Episode Details

Let’s bust a myth today. Among some Christians eager to engage stories in the real world, it’s a big myth: Long ago, Christians and publishing companies lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when evangelicals got fearful and/or legalistic, so they chose to leave the big publishers and start their own Christian publishers. Only the coming Avatar of Christian Creativity, master of all fantastic fiction elements, can save the world. (Because he isn’t a Christian author, he’s just an author who happens to be a Christian!) Our next guest, Christian creative pro and novel marketer Thomas Umstattd Jr., helps explain why Christian fans (and Christian creators) need to fix this fantasy with reality.

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Episode sponsors

1. Johanna Frank’s novel The Gatekeeper’s Descendants
2. Lorehaven Guild: new Book Quest for H. L. Burke’s Power On
3. See all podcast sponsors

Special update

• Pray for the family of Lani Forbes, who is now with Jesus, healed of cancer.
• Lorehaven news post: Pray for the Family of Lani Forbes, Feb. 3, 2022
• Fantastical Truth episode 75: What If Only Human Blood and Sacrifice Could Save Your Empire? | The Seventh Sun with Lani Forbes
• The Seventh Sun review

Concession stand

1. This episode glimpses behind the scenes of Christian professional creativity.
2. We’re not a Christian publishing show. Thomas Umstattd Jr. already has that!
3. We’re also not a novel marketing show. Again, Thomas runs that podcast.
4. However, it’s important to know these books’ fairly recent historical origin.
5. See Thomas’s interview with Les Stobbe, and our talk with Daniel Silliman.
6. We also need to bust myths (including some legalism) among Christians.
7. To appreciate Christian-made fiction, we need to engage the real world.
8. So we must reject sentimental myths about general and Christian markets.
9. Do some Christians fear the world? Sure. But don’t project that everywhere.
10. Finally, we might speculate on critics’ motives, but as gently as possible.

Introducing Thomas Umstattd Jr.

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