"Science Fiction & Fantasy in the Latter-day Saint Tradition"

.

Back when I reviewed the fiction in new issues of Irreantum (here are several examples of my reviews) occasionally editor Angela Hallstrom would send me a note thanking me. Because, and this is true (I now speak from experience), y’generally don’t get much feedback. Maybe if people are angry? No one’s gotten angry enough to write me yet, so maybe not.

Anyway, there’s a new rag on the scene and, like Irreantum in olden times, IT’S AVAILABLE ON PAPER. Incredible.

I got my copies yesterday (one for subscribing, one for contributing) and because I had a cold and my mask was making me sneeze, I sat out on the front steps and read the whole (ish) thing. It was great to just sit and read a fabulous new collection of work, to just enjoy it, and by turning pages no less. Fabulous.

So back to my old ways and let’s review the first issue of Further Light.

Although, before we do, I’d like to point out one smart decision Further Light has made, viz, an utter willingness to reprint stories. So much of the literary scene publishes a story then abandons it, never to be seen again. Good stories can and should be published more than once. That’s been my policy at Irreantum and I’m glad to see Further Light agrees with me. I’ve marked work appearing again rather than anew with a * so you can see what I mean.

“A Center of Gravity for the Realistic” by Liz Busby

Liz’s opening editorial is a rousing call to arms, a bold statement of purpose, and enough to hope this project lasts a decade or more. Who knows, maybe it will outlive us all. It’s dangerous waters, this magazine business, but certainly this one deserves to thrive. (Have you subscribed yet?)

It’s worth mentioning that Liz is the right person at the right moment to take this one—and that she’s collecting a stellar team to make it happen. I wish them luck (because they’ll need it) but I don’t worry (because they’re prepared for the task).

“Opera of the Abyss, Part 1: Murder and the Rue Morgue” by Lee Allred

I’ll admit I skipped this although it might be the piece I was (and remain) most excited to read. I think I might wait for another issue to arrive before I dive into something serialized. But Lee’s great and I have high expectations for this. And the illustrations by Kevin Wasden are excellent.)

“Harmony and the Problem of Evil” by DC Wynters

I also skipped this bit of criticism. I don’t know Brandon Sanderson’s work well and have read very little of it. Given that, I’ve probably already read more criticism on him than I really need to.

“Ivy” by Sadie Marie Hutchings

Love this poem about atonement resolving a fairy-tale problem. It’s very much of the sort of fantasy I’ve come to associate with the Mormon Lit Blitz. (A compliment.)

“Commitment” by Brian K. Lowe*

This story reminded me of a series of stories by Luisa Perkins. Man meets angel on park bench. But here, instead of trying to save the world, this angel has come to end it. Although there is ambiguity in just what “ending” the world might entail. Or haw bad it actually would be. I would have liked to it push past the final ambiguity.

“The Double-Snatcher” by WO Hemsath*

This story’s been making the rounds since first appearing in the Liz-and-Will-edited issue of Irreantum a couple years ago. I didn’t reread it just now, but this is what I said then:

“W. O. Hemsath's story couples the talking woodland creatures I loved in Thornton Burgess stories with the sense of danger we know from Watership Down and a heavy sense of divine threat humming in the background.“

In other words: it’s good.

And because it’s been published three or four times, now maybe you’ll read it?

“The Man Who Came Back from the Lunar Colony” by Orson Scott Card*

The two OSC poems are rather similar to each other, using the language of science fiction to describe particularly Mormon cosmological problems. If you like one, you’ll like the other.

“A Latter-day Saint Reading of CS Lewis’s Perelandra” by Cameron Price

I chose to skip this one too as it’s been so long since I read (started) Perelandra and I own the trilogy and intend to read it one of these days, so…. Why read more about Lewis before it’s necessary?

“The Fallen” by DA Cooper

Two missionaries visit hell and make contact with one of the original fallen. A companion piece to Cooper’s masterful “Talking to Dante in the Spirit World.“

This one’s in irregular rhymed couplets and makes the demon the lead character. Getting inside demons is an act of charity Cooper has pushed on us before and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s possible, if this is your first, it’ll be the one you don’t forget.

“Charity Never Faileth” by Jaleta Clegg*

Very proud to have been the first publisher of this story and its third. I didn’t reread it tonight, but I still dig it, guaranteed.

Jell-O comes in for the kill. What else do you need to know?

