#christian fiction

[keepersofthegate]

The Salt and Light Anthology

Hello everyone! It's time to break the news with an exciting announcement! In 2024 Keepers of the Gate hopes to release a Salt and Light anthology.

This means a compilation of works by (PBS voice) Viewers Like You. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to combat human trafficking.

The theme of the collection will be original fairy tales. The ideal tone of the fairy tales is a late 19th-century Art Noveau style such as that of Andersen, Wilde, Louisa May Alcott, or others that treat fairy tales in a slightly longer-form and more descriptive style than, say, Grimm's. (We are not interested in retellings, we want to hear your original stories! They can still have elements of inspiration from classic fairy tales, of course.) The tragic, beautiful, the strange... stories from the POV of a talking animal or an object... a fairy tale doesn't necessarily even have to have magic! Show us what you have come up with.

Submissions are due by March 1 2024. Please declare your intent to submit work by December 1 2023. (ask box is ok for this.) Stories previously published online or written prior to this time CAN be accepted. Ideal length is 5-12K. Not all submissions may be accepted. Please only submit if you are willing to work with us to edit your writing for the anthology.

Email submissions to [email protected] ! Please put "Fairy Tale" somewhere in the subject line.

#salt and light #christblr #writing #creative writing #anthology #short stories #fairy tales #christian fiction #art noveau #keepers of the gate #writeblr

[artist-issues]

How many times do we have to say:

Create characters with strength of virtue, not strength of skills.

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities with the character Lucie Manette, who "does" nothing but love the people around her and extend compassion toward everyone within her sphere of influence. She makes no "choices" that contemporary audiences would award the stupid badge of "giving her agency" to. She doesn't make a speech that saves Charles Darnay's life. She doesn't lead the victims of the French Revolution into a counter-revolt. She doesn't fight off the soldiers that come to take her husband, or beat up Madame Defarge when she threatens her child, or even come up with the escape plan to flee Paris.

She makes none of those kinds of choices. (You know who does? Madame Defarge. But the compare-contrast between those two can wait till another day.)

But she makes these kinds of choices:

She'll give her honest testimony in a trial for a potential traitor to the crown, and demonstrate her compassion and grief for a near-stranger, wearing that vulnerability on her sleeve in front of a huge court of people clamoring for blood.

She'll be compassionate toward Sydney Carton, even though he's rude, careless, and brings a bad attitude into her happy home.

She'll spend the energy of her life making that home happy.

She'll stand for two hours in any weather on the bloody streets of the French Revolution so her husband might have a chance of glimpsing her and getting some comfort from the prison window.

She'll trust the older men in her life when they ask her to.

She'll allow an old woman to care for her and go everywhere she goes, and treat her like a child, as long as it makes the old woman in question happy.

And what, WHAT is the consequence of these kinds of decisions, choices, that some ignorant people call "passive?"

That old woman is allowed to love Lucie Manette so much that she defeats the villainess in the climax of the story, holding Madame Defarge back from getting revenge with sheer strength that comes directly from that love.

Her father is allowed to draw strength from the fact that Lucie believes she can depend on him--because she chooses to let her father take the lead and do the work of saving her husband, Dr. Manette is fully "recalled to life;" he doesn't have to identify as a traumatized, mentally unstable victim anymore, because Lucie is treating him like he can be the hero.

Her husband does see her in the street, and does draw strength from that--just that--instead of losing his mind the way her father, starved for a glimpse of his loved ones, did during his own imprisonment.

Lucie's home is so full of the love and kindness that she fills it with that not only does her father return to remembering who he is after his long imprisonment--but Mr. Lorry, a bachelor with no family, can feel at home with a full life, there. Miss Pross, whose family abandoned and bankrupt her, has a home with a full life, there. Charles Darnay, whose life of riches and pleasure as a Marquis was empty, has a home with a full life, there. In Lucie's home, because she spends her life making it the kind of home others can find rest in.

