Fantasy, of course, is a speculative fiction genre where Christian authors have made major --even definitive-- contributions. It's also one that's popular with Christian readers (so it ought to spark some discussion here --I know Jon's quite an avid fantasy fan :-)). It was, I think, C. S. Lewis who said that since in fantasy the writer actually creates a new world, it's a particularly appropriate exercise for beings made in God's image --an act of "sub-creation" that in a way imitates the Creation itself.

Like supernatural fiction, fantasy draws on the sagas, legends and folklore of the past --particularly, in the Western fictional tradition, that of European "Christendom" (though modern fantasy writers often draw on other culture's traditions as well), which was shaped for 1,000 years by the influence of medieval Christianity. The medieval legends of King Arthur --which depicted Dark Ages Britain as, in effect, a fantasy world-- were particularly strong early influences on the genre, and these stressed Christian elements like the quest for the Holy Grail. Those elements are strongly apparent in Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the first novel in English --and also the first fantasy-- and in Spenser's The Faerie Queen (poetry rather than prose fiction, but still relevant here), which is clearly intended as Christian allegory. All of these writings were grist for the mill of the later authors who would follow.

The mood of the Neoclassical period wasn't favorable to fantasy, but it blossomed more in the Romantic period; and one of the 19th-century authors who helped to shape the genre was George MacDonald (Phantastes, etc.) who was a devout Christian and reflected his faith in his work. And the two germinal works of modern fantasy, which popularized the genre and made it a publishing industry staple, were written by Christians: Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series and the Narnia series by Lewis (who was influenced by MacDonald). The Christian elements in the latter are obvious; they're more subtle in the former, but they're present.

A voluminous number of Christian writers today are contributors to the fantasy tradition. My personal favorite is Stephen Lawhead, for works such as In the Hall of the Dragon King and the Song of Albion trilogy (though the latter corpus is very violent in places, and so not for every reader --Lawhead takes moral evil very seriously, both in depicting the mayhem it can willingly inflict, and the violence that may be required to defeat it). If you'd like to discuss any of these writers (or Christian fantasy as a whole), or put in a plug for your own favorite Christian fantasists, this is the thread you've been waiting for! :-)

I'm always on the lookout for the next great fantasy read - especially if it's got a Christian worldview or by a Christian author. You've given me some ideas for authors to try (namely Lawhead).

I recently acquired an audiobook of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur which I will get to eventually.

I have plans to read several of George MacDonald, which are available "free" for download from various ebook publishers like Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks.

Same here. I'm pretty behind on the fantasy books, as I took a long break from fantasy. I would love to read all of the Inklings' work. I am a big CS Lewis fan, and also Madeleine L'Engle. I'd like to read George MacDonald as well.

Haven't read George MacDonald, but I'm a huge fan of Lewis and Tolkien. I'll have to check out MacDonald next.

Regards,

J. J. Hebert
Amazon.com bestselling author of Unconventional
http://www.jjhebert.net

I snagged two Lawhead books today (one in hardcover and one in trade paperback) at my local used book store. Also found a near pristine first edition hardcover (including dust jacket) of my favorite book - The Mirror of Her Dreams (for my permanent collection).

That's awesome, Jon. I love when you find a book you've been wishing for at the ubs.

I love MacDonald, Tolkien, and Lewis. I have devoured almost all of their fantasy work, as well as quite a bit of Stephen Lawhead's. Do you have any recommendations for other authors in that vein? Is there somebody great out there that I have just missed?

There are a lot of Christian authors writing in the fantasy genre today, but I just haven't happened to read most of them; so that hampers me in recommending anything from the contemporary scene. Two names I can suggest in good conscience, though, are Patricia C. Wrede and Karina L. Fabian, both practicing Roman Catholics --although they both write mainly humorous fantasy, not "high" or epic fantasy in the Tolkien mold.

Wrede is one of my favorite fantasists; her work (at least, what I've read) has no explicitly Christian or religious elements, but she writes good, clean, moral fantasy with wholesome messages and no sex or bad language. Her Enchanted Forest series is a landmark of humorous fantasy. Some of the stories in her collection The Book of Enchantments show her serious side; and her novel Caught in Crystal, set in her fantasy world of Lyra, is also a serious work.

Fabian's fantasy is set in a near-future in which our world interacts with Faerie; her novel Magic, Mensa and Mayhem (Swimming Kangaroo Books, 2009) features Vern, a dragon from Faerie who's been bound by a Christian saint to expiate his sins by doing good deeds, and who's now working in our world as a private investigator. :-) I haven't read it yet; but I can recommend her work on the strength of her story "Dragon Eye, P. I." which showcases Vern, and appears in the excellent Dragon Moon Press anthology A Firstorm of Dragons (2008). It's a delightful spoof of the "hard-boiled" noir school of detective fiction in the Hammett/Spillane tradition.

