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To Shape a Story is to Shape a Soul
Articles | L.G. McCary, Jan 18, 2021

Author Ted Turnau Finds The Hidden Grace of Pixar’s ‘Soul’
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Introducing Thriller Novelist and New Lorehaven Writer L. G. McCary
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Join Our Jan. 21 Livestream: How Can We ‘Terraform’ the Church to Enjoy Fantastic Fiction?
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How Political Punditry Has Taken Over Christian Popular Subcultures
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TheOneRing.net Reveals Synopsis for Amazon’s Middle-Earth Streaming Series
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One Month Left Until the Realm Makers Virtual Retreat, Feb. 11–13
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Thomas Kinkade Studios Now Making ‘The Mandalorian’ Products
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Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Collides with Itself
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Dishonored Game Tattoo (Not a Communist Symbol) Cameos at the U.S. Capitol Riots
News | Josh Hugo, Jan 7, 2021

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Seed: Judgment, Joshua David
The Rooster and the Raven King, John Paul Tucker
Brimstone 1, Jasom William Karpf
The Horse Queen, Lavay Byrd
King of Aethon, Lavay Byrd
Tales of Elhaanai, Nicole Thomas
Still Small Voice, Allen Brokken
The Guardian, Lavay Byrd
Salvare's Mountain, D. P. Rowell
Fear No Evil, Allen Brokken
Love Costs, E. B. Roshan
Power Unimaginable, Michael J. Harvey
Kingdom Above the Cloud, Maggie Platt
Nomad, R. J. Anderson
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The Eternal Struggle
“Esther Wallace’s novel The Eternal Struggle forms a dark sequel that brings hero and heroine into close fellowship with loss and brutality.” —Lorehaven

Dark is the Night
“Mirriam Neal’s vampire novel Dark is the Night keeps the punches and the fangs rolling.” —Lorehaven

Blood and Bond
“This book is brilliant and engaging, expanding on the series’ world and characters while building its own plot.” —Lorehaven

Mists of Paracosmia
“Stakes are high in this well-written middle-grade fantasy from author Emily Golus.” —Lorehaven

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47. Why Do Some People Long for Escape to a Galactic Community?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 12, 2021

46. Ten Years Later, Why Did ‘Dawn Treader’ Sink the Narnia Movies? | with Rilian of NarniaWeb
Fantastical Truth, Dec 22, 2020

45. How Can a Wingless Piskey Learn to Fly? | The Flight and Flame Trilogy, with R. J. Anderson
Fantastical Truth, Dec 15, 2020

44. How Might Santa Claus Serve in Your Christmas Celebration?
Fantastical Truth, Dec 8, 2020

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The Worldview of Biocentrism–You Are One With The Force
Travis Perry, Jan 14

Who Can Put a Price on Daring Love, Loyalty, and Swordsmanship?
Azalea Dabill, Jan 12

A Scientific Theory of Magic
Travis Perry, Jan 7

Stargate SG-1 Season One–Making Weak Ideas Into a Better Story
Travis Perry, Dec 31

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Explore the book The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ

Does ‘Engaging Popular Culture’ Include Right-Wing Talk Radio?
E. Stephen Burnett, Oct 9

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Feedback: Here’s How My Friends Find Time for All These Popular Shows

After last week’s article, several friends shared how and why they track best-reviewed popular culture.
E. Stephen Burnett on Jan 18, 2019 | No comments |

Last week’s article posed a question: “I Can’t Follow All These Popular Shows and Movies; How Do You People Do It?”

I wasn’t being rhetorical. Instead, I truly wanted to know how this was possible to keep up with so many new, niche, and/or popular shows, especially given the time constraints I often feel just to keep up with the stories and franchises I already enjoy.

Fortunately, several of my friends, via my share of the article on the ol’ Facebook profile, stepped in to explain.

Q. How do you keep up with all these popular shows and movies?

Answer from Scott Garbacz:

Personally, I’m kinda the opposite. I love these lists [of the best movies of 2018] not because I expect to watch everything on them, but because they give me the sort of titles that feed my mind and soul.

I’m already going to watch all the Disney-produced popcorn films, be they great (The Last Jedi, probably Into the Spider-Verse), decent (Infinity War), or okay (Spider-Man Homecoming). I don’t need a list to keep those on my radar.

