Leaps of Faith [Paperback]

Karina Fabian (Editor), Robert Fabian (Editor), Simon Morden (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1934284106 | ISBN-13: 978-1934284100

Leaps of Faith is an anthology of inspirational science fiction. The 15 short stories cover the entire spectrum of the genre, from time travel to space exploration; hard sci-fi to alien encounters. For the first time in print, Leaps of Faith was originally published as an e-book that was a 2004 EPPIE award finalist.The talented group of authors come from backgrounds as varied as the stories: a rocket scientist, a Lt. Col.(USAF), professors of English and Physics, a minister, and a 5-time EPPIE winner. The stories in Leaps of Faith strive to show the positive relationship between science and religion and were compiled by the talented Karina and Robert Fabian.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Again and again I marveled at the creativity behind the far-flung worlds contained within these pages... Do yourself a favour and let these unusual stories expand the horizons of your soul.
----Grace Bridges, gracebridges.blogspot.com/

Seldom does a book come along like Leaps Of Faith, where science fiction is blended with Christianity to produce excellent stories to inspire and enjoy. Two Thumbs Up --midwestbookreview.com/rbw/jan_03.htm

5 out of 5 Stars from Scribes World Reviews! "Karina and Robert Fabian merge science and faith in an anthology of fifteen Christian science fiction stories that ignites our imaginations."  --Scribes World Reviews

From the Author

I'm writing this seven years and seven books after Leaps of Faith came out.  Leaps was my first published book (aside from some craft books), and mine and my husband's first anthology.  I'm thrilled at the opportunities it opened up for me, because truly, it has helped define my career.

Leaps of Faith started on a date.  My husband, Rob, and I have always been good communicators, so I wanted to do something different on our dinner-date.  Rather than talk kids or dreams or relationship, we talked stories.  We wove a fantastic universe where humankind had settled the solar system and the Catholic Church was forging its presence there--including an order of nuns dedicated to search and rescue in outer space. 

Having written some stories, I sought out a chance to get them published, which led me to talk with Kathryn Lively of FrancisIsidore e-press.  She asked me if I'd consider expanding to an anthology of many writers of Christian SF, and I gladly agreed. 

Rob and I had a grand time seeking stories.  We ended up rejecting some real stinkers.  The most memorable were the ones that wanted to clone Jesus to force the Second Coming.  No one was able to pull it off convincingly, alas. We also found some gems--stories we still think about seven years later.  We were thrilled to have some members of SFWA submit, and some of the authors of Leaps went on the write for Infinite Space, Infinite God I and II. When FrancisIsidore shut its doors and Kathryn moved on to different adventures (raising a family and editing for Mundania), we were blessed to find The Writers' Cafe Press, which put it out in print as well as e-book again.

Probably what we're most proud of when it comes to this book is that we focused on an area seldom expolored: religion and science fiction interacting positively, rather than using SF to evangelize (or argue against science) or taking the more common SF approach that science and religion do not mix--or even worse, that human kind needs to outgrow their archaic faith beliefs.

I hope you'll pick up Leaps of Faith.  It's a fun book, no matter what your faith beliefs.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: The Writers Cafe Press (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934284106
• ISBN-13: 978-1934284100
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Short Bio


After being a straight-A student, Karina now cultivates Fs: Family, Faith, Fiction and Fun. From and order of nuns working in space to a down-and-out faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, her stories surprise with their twists of clichés and incorporation of modern day foibles in an otherworld setting. Her quirky twists and crazy characters have won awards, including the INDIE book award for best fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), an EPPIE award for best sci-fi (Infinite Space, Infinite God) and a Mensa Owl for best fiction (World Gathering), and top placer in the Preditor and Editor polls. In May 2010, her writing took a right turn with a devotional, Why God Matters, which she co-wrote with her father. Mrs. Fabian is former President of the Catholic Writer's Guild and also teaches writing and book marketing seminars online.

Her personal marketing efforts have built her a reputation for writing faith-filled fiction and gotten her writing contracts as well as book sales. She recently started a business mentoring authors in marking. You can find her business, Kickstart Marketing, at http://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=24.


Long Bio


"Zaphod--he's just this guy, you know?" Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.


You'd think a writer who not only does fiction but also monthly personality features on total strangers would be able to write her own biography. What subject would she know better, right? But frankly, I don't enjoy writing my bio. My books speak for themselves, and as far as my family life, we're pretty ordinary. Karina--she's just this gal, you know?

I was what seems to be one of those unusually blessed kids who had a stable home with parents who obviously loved each other and my sister and me. We had dogs, cats, hamsters, and fish (never cared much for the fish). We took long family vacations in the camper, where we got to lay on the bed part that hangs over the cab and watch the road go by as my father's wanderlust meant our "Colorado vacation" ended up in Disneyland. I was the class brain, had some but not a lot of friends and a couple of boyfriends. It bothered me in high school; now I know better.

