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Light at the Edge of Darkness
Light at the Edge of Darkness is a compilation of 28 short stories, including 3 novelettes that cover the Biblical speculative fiction spectrum from horror and spiritual thriller to sci-fi to fantasy. Headlining the book is Undeniable, a riveting, chilling tale from Canadian horror writer, A.P. Fuchs. When forced to the edge of darkness, there's only one way embrace the Light. Light at the Edge of Darkness tells stories written from a Christian worldview intended to inspire and entertain readers. The showcased Biblical specific fiction sub-genres science fiction, dystopia, cyberpunk, fantasy, time travel, and supernatural. The stories have been organized into subgenres with some versatile authors writing in more than one category. Readers will find the serious, the light, the parody, and the heart-stopping.
- GenresFantasy
376 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published June 1, 2007
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 29, 2013
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 on page 26), 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.
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 on page 26), 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.
February 2, 2015
Looking at the cover of Light at the Edge of Darkness at first glance the reader would have to assume the stories bound between the covers have something in common, something mysterious, even frightful. Yet, in the middle of that cover is the striking shimmering figure of Christ on the Cross, and then the reader would have to ask a second question, tales of hope in a dark place? It stands to reason. Light and Darkness have been clashing since before the Fall of Man, going back to the greatest Fall of all, Lucifer’s rebellion and casting out.
This is a collection of Biblical speculative fiction written by members of the Lost Genre Guild. This collection of tales contains stories ranging from fantasy, sci-fi, all the way to cyberpunk–all written from a Christian world view. The groups main focus is to fill a void on Christian bookstore shelves hopefully to spill over into the secular realm. Will the average sci-fi / fantasy / horror reader shy away from such titles as these? Perhaps, but this is definitely the collection to change that perspective.
The authors of these stories are well crafted word-smiths, who have sharpened their pens and powered-up their word processors to brings some nail biting and chill-bumps to raise the hairs on the back of any reader’s neck. Monsters, you bet, they’re here. Aliens, killers, terrorists, all your thugs and symbols of evil abound to trample down the hopes of those trying to make it out. Though some of the stories border on dark, sinister themes, one has to realize that the true Dark that is out there is more evil and more sinister than what even Hollywood can envision. Some readers may draw offense to this collection, it is your choice. But there are some very good writers here and they have written from a place of hope, a place where the Darkness ends and the Light begins. Dare to venture, dare to walk the walk. There is always Light at the Edge of Darkness.
This is a collection of Biblical speculative fiction written by members of the Lost Genre Guild. This collection of tales contains stories ranging from fantasy, sci-fi, all the way to cyberpunk–all written from a Christian world view. The groups main focus is to fill a void on Christian bookstore shelves hopefully to spill over into the secular realm. Will the average sci-fi / fantasy / horror reader shy away from such titles as these? Perhaps, but this is definitely the collection to change that perspective.
The authors of these stories are well crafted word-smiths, who have sharpened their pens and powered-up their word processors to brings some nail biting and chill-bumps to raise the hairs on the back of any reader’s neck. Monsters, you bet, they’re here. Aliens, killers, terrorists, all your thugs and symbols of evil abound to trample down the hopes of those trying to make it out. Though some of the stories border on dark, sinister themes, one has to realize that the true Dark that is out there is more evil and more sinister than what even Hollywood can envision. Some readers may draw offense to this collection, it is your choice. But there are some very good writers here and they have written from a place of hope, a place where the Darkness ends and the Light begins. Dare to venture, dare to walk the walk. There is always Light at the Edge of Darkness.
April 16, 2007
Found this on a friend's shelf. August of 06 is when I wrote three contributions, not read them. The book's just out now.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews