The Book Lightwalker Files

Most people assume that “fantasy” refers to medieval tales involving wizards, dragons, elves, and so on. It’s true this is fantasy, of course, but I see the genre as a much broader field, encompassing all kinds of speculative fiction. It also includes space travel, time travel, horror, and superheroes; medieval fantasy is only one more subgenre to add to the list.

My friend Janalyn Voigt is cooperating with the same publishing company that will republish my own Savage Worlds, so I feel a special bond with her. In her self-bio, she says she “writes novel adventures kissed by romance. Her publication credits include Focus on the Family, Scripture Press and Pentecostal Evangel. Janalyn is affiliated with ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and NCWA (Northwest Christian Writers Association).” Janalyn will explain how allegorical medieval tales work into the broad Gospel message.

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As a writer, some would say I do everything “wrong.” I plot in advance, work without music and edit as I write.  And then there’s my subject matter. I author “novel books” that don’t adhere to a generic formula or follow genre restrictions. My stories contain elements of allegorical fantasy, suspense, adventure, romance and history in various combinations. 

Tales of Faeraven, my debut fantasy trilogy, begins with DawnSinger, scheduled for release with Port Yonder Press in Fall, 2011. With quests, portents and a world-shaking struggle of good against evil, DawnSinger fits into the epic fantasy genre. However, it also contains elements of suspense, an edgy romance, and the flavor of 13th-Century Europe. Existing castles, many of them in Wales, served as models for settings in my story, and I studied medieval siege warfare as background for several scenes in DawnKing and Wayfarer, books two and three.

Some would tell me that writing allegory is “wrong.” Of course, the New Testament is full of allegorical stories told by Jesus Christ.  We call them “parables.”  He told them so the unenlightened would hear but not understand the truth given in the stories unless their hearts were enlightened. The words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke makes this clear: ”His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand”’” (Luke 8:9-10). 

Allegorical fantasy does the same thing. As an example, both believers in Christ and those who don’t profess Him love The Lord of the Rings. A Christian will understand the terrible attraction of the Ring as a symbol for sin. A non-Christian might only see the Ring as representative of the classic struggle of man against himself.  And yet, the truth is there in plain sight for whoever has an eye to see and an ear to hear.

Why didn’t Jesus just come right out and call a spade a spade? Why speak in riddles? I think it’s because He wants us to come to Him with our hearts and not our intellect. The truth of the parables opens at once to those who enthrone Jesus in their hearts but is hidden from non-believers. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 1:19).

I don’t think I can write without allegory, anyway. It shows up by itself. I sometimes wonder if Tolkien, like me, discovered much of the symbolism and allegory in his stories only after writing them.  These subtle fragrances in my writing captivate me when I come upon them, unawares. For instance, I had no idea until partway through writing DawnSinger that my heroine, Nalyn, represents the Church.  I’d drawn her as a beautiful, willful child on the verge of maturity. In one scene she actually falls asleep in the Place of Prayer. Some would find certain parables in my depiction of Nalyn. However, like Tolkien, I want only to engage readers in an adventure – not drum home a sermon.

Spreil, the hero of DawnSinger, must decide whether to rule and reign in his homeland or lay his life down in order to serve the High King.  His decision parallels a similar choice faced by every person – whether or not to surrender everything and serve God.

Among other perils, Spreil and Nalyn encounter flesh-eating birds of prey (demons), a mesmerizing Smallwood (the flesh), and blood-sucking waevens (addiction). In an ancient stronghold and place of defeat, they face the wraiths of their own regrets.  In the hope of reaching the Gate of Life within the Cavern of Death before the DayStar completes its arc of the sky, they endure many trials.  If they fail, the hearts and minds of all who inhabit Elderland will become darkened. If they succeed, salvation will come to those who will receive it.

C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia also had an influence on me.  Vicariously visiting Narnia both broadened my horizons and endowed me with a sense of wonder. Anything might happen there – and did. The writings of Tolkien and Lewis inspired my own creativity. Of the two, my work is more like Lewis’s in the simplicity of its allegory and Tolkien’s in the complexity of its world. Others most often liken my writing style to Anne McCaffrey’s. I don’t imitate any of them, though. I have my own unique “voice” and my own stories to tell.

Sometimes I wish I could be more of a mainstream author. At those times I remind myself it’s important to be myself.  Yes, it takes faith to author Christian allegorical fantasy and, in my case, books that don’t fit neatly into any genre. But if I don’t write the stories that whisper within me, no one else will.

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Thank you, Janalyn. I have to admit admiring Christian authors like Lewis and Tolkien, John Bunyan who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, and now Janalyn Voigt. Perhaps she’s right; they didn’t set out to be allegorical, it simply worked that way. Even in the science fiction I write, symbolism has a way of sneaking in where I least expect it.

Like other spaceships, the houseship Saternis consists of the bridge, the living quarters, and the stern where the engine is located. The engine provides the thrust, the impetus to move forward, just as our spirit moves us forward into whatever field we’re passionate about. When we’re guided by the Holy Spirit, as Janalyn and I are, it’s like an additional dilithium crystal in our engine (to mention a strictly Star Trek device).

To emphasize the spiritual aspects, the Lord inspired me to invent a misty fuel native to planet Zorane. Combined with the solarity drawn from all around, it gives the Saternis all the thrust she needs. This can be compared with the spiritual light of the Bible that impels us to write powerful prose about the Gospel.

The bridge is where command decisions take place. All the main functions are located there, making it the brain, the center of analysis, the soul. Navigation (the Bible) plots which direction we should go, the helm (reason) guides us there, the sensors (discernment) detect any threat to the ship and analyze what they find, and communications (prayer) keep us in contact with Fleet Control (God).

Behind this action sits the captain, in the civilian sense of the word. Captain Riegel represents Jesus Christ, giving commands and making decisions according to God’s will. If we love our Captain and respect Him, we will do whatever He says (John 14:15). In the military, the captain is always to go down with his ship, which speaks of self-sacrifice to ensure his crew makes it to safety.

Between the bridge and the stern is the midships, where the crew lives, plays, relaxes, and fellowships, everything needful for the body. I call my crew a clannet, and each member is known as a claneteer. This is a “family” of space explorers—actually a family of families, representing us as brothers and sisters in Christ. There may be internal conflicts, but essentially we are united in a common belief system and common goals.

Every ship needs protection from outside forces, and the houseship Saternis is no exception. I call them protector shields which absorb impacts and empower the engines, as opposed to deflector shields which repel. We are to “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). For self-defense, the Saternis also has enerbeams which subdue but don’t kill. This shows the Christian ideal to quench opposition rather than destroy it.

All these parallels occurred to me after I wrote them into my stories. Though my work is not strictly allegorical like Janalyn’s, God’s symbology still shows through.

MORE ABOUT JANALYN

If you want to see more of Janalyn’s writing, she has a strong Internet presence with her own website, three blog sites (Notes from the Edge, Author Haven, and Book Readers Central), and can be found on Twitter, Linked-in, Goodreads, Shelfari, and Facebook. She also has a special Facebook account for her series Tales of Faeraven.