I applied for Harvard, but despite a 4.3 gpa and a dozen extra-curriculars that I was often a leader in, I didn't get accepted. I'm kind of glad for that now. I attended Colorado State University, majored in math, minored in history, joined ROTC, had lots of boyfriends and some friends and graduated with honors and a commission in the Air Force. I loved college. I also wrote my first novel in college, mainly out of spite because the honors SF teacher misunderstood an essay I wrote and gave me a B.

I met the love of my life, Rob, while in Signals Intelligence Officer training in San Angelo, TX. Rob was a space operations officer at the tenant base. Ten days later, I knew I was in love. A month later, we were engaged. A month after that, I got orders to Italy. I decided I would not lose the opportunity of a lifetime (and a dream of living overseas). Rob completely agreed. In June, six months after we met, I boarded a plane to San Vito, Italy. In November, I came back to the US, married Rob, then went back to Italy. We call the first two years of our marriage the "extended honeymoon."

We finagled to get stationed together in Japan. There we had our first two kids, Steven and Amber. When Steven was born, I got out of active duty Air Force and joined the Reserves. I loved the Reserves. I also started writing again.

When we returned to the US, I began writing more seriously, mostly nonfiction, but some fiction. We had two more kids, Alex and Liam. I quit the Reserves while pregnant with Alex because I didn't want to risk getting sent on deployment with little kids at home. It was the right decision, though I kind of miss the work. In 2000, I decided to homeschool the kids. We had some wonderful years doing projects, going places and learning together.

Writing-wise, during that time, I wrote for local newspapers, diocese magazines, national "slicks." I wrote story treatments for the radio. However, right about the time Rob made Lieutenant Colonel, I was getting burned out. My articles were getting sloppy and I wasn't motivated to do them. (I was also trying to balance deadlines with homeschooling.) I decided to quit and concentrate on fiction. I found that old college novel, re-read it, gagged, and re-wrote it into a trilogy. (I should have a contract for that one coming soon.)

I also started Rescue Sisters stories. (Back when the first kids were toddlers, Rob and I decided we didn't want to spend date nights hashing out family and finances. We knew each others' dreams, so we started crafting stories. Together, we created a near-future world in which Man had colonized the solar system, and a group of nuns performed search and rescue operations--the Order of Our Lady of the Rescue, or Rescue Sisters.) The Rescue Sisters stories led to our editing three anthologies: Infinite Space, Infinite God I and II and Leaps of Faith. I'm writing their first novel, Discovery, now.

I learned about a fun anthology called Firestorm of Dragons, and with the help of my family (and the comedy show Whose Line Is It, Anyway?), I dreamed up a cynical noir-style dragon detective. Vern is still my favorite character to write about. I not only have stories in anthologies and for sale on www.dragoneyepi.net, but also have one novel out (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem) and another I'm shopping around.

Although homeschooling was a great experience and helped our family grow closer, it also made me want to tear my hair out. The kids are now attending public school and while I miss all the hours together studying and learning, I also think we're less stressed. It also gives me time for writing and marketing.

Kids get older, lifestyles change and I find we're in need of a little extra spending cash, so I teach classes on marketing books. I also have a newsletter of marketing tasks. You can learn about those by clicking on the Marketing Mentor in the main menu.

Last, but by no means least: Around 2004, I became involved with a group of Catholic authors who wanted to band together and make a group to support to each other, not only in crafting our work, but getting it published and selling it. We created the Catholic Writers' Guild, and somehow I ended up President. I don't know, maybe my high school club leadership days got the best of me. Anyway, I keep getting re-elected. Go figure.

On a more serious note, I am incredibly proud of the Guild and what it has accomplished. In five years, we've incorporated and will be a non-profit soon. We have an active forum where we share news, advice, crits, etc. We have a member newsletter and a marketing newsletter for stores. We attend the Catholic Marketing Network trade show. AND we have two conferences a year: the online conference which is free and the live conference (in conjunction with the CMN trade show.) We have so many ideas for the future--only money and volunteers are slowing us down. It's pretty exciting!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christian Sci-Fi that Everyone Can Enjoy, November 6, 2008

By 

Marvin D. Wilson (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leaps of Faith (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short sci-fi stories using Christian worldviews, themes and messages. The old "Typical christian book" genre is being stretched and it's boundaries are being expanded by authors and editors like Karina and Robert Fabian and the other authors in this book. I like that. I like seeing what is happening to the industry, the way Christian authors are writing "cross-over" books that overlap Christian with other genres, in this case science fiction. I am a Christian myself, and an author who chooses to write books that cannot be pigeonholed into the "for Christians only" category. Who wants to preach to the choir?

