Christian Speculative Fictions?

[Extollager]

Walter M. Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz -- but don't overlook short stories, too, such as "Crucifixus Etiam," "Conditionally Human," "Dark Benediction," etc. Here is an article on the stories, probably riddled with spoilers:

David N. Samuelson- The Lost Canticles of Walter M. Miller, Jr.

www.depauw.edu

 

[Extollager]

Wasn't Cordwainer Smith a Christian?

 

[Extollager]

Anthony Boucher?

 

[Extollager]

"I am a practicing Catholic, although I don't think that designation would give people much of an idea about what my beliefs are. People tend to have a very limited, stereotyped view of what it means to be a Catholic, images taken from movies or anti Catholic pamphlets; but there is much more to it than that. I know perfectly well, for example, that priests can't walk on water, that they are merely human beings who are trying, often unsuccessfully, to live out a very difficult ideal. But I certainly don't dismiss religious or other mystical forms of speculation out of hand. I read it and try to make my own judgments about it. And in The Book of the New Sun I tried to work out some of the implications of my beliefs." -- Gene Wolfe

https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/wolfe46interview.htm

 

[Extollager]

More on Wolfe:

Neil Gaiman on the most remarkable science fiction work of the past fifty years

There may not be a wrong way to read a book, but if you will indulge me, I will offer advice on how to read the books of Gene Wolfe.

www.the-tls.co.uk

 

[Parson]

I would argue that Canticle for Leibowitz is anything but Christian. The "monks" worship a list! What it does show is how much being a person of faith (in anything ... SIGH!!) can effect the way you interact with the world.

 

[Extollager]

Roger B. Thomas has written a quartet of very-near-future thrillers in which Christians smuggle drugs such as antibiotics to save the lives of people deemed unworthy of further medical investment, try to aid women near motherhood from the state-directed termination of their pregnancies due to "unfit" fetuses, and "kidnap" elderly people slated for (involuntary) "euthanasia" over against a "soft totalitarian" US government. The Michigan locale is rendered carefully and helps the novels to come across as plausible. The author doesn't always make it easy for the reader to keep some of the characters straight.

Roger B. Thomas: books, biography, latest update

Follow Roger B. Thomas and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com's Roger B. Thomas Author Page.

www.amazon.com

 

[Boaz]

In Pirate Freedom, Gene Wolfe explores the reason for the protagonist becoming a Roman Catholic priest. Did he regret a rash youthful decision to serve God or did he become a priest later to atone for his sins?

 

[Extollager]

Tim Powers.

The Powers of Fantastic Fiction | An IgnatiusInsight.com Interview with Tim Powers | September 7, 2005

I haven't read very much by him, but Declare ins one of my favorite works of fiction published in the past 20 years or so.

 

[Extollager]

David Williams's When the English Fall. Loved it.

Hachette Book Group

Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world.

www.workman.com

David Williams – When the English Fall

[easyazon_image align='left' height='333' identifier='1616205229' locale='US' src='https://englewoodreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/51FAoRD6MQL.jpg' tag='douloschristo-20' width='222']What Does it Take to Sustain Community? A Feature Review of

englewoodreview.org

 

[hitmouse]

I would argue that Canticle for Leibowitz is anything but Christian. The "monks" worship a list! What it does show is how much being a person of faith (in anything ... SIGH!!) can effect the way you interact with the world.

Agree.
There is a difference between books with a Christian theme (e.g Narnia) and books which use Christianity as a plot device or as something to comment upon ( E.g. Canticle for Liebowitz, Dark Materials,)This latter group is probably more numerous, but I think the op was asking about the former.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Lewis is definitely relevant but also worth exploring are his letters and extended writing

 

[Toby Frost]

I wonder if the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books by Tad Williams would count. They're set in a fantasy world, but it's clearly analogous to medieval Europe, and the religion is very similar to Christianity. Several of the characters wrestle with issues of faith in the story, chiefly why God could allow their world to be in such trouble.

 

[Justin Swanton]

I would argue that Canticle for Leibowitz is anything but Christian. The "monks" worship a list! What it does show is how much being a person of faith (in anything ... SIGH!!) can effect the way you interact with the world.

I would say it is, but in an external sort of way. The monks preserve the Memorabilia but don't worship them or anything else, reserving that for God. What I did pick up though is that nobody in the novel really has the Christian outlook in their bones though they adhere to Christian doctrines. Miller reminds me a lot of Waugh, also a Catholic convert. But Waugh unlike Miller was able to make just enough of the Catholic outlook his own not to lose hope entirely, which Miller was not.

That's perhaps a confusing thing about Catholicism. You can be a Sunday Catholic and let the Church carry you along all without really imbuing Christian priorities.

 

[Toby Frost]

I always felt that Canticle was about organised religion and churches, rather than Christian teachings.

You can be a Sunday Catholic and let the Church carry you along all without really imbuing Christian priorities.

I suspect that's true about religion in general, but that's getting close to off-topic.

 

[tobl]

I wonder if the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books by Tad Williams would count. They're set in a fantasy world, but it's clearly analogous to medieval Europe, and the religion is very similar to Christianity. Several of the characters wrestle with issues of faith in the story, chiefly why God could allow their world to be in such trouble.

hey if that's the criteria then you have the safehold series by david weber

 

[Joshua Jones]

One of my former professors, Bryan Litfin, wrote a future fantasy trilogy. I must confess I haven't read it yet (it was a WiP when I studied church history and introductory theology under him) but his non-fiction was brilliant. My understanding is he has a historical fiction coming out in October as well, set in 300s Rome. Could well be worth looking into...

 

[Extollager]

Agree.
There is a difference between books with a Christian theme (e.g Narnia) and books which use Christianity as a plot device or as something to comment upon ( E.g. Canticle for Liebowitz, Dark Materials,)This latter group is probably more numerous, but I think the op was asking about the former.

It is quite a while since I read Canticle, but isn't there a key element whereby, in this post-nuclear-devastation era, Miller suggests that the human race is starting over, and children are being born without original sin? That would tend to confirm your view, Hitmouse -- of the novel as taking the second approach. My understanding is that Miller was indeed a Catholic, but in the novel he could be using Catholicism as a plot element for a futuristic story that, in its radicality, is questionable as having a Christian theme. But "Crucifixus Etiam" would be sicnece fiction with a truly Christian theme, as I remember it.

 

[hitmouse]

It is quite a while since I read Canticle, but isn't there a key element whereby, in this post-nuclear-devastation era, Miller suggests that the human race is starting over, and children are being born without original sin? That would tend to confirm your view, Hitmouse -- of the novel as taking the second approach. My understanding is that Miller was indeed a Catholic, but in the novel he could be using Catholicism as a plot element for a futuristic story that, in its radicality, is questionable as having a Christian theme. But "Crucifixus Etiam" would be sicnece fiction with a truly Christian theme, as I remember it.

It has been over 30 years since I the the book so my memory of the detail is probably more sketchy than yours.

 

[TaraRyan]

Do you know of any publishers of christian speculative fictions, especially short ones?
I am interested in reading christian speculative fictions.

I think lorehaven.com has links to some short and long Christian speculative stories.
Enclave Publishing is entirely devoted to Christian scifi and Fantasty

If you like novels, here are a few of my favorite Christian speculative novels by author

Kathy Tyers
Firebird (series) - space opera
Shivering World- scifi

Anna Zogg
The Paradise Protocol (Intergalaxia Series)

Morgan L. Busse
Daughter of Light (series) Fantasy
Tainted- Steampunk

John W. Otte
Numb

Sharon Hink
Hidden Current (series)

There are a ton of great stories but they are hard to find.