Sydney Carton, a man whose whole life has been characterized by a LACK of "care" for himself or anyone else, suddenly cares about Lucie. When he thought it was impossible to. And he doesn't care about her because she's pretty. Her beauty was just a source of bitterness for him--one more pleasure he could've had but can't. Until he "saw her with her father," and saw her strength of virtue, of pity, of compassion, of self-sacrificial love--then he felt that she "kindled me, a heap of ashes, into fire." He started caring about life again, where it was associated with her, because she brought to life every good thing. Just by being a woman of good virtue. And we know what that inspiration led him to.

Without Lucie's strength of virtue, and the decisions that naturally came from that, none of the "active" choices other characters made would have happened. Sydney would not have been redeemed. Darnay would not have been saved. Her father never would've been recalled to life. Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry would've had no light or love in their lives. Even Jerry would've had no occasion to learn from his mistakes and resolve to stop abusing his family.

A character like Dickens' Golden Thread, who does what a woman should do, inspires the choices other characters make. That makes her more powerful, in her own way, than the heroes and any decisions they make. Because she's the cause. She's the inspiration. She's the representation of everything good, right, precious, worth fighting for.

Lucie Manette's not the only character like this. Cinderella. The original Disney Jasmine. The original Disney Ariel. Lady Galadriel. Jane Eyre. Amy March.

"Behind every great man is a great woman," indeed! Absolutely! Bravo!

Hang on! Hang on to those kinds of characters. Those a real "strong female" characters. The muses, the inspirations, the reminders of The Greater Good. The people who make fighting the dragons worth it at all. Who cares about fighting the dragon? That's not so great, without her.

Don't forget those kinds of characters! Reading Dickens just makes me desperate for our generation to keep up the reminder: make characters that the next ten generations can learn from: strength of virtue is much more important than silly little strength of skill.

#Dickens #Charles dickens #writing #storytelling #behind every great man is a great woman #strong female characters #strong woman #Lucie Manette #a tale of two cities #classics #writing advice #feminism #feminism is poison #Christianity #Christian fiction #tropes #Sydney carton

[friendrat]

Ok, I need some help. I lost this book like 10 years ago in a fire, and I cannot for the life of me remember *anything* about it. It was a Christian middle grade or YA book. I *think* it was a portal fantasy, but it could have just been an other world fantasy. I think there may have been like shadow people, and the MC had to travel into this dark land/fortress? I'm sorry, I know that isn't a lot to go on! The one thing I can say is that it had a green and black cover. The cover kinda has the same vibes as Shadow Chaser by Jerel Law:

Like to the point that I actually thought that might have been it, but Shadow Chaser was book 3 in a series, and the one I'm looking for was either book 1 or a stand-alone.

Help a girl out? Let me know if you have an idea of what book I'm looking for, or if you know someone who might know feel free to tag them, or share this post... whatever. Thanks!

#reading #reading rat #book recommendations #obscure books #books #christian fiction #christian fantasy #Christian middle grade #Christian ya #help me find this book

[evelynmlewis]

Official announcement post forthcoming, but I just wanted to advance out the word that The Kingdom of Heaven will be entered in the first week of January in to the Realm Makers' awards (or the Realmy's) for the best Christian fiction of 2023, in the Science Fiction category.

There are 2 awards per category, the Judges' Pick, and the Reader's Choice award. For the Judge's Pick, I can enter the book myself for a small fee.

For the Reader's Choice award, the book would have to be nominated by a reader/readers between April 1st and 15th, and then win in voting between May 1 and 15th.

#koh #the kingdom of heaven #salt and light #christian fiction #realm makers

[greater-than-the-sword]

Hey everyone, the ebook for The Kingdom of Heaven is now available from my Ko-fi for $3.50 (before whatever fees Ko-fi imposes, I believe) which is a 30% discount from Amazon. If you've been waiting for the ebook to come down in price, now is your time. You will need the Kindle app.