The stories are all well written, it is good solid sci-fi from the get to the go. Well edited, attractively packaged, this book is a great read at a bargain price for all that you get. Buy it, no matter what your spiritual beliefs are.

I'm not sure what one other reviewer was complaining about the book being heavily slanted towards Catholicism being the one and only true path. I'm a Maverick, non-religious, dogma-free, non-denominational spiritualist Christian with a background in Zen training and Taoist studies, and I didn't feel like I was being preached at or trying to be converted at all.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful selection of quality science-fiction stories with Christian themes, July 22, 2010

By 

Fred L. Warren (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leaps of Faith (Paperback)

In the secular publishing world, there are entire bookstore racks devoted to science fiction anthologies such as Year's Best SF, Universe, Tangents, and so on. In the harsh wasteland of Christian sci-fi, not so much.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the only anthologies of science fiction short stories written from a Christian perspective (aside from the C.S. Lewis collection, Of Other Worlds) are the ones Robert and Karina Fabian have assembled: Infinite Space, Infinite God, and Leaps of Faith.

Leaps of Faith is a collection of 14 short stories, from a wider faith perspective than the Catholic-focused Infinite Space, Infinite God. There's a good mix of adventure, drama, introspection, and humor, and I found most of the stories both entertaining and thought-provoking. They don't all end cheerily or with every theological conundrum neatly tied up in a bow. As Dr. Simon Morden says in his foreword to the anthology, "Good storytelling isn't safe."

Reviewing all 14 stories individually would be way too tranquilizing, so I'll just hit the high points:

"High Hopes for the Dead" by Alex Lobdell: The collection leads off with a poignant tale of pathfinders in the early days of interstellar travel, their mortality rate so high that the job amounts to a suicide mission. One character's simple act of faith transforms despair into hope for the entire community--then that individual's faith is put to the ultimate test.

Faith and prejudice grapple in "Comprehending it Not," by Cherith Baldry. A priest must choose whether to solemnize the union of a man and an android, a biologically-manufactured woman. Can an artificially-created being have a soul, and if so, what are the implications for religion and society? Similar questions are posed in Susanne Marie Knight's "The Convert," but here the intended union is between a human and a very alien being.

Vincent Malzahn's "Quantum Express" is a chilling little story that speculates on quantum teleportation technology and its implications for the human soul. I won't be stepping into that transporter booth, thank you very much.

"Leap of Faith," the anthology's namesake, co-authored by the Fabians, is a story from their Rescue Sisters universe, in which an order of spacefaring nuns watches over travelers and workers in Earth orbit and beyond. In "Leap of Faith," a young Sister must overcome her fear to accomplish a rescue mission, and we discover that sometimes even miracles need a hand.

Is human history written in stone? Time travel and its possible results are addressed humorously in "Moses Disposes," by Frank C. Gunderloy Jr., and more seriously in Karina Fabian's "Tampering With God's Time."

Martyrdom is the theme of the last two stories. "Sometimes We Lie" is Barton Levinson's gripping tale of an alien convert to Christianity, a master spy who must run a lethal gauntlet for a chance to practice his new religion in peace. In "Lost Rythar," by Colleen Drippe, missionaries attempt to evangelize a lost human colony that has fallen into barbarism. Both stories eloquently communicate the truth that faith is more often and effectively spread through sacrifice than through persuasion.

This is a wonderful selection of quality science-fiction stories with Christian themes, and it's strong evidence that we could use a lot more collections like it.

Yes, I've only covered nine of the stories. You can read the rest yourself.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Take the Leap!, November 13, 2008

By 

Stephen L. Rice - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leaps of Faith (Paperback)

There are many good stories in this anthology; only a few really trouble me. The language is sometimes rough, though I suppose most of it may be heard on an average schoolground. This is probably aimed at teens and above anyway.

It seemed to me that "Comprehending it Not" undermined a proper understanding of humanity, and both it and "The Convert" ignore the imagery behind marriage: two becoming one in a way that has spiritual and theological aspects.

Certain of the stories--most notably "Confirmation," but also to a lesser extent "Quantum Express," for example--seemed to imply that spiritual phenomena are basically just physics at work, while "The Faith Equation" assumes that faith cannot coexist with knowledge. I thought "Sometimes We Lie" reduced Christianity to just a moral philosophy.

However, "High Hopes for the Dead", "The Smile," "God's Gift," "Tampering with God's Time," "Leap of Faith," "The Relics of Venice," and "Lost Rythar" are all very good, and "Quantum Express" and "Sometimes We Lie" (despite my reservations) are worth reading. "Moses Disposes" is a fun read, though as a language geek I found the ultimate point inaccurate.

So seven excellent, two good, one roughly neutral, and four bad. That's pretty good for an anthology.