideas and it contains the earliest reference to a doppelganger I've ever come upon)

James Hogg

Confessions of a Justified Sinner (this also has a doppelganger in it)

Kilmeny (this is a fantasy poem and not a novel but... wow)

bylinebree · Aug 4, 2006

Bradbury - don't know and that wasn't my point. I guess I was not concerned as to whether or not the author was a professing Christian, but if the work is a good recommendation to Christian readers.

What does it mean to everyone else? I hope we don't limit ourselves strictly to "Christian" reading, whatever that exactly is. Would be a severely narrow environment.

Do we believe that God can speak Truth through anyone, even if they don't know it? Hope so. :snoopy:

Roger J Carlson · Aug 4, 2006

The origin post (mine) are secular writers whose writings are Christian friendly. They are not necessarily Christian Writers or even writers who are Christian.

bylinebree · Aug 4, 2006

I thought so, thanks. Discussion, onward!

Christian SF/Fantasy Recommended Reading

Roger J Carlson

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C. L. Richardson

Soyarma

Nateskate

HoosierCowgirl

bylinebree

Still Seeking the Dream

Ralph Rinklemann

bylinebree

Still Seeking the Dream

Roger J Carlson

Moderator In Name Only

bylinebree

Still Seeking the Dream