#salt and light #original work #books #christian fiction #christian sci-fi #dystopia #ebooks

[christian-oc-tag-games]

Do you know if there's a Salt and Light discord server btw? I was recently thinking about making one, but idk if there is one already o3o (I only just found this blog but you seem like the person to ask lol)

hi there! I personally am not the admin of any such group but i joined some

https://discord.gg/rkvprt6a

for example, this is called Creative Christians

it`s for Christians who want to share their writing

I am in another one but I think it's more private so I won't overstep boundaries. but it, too, is for Christians who want to share their writing.

if by your question you meant a server for Christians but not necessarily writing, I'm not sure if there is one. the inklings challenge may also have one? or maybe i'm misremebering. of course, you can always make your own server with your own theme

#asks #salt and light #christian fiction #community ask

[veronicaleighauthor]

Tears In A Bottle

Two posts in one week? I’m on a roll. J/K

Last week, I revised an old story entitled, “Tears In A Bottle.” It was originally published in 2021 at McCoy’s Monthly and maybe five people read it. Special thanks to the five of you who always read my stuff – you’re the best! Unfortunately, in 2022 the publication went defunct and my story was out of print. I considered submitting it out to publications that accept reprints. Unfortunately, many of those don’t pay for reprints. I did a little brainstorming, which means my mind was wandering when I doing dishes or laundry, and decided to republish “Tears in a Bottle” via Kindle Publishing. If this goes well, I may try to publish some of my other out-of-print works. Maybe even one of my novels.

Yeah, I know, I’m not an artist. I’m a writer. But that’s the best I could come up with. Anyway, here’s a little synopsis of the story:

Father Josef Wasilewski is suicidal…until he gets the chance to save a life. Unfortunately for him, he becomes a suspect for a young German soldier’s murder. He – and two friends – must escape Krakow before they are caught. To his surprise, help comes from the most unlikely place.

It’s historical fiction, based in Poland during WWII. If you’re interested and you’re willing to shell out .99 for short story/eBook, you can buy it now. I’ll receive a little royalties from it. Pretty please leave a review, because reviews are love.

Click Here to buy “Tears In A Bottle.”

I hope you like it. Now excuse me while I go run and hide.

#historical fiction #mystery fiction #tears in a bottle #christian fiction #poland #wwii #short stories #short fiction #holocaust

[triple-pupil]

‼️RELIGIOUS THEMES/RELIGION, BIBLICAL DEMONS, BIBLICAL EVENTS INCLUSSION/IDK HOW TO CALL IT BUT AU CUPHEAD X THE OLD TESTAMENT‼️

What if Dice was an angel.

‼️ALSO MULTIPLE EYES, LITTLE MENTION OF WAR AND DEATH‼️

He would be a Cherub, a versatile type of angel with four faces and two pairs of wings.

He can take many jobs, but his role is mainly being a servant of other angels. He always found discomfort on this, but after turning into the first angel to be given free will by Lucifer (Who at the time was the only living creature who had it) he became rebellious and hated being told what to do by others, only serving Lucifer from then on out of respect and gratitude. Working as his assistant and right hand, as well as being a friend and partner who kept The Judge company.

Maybe they even formed a very close bond, because with each other, they didn't have to pretend like they worshipped The Lord more than they loved themselves, among other reasons. (TLDR; Excuse for Devildice).

But then almost all, if not all angels were given free will and that caused differences in opinions, which then led to a war.

And yada yada, people die in wars. Especially the bold or stupid.

Cómic from after said war, resulting on Lucifer's fall.

"So-uh... We got you out of that Ice Cage, right? Well, I basically organized the whole rescue mission so uh... I don't know if you could uh- gimme a prize for it... Maybe some benefit-"

(Meanwhile the Devil just keeps murmuring "The eternal cold" over and over)

"My right hand! Where is he?! Bring him to me! NOW!!"

"Wh- That butler of yours? Dude, he died on the war! Michael killed him!"

"ugh... Uh- Just listen to me, ok? Just a sec-"

(The Devil starts chanting the "Our Father" prayer in Latin)

"Wait, no! Don't enter a prayer fit! You can't pay me while praying!!"

