Light at the Edge of Darkness is promoted as an “anthology of biblical speculative
fiction,” a “lost genre” published by The Writers’ Café Press and edited by Cynthia
MacKinnon. In short and upon reading and digesting this work in whole, “Bib-spec-fic”
as it’s referred to here and virtually nowhere else I’ve encountered (hence I believe
the publishers had themselves coined the term, for they knew not what else to call
it), is essentially a fusion of horror, suspense, science fiction, cyberpunk and related
elements written not only by fundamentalist Bible-believing Christians but crafted
with a fundamentalist Christian evangelical agenda. Every tale promises and delivers a
light (in the form of a message or sublime insight centered in biblical morality or
salvation) at the edge of a darkness rooted in often terrifying conflict and bleak
circumstance, where characters are pushed onward through trials and tribulations and
mishap which challenges or shapes their religious convictions and is meant to do the
same for us readers.
Off and on and for the longest time of my pre-professional writing life, my Christian
religious convictions often drove me to saturate this tale and that story with biblical
ideology and ultimately it rarely worked well with the sort of horror I'm heartfeltedly
inclined to write. I received all forms of hell from the finger-pointing judgmental types
that condemned me for my stories’ violent content and dark and supernatural nature,
and most other readers outside the church circle took my stories as too sugarcoated
and preachy. On the other hand, my experience with this always makes my radar
shoot up and zero in on the works of others who attempt this sort of writing. After
all, I’m still a Christian. So typically you’d think I would be an ideal candidate to give a
bright and sparkling review for such an anthology.
I’ll tell you, the writing itself contained within this book is, overall, first-rate, the
storytelling does its job and entertains with crisp characters and situations which are
refreshingly original. Some of the content is outright straight science fiction, notably
such as V.B. Tenery’s court drama Adino, Frank Creed’s satisfying Miracle Micro and
True Freedom, Andrea Graham’s cyber-punkish Frozen Generation, Joseph Ficor’s
amusingly comic Your Average Ordinary Alien. There’s the C.S. Lewis-esque
Fumbleblot’s Task by Deborah Cullins-Smith which plays on the number 13 and which I
at first assumed I wouldn’t like, but I found the simple fable delightful. Elements of
good horror shine particularly in Daniel Weaver’s truly psychedelic Guilty. A.P. Fuch’s
Undeniable is well-told (see my review of his other works here), but alas, I was
constantly questioning the believability of the graphic torture imposed on a Canadian
citizen in China simply for carrying a Bible off the plane and being a Christian. I’m well
aware of persecution of Christians in foreign countries for political and religious
reasons in contemporary times, and there has to be a more deeply-rooted set of
circumstances established early within the story for it to seem plausible to me.
But minor shortcomings here and there in the anthology did not lessen the overall
enjoyment of my read, and I praise each author for their uniqueness and voice and
superior storytelling skills.
The only real problem I have with Light at the Edge of Darkness is it drips with a
Christian message that oftentimes seems forced and preachy…..criticism which sounds
all too familiar to me in yesteryear days . . . but I usually hunger for something raw in
my reading life, with no predetermined guidelines of how a writer should write with or
without religious conviction, where some stories are spawned out of pure primal
release with no need to convey any particular message. The same message in every
story of a 384-page anthology can become so redundant it takes away from its true
potential as an enjoyable read marketable to the reading masses. On the other hand,
the consistency in its common themes makes for a uniformed anthology presentation
when it comes down to it all, and to this business of biblical speculative fiction.
Nicholas Grabowsky, author of Hallowe'en IV
Note: Grabowsky's review can also be found on his site: Downwarden
fiction,” a “lost genre” published by The Writers’ Café Press and edited by Cynthia
MacKinnon. In short and upon reading and digesting this work in whole, “Bib-spec-fic”
as it’s referred to here and virtually nowhere else I’ve encountered (hence I believe
the publishers had themselves coined the term, for they knew not what else to call
it), is essentially a fusion of horror, suspense, science fiction, cyberpunk and related
elements written not only by fundamentalist Bible-believing Christians but crafted
with a fundamentalist Christian evangelical agenda. Every tale promises and delivers a
light (in the form of a message or sublime insight centered in biblical morality or
salvation) at the edge of a darkness rooted in often terrifying conflict and bleak
circumstance, where characters are pushed onward through trials and tribulations and
mishap which challenges or shapes their religious convictions and is meant to do the
same for us readers.
Off and on and for the longest time of my pre-professional writing life, my Christian
religious convictions often drove me to saturate this tale and that story with biblical
ideology and ultimately it rarely worked well with the sort of horror I'm heartfeltedly
inclined to write. I received all forms of hell from the finger-pointing judgmental types
that condemned me for my stories’ violent content and dark and supernatural nature,
and most other readers outside the church circle took my stories as too sugarcoated
and preachy. On the other hand, my experience with this always makes my radar
shoot up and zero in on the works of others who attempt this sort of writing. After
all, I’m still a Christian. So typically you’d think I would be an ideal candidate to give a
bright and sparkling review for such an anthology.
I’ll tell you, the writing itself contained within this book is, overall, first-rate, the
storytelling does its job and entertains with crisp characters and situations which are
refreshingly original. Some of the content is outright straight science fiction, notably
such as V.B. Tenery’s court drama Adino, Frank Creed’s satisfying Miracle Micro and
True Freedom, Andrea Graham’s cyber-punkish Frozen Generation, Joseph Ficor’s
amusingly comic Your Average Ordinary Alien. There’s the C.S. Lewis-esque
Fumbleblot’s Task by Deborah Cullins-Smith which plays on the number 13 and which I
at first assumed I wouldn’t like, but I found the simple fable delightful. Elements of
good horror shine particularly in Daniel Weaver’s truly psychedelic Guilty. A.P. Fuch’s
Undeniable is well-told (see my review of his other works here), but alas, I was
constantly questioning the believability of the graphic torture imposed on a Canadian
citizen in China simply for carrying a Bible off the plane and being a Christian. I’m well
aware of persecution of Christians in foreign countries for political and religious
reasons in contemporary times, and there has to be a more deeply-rooted set of
circumstances established early within the story for it to seem plausible to me.
But minor shortcomings here and there in the anthology did not lessen the overall
enjoyment of my read, and I praise each author for their uniqueness and voice and
superior storytelling skills.
The only real problem I have with Light at the Edge of Darkness is it drips with a
Christian message that oftentimes seems forced and preachy…..criticism which sounds
all too familiar to me in yesteryear days . . . but I usually hunger for something raw in
my reading life, with no predetermined guidelines of how a writer should write with or
without religious conviction, where some stories are spawned out of pure primal
release with no need to convey any particular message. The same message in every
story of a 384-page anthology can become so redundant it takes away from its true
potential as an enjoyable read marketable to the reading masses. On the other hand,
the consistency in its common themes makes for a uniformed anthology presentation
when it comes down to it all, and to this business of biblical speculative fiction.
Nicholas Grabowsky, author of Hallowe'en IV
Note: Grabowsky's review can also be found on his site: Downwarden
| I praise each author for their uniqueness and voice and superior storytelling skills. |
