"Do Catholic writers have a place among the wizards of fantasy and the star ships of science fiction?"


Ms. Sandra Miesel gives us the answer in the May 2009 issue of The Catholic World Report in:


"The Cross and the Stars: Catholics in the field of fantasy and science fiction"


Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975) sold his first SF story in 1919....


Go for it, Sandra!!


"What do Worlds of If have to do with Jerusalem?

"Do Catholic writers have a place among the wizards of fantasy and the star ships of science fiction?

"The very pervasiveness of fantasy and science fiction in today's popular culture worries some Catholics.

"Fantasy might open a path to occultism; science fiction could exalt godless Reason over Faith.

"But Catholics were also part of genre SF from its beginning.

"Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975), explorer of alienness and understanding, sold his first SF story in 1919, before the field had taken shape as a separate publishing category."

NOW: "A Conversation with Catholic SF Writers"

Answers by two Catholic SF authors to questions by CWR / Catholic World Report: Is there such a thing as Catholic / Christian SF?


"Gene Wolfe: Certainly. It's science fiction informed by the Catholic faith.

"John C. Wright: The short answer is no.The long answer is that Christianity is part and parcel of everything a Christian does, whether that entails writing a wonder tale or digging a ditch.

"Science fiction qua science is neutral toward religion in the same sense that science itself is.

"However -- and this however encompasses some magnitude -- however, science fiction stories qua fiction can either be friendly or hostile to our world - view, and can (sometimes with malicious aforethought) seek to undermine it."

"CWR: Should there be Catholic SF?

"Tim Powers: I'd say there should be more, but I don't think you can solicit them -- you have to wait for writers to come up with stories that naturally fit that form.

"John C. Wright: There should be Christian science fiction writers in the same sense that there should be Christian carpenters and Christian shoemakers, who bring glory to St. Crispin and St. Joseph.

"J.R.R. Tolkien is an example of a good Christian writer who was a good writer.

"C.S. Lewis is an example of a good Christian writer who was a good evangelist.

"The two tasks can overlap, but might not."

"CWR: Most Catholic SF be written by Catholics? Or is it simply speculative fiction written, to rephrase Tolkien, by a Trinitarian believer?

"John C. Wright: Any writer will inescapably put his world - view into his work.

"As a science fiction writer, I prefer to be futuristic rather than postmodern.

"By cleaving to the eternal things, I am being ahead of my time."

"CWR: Do you see a connection between your work and your faith? Is there a Catholic element in your writing?

"John C. Wright: There is nothing overtly Christian, or even especially Christian, about my writing, at least not so far.

"Gene Wolfe: Whether or not I think there are Catholic elements in my work, the critics and reviewers surely do.

"I hate to agree with those people, but I think they're right."