“Journey Before Destination, Faith Before Certainty: Experiencing Belief in Wind and Truth” by Liz Busby

So…I can see why they’re actively requesting more submissions of non–Brandon Sanderson criticism.

“Young Hagoth Plays It Safe” by Theric Jepson

I often enjoy reading my own stuff, but by this time I had momentum and wanted to see how far I could get. But this is good, promise.

You’ll note that its title plays off Douglas Adams and that should give you a sense of my aims. If I get around to it, part two is titled (spolier alert) “Young Hagoth Builds a Better Breastplate.”

Illustrated by Maddie Baker:

“Rented Room” by JS Absher*

A great example of what Stan’s good at and how poetry is naturally fantastic.

“Music of the Spirit” by Annaliese Lemmon*

Annaliese always impresses me. She has so many modes. This reminded me of a great story I recently read of another peculiar gift of the Spirit in…The Path and the Gate, maybe? I can’t remember. Anyway, this gift of the Spirit is peculiar and Annaliese puts it to good use asking questions.

Also, watch for Annaliese (rhymes with pizza) in the next issue of Irreantum.

“Why Andor’s Grown-Up Heroes Matter to Faithful Adults” by Alan Hurst*

This essay is brilliant. I hadn’t considered most of what the article is arguing, but Hurst makes a strong argument not only that Andor is good (me, I consider it top tier Star Wars alongside the original trilogy and The Last Jedi), but that it’s engaging with adult themes in ways very little entertainment does these days. Or even imagines it can while remaining “celestial.”

“A Letter from Captain Robert Walton to Joseph Smith” by R. de la Lanza

I was startled by how this reimagining of Frankenstein was interested in completing some of the novel’s loose ends, much as Guillermo del Toro’s recent film did. Fascinating to watch two Mexican artists using Frankenstein to such similar ends simultaneously. Does this mean something??

“From a Spirit to the One Possessed” by Orson Scott Card

Personally, I like the first OSC poem better just because I find possession a dull topic.

Voices from the Dust” by Jeanna Mason Stay

Shoot. Okay. That strange-gifts-of-the-Spirit story I was mentioning above? This one’s even more like it. Maybe I read it in Dialogue…? Germph. I dunno. Anyone, this is light and charming and hopeful, but never silly.

“Grandmother’s Rocking Chair” by Nephi Anderson, with introduction by Kent Larson*

Kent’s been teasing the existence of this story for years. I’m glad to finally read it. Based on his intro, I think I liked it more than Kent did, but I agree that it’s not Nephi’s finest work. (More opinions on Nephi Anderson here. A work of fiction I wrote starring Nephi here.) But it is a time-travel story of the type we know from the late 1800s and Nephi’s is honestly as good as most of them I’ve read. With the added benefit of being shorter. I’m superglad to have my own copy.

“Aslan or Qslan? Insights into Latter-day Saint Cosmology from the Sci-fi/Fantasy Divide” by Jeffrey Thayne and Jacob Ross

I did not expect my favorite piece in Further Light to be nonfiction—and certainly not nonfiction that’s about Star Trek! (Or Narnia, for that matter; I’m a little tired of talking about C.S. Lewis as you may have picked up on above.)

But this isn’t just good literary analysis, it’s powerful theology and explained some of my opinions to myself that I’ve had a hard time understanding. I wish I’d had access to this language when I was teaching seminary. We need to talk about this on Face in Hat…..

It’s worth the subscription just to access this essay when it appears online later in the year.

Subscribe already!

“Death” by Carol Lynn Pearson*

The is the second-oldest reprint, originally appeared in Dialogue back in 1966. I really think early CLP is the most vital CLP, and this interaction with Death is a good example of what she can do.

“The Mothers” by Chanel Earl

This is the sort of poetic prose that Chanel excels at. Whenever I see her name I know I’m about to get something on a different highway than other writers travel on. This one uses the first-person plural (great when used well) and explores motherhood while exploding dimensions. Worth a look. And at three pages, easy to fit into your day.

“The Enemy Has a Body: A Confidential Memo” by Jordan Lake

Look. Liz loves CS Lewis. I get it. And I don’t mind a new take on Screwtape. I really don’t. But the amount of Sanderson and Lewis in this volume proves that they need allyall to submit your brilliant criticism. The next deadline’s the end of this month! Get on it! Send them stuff!

New magazines need not only subbscribers to thrive. They need submitters. So dust off some old poems and fiction or craft some new, and then get it to them. Let’s keep them alive so they can enrich our lives. Takes teamwork. So go fight win.