I have degrees in history and Christian theology, and enjoy science fiction and fantasy stories, whether set on earth, or in other worlds, whether real (other planets of our solar system), hypothetical (possible planets in other galaxies), or imaginary (Narnia, Wonderland). But I like those set in this world best, and value them especially for the insights they give into life, the universe, and everything. As C.S. Lewis once said to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, if we want more of the kind of stories we like, we shall have to write them ourselves. The books I’ve recommended are the kind I like, and I’ve tried to write a few more.
Charles Williams’s books have been described as “supernatural thrillers.” Many later authors have tried to use the theme of a recently-rediscovered ancient holy relic, which various people want to get hold of for good or evil purposes, in this case the Holy Grail or Graal, but few have done it as well as Charles Williams. I’ve read it at least five times, and I also think it has one of the most attention-grabbing opening lines in fiction: “The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.”
"War in Heaven" is a horrific romance, with many mythical creatures present. Instead of creating a unique secondary fantasy world or switching between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his modern world. This allows him to explore the influence of another reality on different characters. The object that guides the supernatural to the natural in this novel is the Holy Grail
I’m KrazeKode; I’m a college student turned author who spent his teenage years reading a lot of web novels, and eventually, I ended up writing some. People liked them enough that I decided I wanted to do it as my job instead of writing boring code for some company, so now I do that instead. I’ve read a lot, and a good chunk of them were cultivation books. I really love this genre and find that it has a lot of potential to explore. It is generally a super fun setting and world and has a very different style and feel compared to most other Western English works, making it quite refreshing.
If Cradle is a refreshing take on cultivation done faithfully and to its pinnacle while bringing a new aesthetic to it, then this book does the opposite and dives right into the heart of the xianxia aesthetic, but it does so in a phenomenal way.
It’s nothing new, per se, but that’s okay because what is there is done really well. Honestly, I don’t have too much to say about this book besides just that you should go read it—it’s great.
He never intended to be a cultivator. The heavens have another plan…
Sen never dreamed of ascension. Such were the aspirations of the rich young nobles, not orphans like him, scraping together a meager living on the streets of Orchard’s Reach.
However, when destiny takes an unexpected turn, Sen finds himself thrust into the role of a cultivator’s disciple. Chosen over the nobles who once looked down on him, he is adopted into a makeshift family of three ancient cultivators, each with a lifetime of knowledge and insights. These old monsters will teach Sen everything they can, from the art…
I am, by training, a philosopher, scientist, and clergyman who has spent 47 years speaking on issues pertaining to God, philosophy, science, and culture at many universities. Since childhood I’ve been fascinated both by nature, as well as by why people do the things they do. As for life experience, I’ve worked in several countries, have been married for more than 44 years, and raised 6 children … all of which have been an enormously valuable arena of learning. All of this has given me a deep conviction that I need to spend my life helping people to think about the things that are most important in life.
I found this book to be a powerful allegory that made me think deeply about the purpose of life and how it can be either wasted or used to result in indescribable benefits for all eternity.
I have read it a couple of times, listened to it on audiobook, and look forward to reading it again—an indication that there is a lot in this book to think about.
C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride from hell to heaven. An extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment, Lewis’s revolutionary idea in the The Great Divorce is that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. Using his extraordinary descriptive powers, Lewis’ The Great Divorce will change the way we think about good and evil.
I’m going to date myself horribly here, but…I’m an old-school fan of the guy in the grey hat. Think Kerr Avon ofBlake’s 7.The guy you could never quite predict. Or Han Solo until about halfway throughThe Empire Strikes Back. Are they going to do the right thing? Are they going to follow their heart? And it’s so satisfying when they do! Of course, it’s equally satisfying when they go right ahead and sucker punch the bad guy, ‘cuz hey—only the good guys give warnings, right?
Personally, I find perfect characters perfectly boring.