But films like First Reformed, Calvary, The Innocents, and whatnot feed my soul in a way these popcorn films don’t. But they don’t have a massive multi-million-dollar ad campaign telling me to watch them. So I really appreciate these lists that remind me that these type of movies do exist, are being made, and are worth seeing.

I don’t care that I’m not going to watch all the movies on the list. I just care that the lists are there, to remind me of movies that might be profoundly worth watching. So that when I *do* have time to watch one of these films, I have a place to start.

Answer from Wade Bearden, staff writer and host of Seeing and Believing Podcast at Christ and Pop Culture:

Very rarely will you find someone who is an expert in everything. The great thing about all of these Top Ten lists is that we do get to hear from people who are experts (or at least very knowledgable) in their respective fields or hobbies.

I’m not up to date on 2018 music and have missed many of the popular television shows, so I might not have seen, heard, or even know about some of the best of the year. But it can be helpful for when I have more time to explore.

As a film critic, I have seen most of the big or acclaimed 2018 movies, but there’s always a give and take for that to happen. I have two kids, so to see more movies I have to give up something (and I don’t give up time with them). So I don’t watch cable. I limit the TV shows I watch on a regular basis. I watch a little bit of sports, but not much outside of two teams (and most of the time I watch those games with family). I don’t play video games unless it’s Nintendo with my son. I lose sleep sometimes!

Everyone has their interests and hobbies (and some get paid to write and talk about their interests—which is a bonus). For some it just happens to be movies or music or fantasy novels or etc. Some people watch Daredevil S3. Others watch 5-6 independent or foreign films instead because that’s what they like.

Plus, it’s good to be challenged sometimes. We’ve probably all heard the “eat more vegetables” analogy at least once.1

Answer from Seth T. Hahne, artist, comics creator, writer/founder at GoodOKBad.com:

I think the point of these lists is to give you a place to start when you sit down and think “I wonder what I should watch?” Nobody expects a non-critic/non-connoisseur to see more than one or two on these lists.

Think of it like this. I put out an annual Top 100 graphic novel list, because that’s my thing. I don’t do it to shame readers. I do it to help them. With all the graphic novels I read every year, I still don’t come close to reading everything good that comes out. If that’s the case for me, the person who reads maybe five or ten per year (or less) is going to be overwhelmed by choice.

So I curate a list for them of the best stuff I could find, letting them know: There’s great stuff out there and great stuff for you!

There’s no judgment, just exuberance for good stuff.

For my part, I often think too often about how “much” TV I watch. It’s probably still too much.

But, in comparison to other folks, our watch time could actually be fairly limited.

My wife and I usually view one or two 25-minute stories on weekday evenings. Otherwise, we’ll try one 45-minute story. Then that’s it.

On Friday and/or Saturday nights, we usually try a longer film.

As for movies with theater-exclusive releases, our tastes stay fairly mainstream. The last few limited-release films we saw all related to anime: Your Name and A Silent Voice (both 2017 in the U.S.), and, jumping to a more popular franchise, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018).

High culture.

Otherwise, we simply haven’t the time or motivation to see smaller or more “indie” films. We don’t feel called in that direction. If we did, it would be solely for (what most people define or disregard as) straight entertainment purposes. We couldn’t justify these as any kind of missional strategy.2 In our circles, no one would have heard of these films. And in our immediate “cultures,” if we casually mentioned we had gone to see such-and-such indie film, we would create distance, not neighborly hospitality, between us and other people.

But apart from potential “engaging culture for Christ”–style missional strategies, I simply don’t have a natural interest in some of these of stories. Which would also make these pursuits contrary to my chief purpose: worshiping God through enjoying stories people create.

  1. Edited slightly to add some paragraph breaks. ↩
  2. Whether or not “seeing movies,” popular or indie, counts as a valid missionary strategy is a subject for several more articles. That’s outside my scope here. ↩
E. Stephen Burnett

E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy as well as nonfiction, such as The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ (coauthored with Ted Turnau and Jared Moore, from New Growth Press). Stephen explores biblical truth and fantastic stories as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. He and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, help with foster parenting, and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.

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