And many Christian authors writing in the fantasy genre period pre-1950 when the then Christian Baptist Bookstores formed the Christian Booksellers Association and applied the label Christian to their very targeted and biblically sanitized brand of fiction. Tolkien are indeed fine examples of two great fantasy authors with Lewis later being accepted into affiliated Christian distribution due to his popularity with that group of readers despite not coming through a fee paying affiliated publisher. CBA wasn't around in his time.

And now we have Anne Rice, also not affiliated though writing from a heavily Catholic world view. Her new title Angel Time just came out. If I could pull away from my writing long enough to read, I'd give this fantasy a go but only because it's Anne Rice. :)

Sky Song Press' recent anthologies of contemporary Christian speculative fiction, Sky Songs: Stories of Spirituality and Speculative Science (2002) and Sky Songs II: Spiritual SF (2005) focus mainly on science fiction; but they do include a few fantasy stories by Christian authors. The best ones, IMO, are "The Summoning of Darkness" and "The Unicorn Cup," by British Anglican author Cherith Baldry, and "The Red Bird" by Canadian writer Douglas Smith. (Smith won the Aurora Award, Canada's equivalent of the Nebula Award, in 2004; and this particular story was a finalist for the same award in 2002.) These are excellent stories, and excellent collections.

Some Christian fantasy works that I haven't read, but which have been favorably reviewed and recommended in Library Journal or Booklist in the past several years --and sometimes compared to Tolkien and Lewis-- include: A Sword for the Immerland King by F. W. Faller (DOXA, 2002); the Legends of the Guardian King series by Karen Hancock; The High House and The False House by James Stoddard; and The Crown of Eden by Thomas Williams (Word Books, 1999). Has anyone read any of these? Also, popular author of fantasy --and other genres-- Mel Odom is a professing Christian, though my impression (again, I haven't read his work) is that like Wrede, the impact of his faith on his writing is subtle, rather than overt and explicit. In the fantasy field, I believe he's best known for The Rover (Tor, 2001) and its sequels, featuring "halfling" librarian Edgewick Lamplighter.

All those sound intriguing Werner. Karen Hancock is with an affiliated publisher though so make sure you like very targeted evangelical fiction before you check that out. If you do then you might also want to check out Donita K Paul's Dragon series. Affiliated authors seem to have wonderful success with their YA fiction as it's easy to stay tame without being extensively boring when writing for this age group.

I love Christian fantasy! I've only read about 60 Christian fantasy books, though. There aren't that many options out there.

I love:

C.S. Lewis
Tolkien
Ted Dekker--futuristic allegorical
Frank Peretti--not strict fantasy...kind of Christian sci-fi.
Tim LeHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (not exactly fantasy. More speculative future rapture stuff).
Karen Hancock
Donita K. Paul
L. B. Graham
Jill Williamson
Joel C. Rosenberg (not exactly fantasy. More like pre-Rapture...kind of the Christian Tom Clancy)
Jeffrey Overstreet
Kathleen Morgan
Stephen Lawhead
Theodore Beale's Summa Elvetica
Wayne Thomas Batson

Chuck Black's Kingdom series is pretty good, though it seems to be for children.

My friend kept insisting to me that i need to check out the Christian fantasy (namely George MacDonald) and I am so glad I finally listened! I am enjoying his books so much (so far I have read The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, and The Light Princess) And they are the type of book that can be read to my young nephew and he would enjoy the adventure while I love the theological implications of the story.

I have also read several Ted Dekker books. The ones that impacted me most were Black and White, and those truly impacted me. They were difficult to read at several points because they struck me close to my heart.

I look forward to checking out Stephen Lawhead once I finish the MacDonald treasury.

I'm a long-time reader and writer of fantasy. I'm a regular participant in the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour, which is a place to learn about good contemporary Christian fantasy!

By far the best I've read since joining that group is the work of Jeffrey Overstreet and George Bryan Polivka. Overstreet's Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight are classic high fantasy with gorgeous writing and subtle treatment of religious themes. Polivka writes pirate fantasy fiction :).

Lawhead's Song of Albion books are fantastic; also check out his treatment of the Arthur and Robin Hood legends. Neither series is strictly fantasy, but both will appeal strongly to fantasy fans.

George MacDonald's Lilith is both strange and incredible. He's a fantastic writer, but emphatically NOT a modern one, so expect very Victorian writing.

You can download my first indie published fantasy novel, Worlds Unseen, or read a 60-page excerpt of the sequel, Burning Light. My Web site is www.rachelstarrthomson.com . I've also blogged a fantasy novel at www.rachelstarrthomson.com/books/taerith... . The first two are classic high fantasy; the third is more understated.

Oh, and although I've yet to read him, Andrew Peterson is causing a lot of buzz. (His work has been compared to Narnia.)I'm really looking forward to reading and reviewing his North! Or Be Eaten.

I hope to read Overstreet's Auralia's Colors The Red Strand this Christmas break. I also have some of Lawhead's novels to peruse. Thanks for the reminder. :)

Thanks for those reading tips, Rachel! Also, thanks for bringing the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour site to our attention. The URL is:

http://csffblogtour.com/

Best wishes with your own writing ministry! Glad to have you as part of our group.

Thanks :). I'm glad to have you found you!