Give me a protagonist with a past, whose actions you can’t predict and I’m in heaven. Prosecution’s Protection features a rich cast of characters with dark secrets in their pasts which have marked them in different ways.
Desmond Graves and Remi Archer have both chosen to channel their past darkness into protecting others—they just go about it very differently.
Oh, yeah—and they can’t stand each other at first.
If you enjoy tales of badass heroines protecting their men, this is for you.
After prosecuting attorney Desmond Graves is targeted by an aggressive, violent stalker, Remi Archer is hired to keep him alive, whether he wants it or not. As tempers clash and danger escalates, Desmond and Remi start to grow closer-and so does the stalker. Falling in love among a backdrop of threats, courtroom theatrics and gunfights wasn't part of Remi's plan but Desmond is the exception to her ideas of love. Drawing each other out of their self-imposed isolation and into the eye of danger, they must work together to survive, even if it means putting the other at risk.
I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction and by Biblical Scripture. That may seem dichotomous to some, but not to me. I have a passion for science and for Scripture because both bring understanding about our world from the microcosm to the macrocosm. My writings are a mixture of science and mystery with a science fiction feel and a Christian perspective. I like stories that show how truth arises even from the dark, confusing, and ambiguity of life to help one discover something about God they may not have considered before, and at the same time enjoy a fun, fast-paced, and exciting journey as they read.
One could say there are different stages of heaven. This book talks about how wonderful things will one day be on earth but shows that paradise is not paradise just because the devil doesn’t exist anymore. A plot develops to go against the king who has brought wonderment to the earth. It is the story of how peacefulness meets mankind at its selfish core. There are more Bible quotes that I would think would be necessary to go into a fiction story, but overall it is a good presentation to show what this future world will look like and function.
The sequel to the best-selling Christian fiction series that has sold over 63 million copies!
Reunite with all your favorite characters and see how they fare in this capstone final title of the Left Behind saga.
The horrors of the Tribulation are over, and Jesus Christ has set up his perfect kingdom on earth. Believers all around the world enjoy a newly perfected relationship with their Lord, and the earth itself is transformed. Yet evil still lurks in the hearts of the unbelieving. As the Millennium draws to a close, the final generation of the unrepentant prepares to mount a…
In my career as a medievalist, I’ve been inspired by L. P. Hartley’s maxim that “the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” At the same time, the people who live there are humans like ourselves. So, I’ve always tried to balance the alterity with the universality of the medieval past, asking big questions that bring together a wide range of sources and genres. In my forty years of teaching at Northwestern, I’ve enjoyed watching the impact of medieval texts change with each generation of students as they discover this strange yet immensely generative world.
Have you ever wished you could read the mind of someone you love? Medieval theologians liked to speculate about heaven, but only Dante dared to imagine its social life. I’m especially struck by how he represents telepathy as a celestial way of life. The blessed not only see God; they also see him in one another, so their minds are completely open to each other’s thoughts.
In a realm where envy is impossible, purity of soul enables a spiritual intimacy that models what community might look like in the city of the redeemed.
With his journeys through Hell and Purgatory complete, Dante is at last led by his beloved Beatrice to Paradise. Where his experiences in the Inferno and Purgatorio were arduous and harrowing, this is a journey of comfort, revelation, and, above all, love-both romantic and divine. Robert Hollander is a Dante scholar of unmatched reputation and his wife, Jean, is an accomplished poet. Their verse translation with facing-page Italian combines maximum fidelity to Dante's text with the artistry necessary to reflect the original's virtuosity. They have produced the clearest, most accurate, and most readable translation of the three books of The…
I’m a lifelong fantasy reader who sometimes gets tired of dark, brooding heroes. I love fast-talkers and troublemakers, who can be charming and funny while performing their daring deeds. Think: Antonio Banderas as Zorro or Disney’s fox version of Robin Hood. These characters throw themselves into danger to protect the people they love—often with a wink and a smile. In Curse Painter, a girl with a dark power gets recruited by an outlaw leader, Archer, who brings humor and light into her world when she needs it most. Together, they set out to do good by any means necessary. These five books feature more Robin Hood-like characters to love!
