The Future of Christian Speculative Fiction

As a member of the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour, I've been working to help shine the light on the growing genre within Christian Fiction, Speculative Fiction. As a long-time science fiction fan - from the moment my parents, (much to my very practical father's dismay), bought my first book set of the original Star Trek novels; an ardent follower of the original Star Wars series, and a voracious reader that simply ate up comic book after comic book, I've always felt a little - well - out of place with some of my fellow believers. When I revealed my love for imaginative fiction, super-heroes, and anything taking place in other realms or beyond our solar system, I always got that strange look, a lift of the eye-brow, and the humoring quip, "Oh. I see."

I'll never forget a book I think my dad made me read when I was an adolescent, lovingly entitled something along the lines of, The Demons in the Toy Box. Wow. What a title, right? Though I'm sure the intent was well meaning, the book took on everything from comic books, Superman, my beloved G.I. Joe action figures, He-Man, and of course Darth Vader and Star Wars. I can't remember who the author was, but personally, I think he was just cranky because he never got that Daisy pump-action air rifle he wanted so badly for Christmas.

Of course, looking for science fiction at your local Christian bookstore was like being a midget and looking for a partner to play in a six foot and over two on two basketball tournament; good luck, shorty. I've already been on lengthy rants about closed-minded submission policies of Christian publishing houses, so I won't go there, but here's the irony - I simply just loved stories that had to do with space adventures, ray guns, super powers, and stuff that was really "out of the box". I always felt like people considered my love for science fiction and comics books as a "bad habit", the sign of someone who needed to "work on their spiritual life", when really my preferences were extensions of the person God created me to be: introspective, thoughtful, philosophical, creative - just loving to kick around "what if?" for fun.