#Maybe I'd do a reblog with Lucifer and more to this AU of an AU #Hopefully this doesn't reach extreme religious people or people sensitive to this #cuphead au #biblical... how do I tag this help #christian fiction #biblical fiction #tw religious themes #maybe idk #tw religious mention #tw religion #Angel King dice #cuphead #king dice #devildice #But just a mention #cherub oc #angel oc #not really but I can't find other tags #My shit #lucifer oc #snake eyes cuphead #Ornias oc #You like my Ornias design? #What if king dice was an angel

[arconinternet]

The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (Book, John Bunyan, 1680)

You can read it here, and watch the trailer for the briefly infamous 2022 film adaptation below.

#internet archive #book #books #john bunyan #christian books #christian movies #christian fiction #christian media #trailer #trailers #movie trailer #film trailer #cw christianity #tw christianity #17th century #1680 #1680s #Youtube

[keepersofthegate]

Reminder that submissions to the Salt and Light anthology / Fairy Tale Anthology will be due on March 1!

Please send them to [email protected] with the word "Fairy Tale" somewhere in the title so I know it's not spam.

Disclaimer: Not every submission may be accepted depending on how well it fits the theme, space, and other factors.

#salt and light #christian fiction #keepers of the gate #writing

[l-e-morgan-author]

I posted on both Goodreads and Amazon, but here, too - my review of @evelynmlewis' excellent book The Kingdom of Heaven. It has become my favourite book of the year so far, with engaging characters, beautifully paced plot and gorgeous setting.

It's the best Christian dystopia I have ever read.

I intend to write a more comprehensive review later, but ultimately I read this book in two sittings, so it's somewhat blurred in my mind. I started reading it without particularly high expectations: after the first couple of chapters I was completely hooked. Evelyn M. Lewis does an excellent job of showing different characters, all with flaws and strengths. Alex is such a good character, managing to be honest about how she feels without being unlikeable as a result. There were many times I both laughed and cried at different places. Without putting spoilers in as far as possible, I will say that the significant event that surrounded one of the children in the story was handled excellently well, neither over the top nor pushed out of the way, especially as it wasn't the focus.

Throughout the climax, and the way it seemed to be ending, I was screaming in my head for the obvious solution to be carried out (and then the ending was pulled off even better than I expected). The character who grew on me the most was definitely Cam; I didn't like him very much at the start, but by the end I liked him very much.

Anyway, this book is currently my favourite read of the entire year, and I look forward to eventually acquiring the paperback and rereading. I eagerly await any future books she publishes.

Note that there is some profanity, so it may not be suitable to recommend to teenagers, depending on comfort levels.

#the kingdom of heaven #indie #evelyn m lewis #christian fiction #christianity #indie books

[suzannahnatters]

Flash Fic: The Girl in the Tower

Imagine this: you are a girl, locked in a tower.

Does it matter why? Let’s say your parents made a bargain with a witch—a golden-haired daughter for a bunch of parsley. So now you are the girl in the tower. Your only company (apart from the witch, but her visits are worse than nothing) is a book.

The book is full of stories, all the same. Once upon a time, a girl was cursed by a witch to live alone, until a prince rescued her with a true love’s kiss. They lived happily ever after.

You don’t know what alone means, because you’ve never been anything else. Still, the book insists that true love is the best thing that could possibly happen to a girl.

You put your faith in the book. You make songs about love.

Sometimes, even in the heart of the forest, someone hears your song. You have a marvellous voice, as golden as your hair. The book assures you that handsome princes cannot resist the golden singing of golden girls.

Except that they do.

Some block their ears and hurry away (they think you are a wood-siren, luring them to their doom). Others stop only to tell you your hair is a vanity and so are your songs.

One wishes to behold your face, but the climb is too daunting.

Years pass. You begin to understand what alone means. Alone means that you could gnaw your own flesh if it meant that someone, anyone, would climb your tower.

At last, one day, someone does. He hears your singing, and he doesn’t block his ears. He climbs your golden hair, and says it is glorious.