This is the fifth book in the epic Wheel of Time series. You should start with the first book,The Eye of the World, but I’m recommending this one because it’s when Mat Cauthon starts to come into his own as a character. Mat is incorrigible, a gambler and a rascal with a secret heart of bravery and self-sacrifice—not that he’d ever admit it! Mat makes mistakes and puts his foot in his mouth, but you can’t help loving him for it. His growth as a character throughout the series is unmatched, and he’s one of my favorite examples of the charming, flawed ne’er-do-well who ends up saving the day.
The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!
In The Fires of Heaven, the fifth novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time®, four of the most powerful Forsaken band together against the Champion of Light, Rand al’Thor.
Prophesized to defeat the Dark One, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has upset the balance of power across the land. Shaido Aiel are on the march, ravaging everything in their path. The White Tower's Amyrlin has been deposed, turning the Aes Sedai against one another.…
I loved this book
because I had it as a child, and it was never read at
the time.
I only just saw the film version and wanted to read the book. I had no
trouble finding it, and got down to read it.
It is about a detective who, upon hearing
about a murder, gets called out to investigate.
He becomes the next victim and dies. He goes to heaven and, in order to solve his own murder, he returns to
Earth as a dog.
It is refreshing to go
back and read stuff one vaguely remembers, but the details are unclear. I had
remembered something about this as a child, now more clear after seeing the
book and film source
When I drafted the pieces which eventually comprised Melancholic Parables, I had no plan. Only upon arranging them into a collection did I discover that, surprisingly, they shared emotional moods and thematic elements. In other words, I had stumbled into a linked collection. Writing a single big story is no small feat, as is writing small stories which each intrigue and delight in their own right—but to create and arrange multiple small stories so that they aggregate into a big story, one greater than the sum of its parts (in ways sometimes counterintuitive, sometimes virtuosic) is a special storytelling skill which I think these five authors’ work exemplifies.
On my list, this is the only book of poetry, but the emotional journey its linked poems chart makes it perfect for inclusion.
Gilgamesh finds his wild friend Enkidu, loves him, loses him—and is racked by grief. The poems bear us through myriad forms of yearning for a bosom companion who will never come home—a plot of emotions, not events.
A finalist in the Grayson Books Poetry Contest in 2020, the inventively structured book features each poem in English and Spanish on facing pages.
In this bilingual collection of poems, inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh, the king grieves the disappearance of his wild friend Enkidu. Each poem appears in English and Spanish, translated by the author. When you are not talking to me, I conjure you. When I lose my way between campfires, you are with me. When my body wastes away, you are in me. When I want to be somewhere else, you stalk me. A finalist in the 2020 Grayson Books Poetry Contest.
En esta colección bilingüe de poemas, inspirada en la Epopeya de Gilgamesh, el rey llora la partida de…
I love stories that exist within stories. I like to delve into what we think our world is about and discover the layering underneath that reveals complex relationships and real motives behind what characters do and why. One of the most fun things about a book involving conspiracies, like any good mystery, is going back through and reading a second time to see what clues I missed. Did I see this coming in advance? Did my initial perceptions of the characters hold up, or did the twist upend them completely? Should it have been obvious to me, or was it so subtle that only a master detective could’ve picked up on it?
When I think of Heaven, I think about angels, bliss, and no more sorrow. I don’t usually think about political machinations, rivalries between angelic factions, and alliances of convenience with demons. However, in this book, I found that the afterlife isn’t what we necessarily think it is, and I loved that both Heaven and Hell have their own agendas.
Doloriel, an agent of Heaven, navigates a delicate balance of keeping his boss angel happy while not losing his own soul. This task becomes more difficult when he meets a demon consort named Casimira. I found it riveting that he and Casimira discover that their bosses have their own plans, plans that might not always match the images we know of Heaven and Hell.