NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/
October 23, 2013
Sanctuary: A "Must" Read!!
A Review of
Pauline Creeden Sanctuary (Alt Wit Press, 2013)
260 pp $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-1491072066
[Advance Reader Copy (ARC)]
Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz
The world of Christian fiction today is quite exciting not only in the ever growing numbers of new authors and stories, but also in the discussions and debates about what Christian fiction means or even whether it should be called Christian fiction: many christians now say that they do not write Christian fiction but that they are christians who write fiction. The publisher of Pauline Creeden's book, the Alt Wit Press, states that it publishes two kinds of fiction -- those which are blatantly evangelistic (altar call books!) and those which are not but which are written from a christian world view. Pauline Creeden's book fits into the latter category, and she wants readers to know this, for which reason the info on her book includes a review by a non-christian who states that he enjoyed the book and did not feel like he was being proselytized. So, when we see the title Sanctuary, we should keep that in mind, lest we regard the book as an evangelistic tract.
The term Sanctuary can be misleading in another way, and this the reader is not made aware of ahead of time, and, in fact, both the material promoting the book as well as the beautiful cover can convey the impression that all Jenny is trying to do is to escape to a safe place. This she does do and this is her main motivation AT FIRST, but afterward she becomes a tough girl and goes on the offensive against the enemy. I am using the term "enemy" advisedly because it is really not clear exactly what they are.
This leads on into a discussion of an important feature of this story, namely that, with a few exceptions, the point of view is that of ordinary people trying to cope in a practical way with the crisis confronting them without knowing just what the ETs are and exactly what effect they are having on the humans they attack. Therefore it is premature to speak of "zombies" or other terms. And it is misleading to use the term "Left Behind" because no Rapture has happened in the story -- Jenny and her pastor and other Christians are on Earth -- they have not been raptured. But there is a similarity in the story with the Left Behind books because some elements of the story are similar to "Tribulation" events prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and such a passage is quoted as a preface to the story. And the story, like those in the LB books, is full of excitement, interesting characters, plot twists, and allusions to or direct references to God and faith. Therefore, I agree with the consensus of reviewers that this is a very good story, but I do not agree with the simplistic assumptions noted.
I learned of Pauline Creeden through the Lost Genre Guild (LGG) email discussion group of Christian writers of speculative fiction, which includes SF, fantasy, horror and supernatural stories. I highly recommend LGG as a way of keeping up with new Christian fiction in these genres and with opportunities to participate in interesting discussions with other writers about all sorts of interesting matters. For info on Pauline Creeden you can visit these websites
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