He says your songs are beautiful. He says he must go, because his true love awaits him at home.

This is a possibility for which the book never prepared you, but it makes perfect sense. Only true love could give a man courage in the face of song, strength to climb a tower, heart to comfort a lonely girl.

You gnaw on your own flesh and you feel tenderly grateful to his true love, whom you have never seen.

He returns. (You never quite believed he would, because why would he, when he has a true love at home?) Alone doesn’t need to be your name, he says. How many years was it since you felt hope? Perhaps, beyond this tower, your own love is waiting for you.

Or perhaps you’ll slip, and the witch will find you out. She’ll blind the prince, cut off your hair and abandon you both in a howling wilderness.

You’ll be free, but you won’t go looking for a love of your own, not yet. You’ll look for him, because he may not be your love, but he's the nearest thing you have. You’ll never rest till you’ve healed his hurts and sent him home.

Imagine this: that after all there are more ways than one to love, and all of them are true.

-----

I wrote this flash fic for the Pilgrim Artists' Festival, a small Christian festival of art, music, and words which runs every year in Tasmania's Huon Valley. The theme for the 2023 festival was "Beauty in the Everyday." One of the most underrated, beautiful things in the world, in my opinion, is platonic friendship between men and women. Like many of us I grew up in a world that believed men and women can't be friends - they can only be sexual partners. As a thirty-something chronically single woman, my friendships with men, even married men, are meaningful and lifegiving to me on a level that I'm not even going to try to be normal about.

The Pilgrim Artists' Festival opens every year for submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, and music from Christian, Nicene-Creed-affirming artists, including children and adults, anywhere in the world. There is a different prompt each year and a 500 word limit on literary entries. There are also dozens of prizes available - check them out and submit here.

Other Pilgrim Artists' Festival flash fic: The Gardens of Hades Strange the Living Final Transmission

#writing #ficlet #my fic #short story #flash fiction #short stories #my books #retellings #short fiction #Pilgrim Artists Festival #christian fiction #christian writers #rapunzel #fairytale retelling

[evelynmlewis]

Entered!

My debut novel "The Kingdom of Heaven" has been entered into the Realm Makers Awards into the Debut and Science Fiction - Dystopia categories!

Find the book here:

#books #indie publishing #indie authors #salt and light #realm makers #christian fiction

[rysaarcher]

How Should Christians Write About... Allegorical Religions?

One of the earliest installments in this series covered how to write about false religions, those that aren’t even real within your world. But today I want to cover the separate issue of how to write about religions that are designed to reflect the truth of who our God is within the context of a fictional world. As always, this is intended to be food-for-thought, not the one proper Continue…

View On WordPress

#Allegory #Christian Fantasy #Christian Fiction #Christianity #Evergreen #HSCWA #Religion #Worldbuilding

[greater-than-the-sword]

Even Better News Everyone!!

The Kingdom of Heaven has populated and is NOW AVAILABLE for pre-order on Barnes & Noble dot com!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-kingdom-of-heaven-evelyn-m-lewis/1143100414?ean=9781960686008

When you order here, the book will be immediately printed and merely wait until the publication date to ship to you. Additionally, since you don’t have to buy a book from Amazon in order to review it on Amazon, it will still be possible to leave reviews on Amazon if the book is ordered through Barnes & Noble. I’m aiming to get 50 reviews on Amazon within 1 month of the publication date.

(Note - unlike my Inkshares pre-order campaign, this one is NOT a crowd funding project and is not conditional. The book is real!)

#barnes and noble #the kingdom of heaven #writing #my writing #books #christian books #christian fiction #science fiction #dystopia #publishing #self publishing #books and reading #salt and light

[christian-oc-tag-games]

As I promised,

New political compass just dropped

On the vertical axis: WISE vs FOOLISH in the Biblical sense

On the horizontal axis: NEUROTYPICAL VS MENTALLY ILL

Examples:

You get the idea I hope

#oc asks and tag games #salt and light #christian fiction #political compass #orientation chart