Christmas and the Slaughter of Innocents

YET AGAIN OUR NATION MOURNS the senseless slaughter of innocents. The news from Sandy Hook Elementary School hits us particularly hard since it comes as we are singing Christmas carols, hanging festive ornaments, baking cookies, and wrapping presents, knowing that the...

Winston Churchill on Personal Libraries

I’M CURRENTLY READING William Manchester’s excellent biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion. Churchill loved books and often wrote about them. In the following quote he expressed my own behavior with regard to my 3,000 volume personal library...

The Making of C.S. Lewis

IF CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING has a patron saint, it is probably C.S. Lewis. The man is revered for both his non-fiction writing and his fiction. His Mere Christianity has been read by millions of devotional readers; his Chronicles of Narnia has thrilled millions of fiction...

Heroines in Fiction

Years ago I met Sherri Wilson Johnson at a writers conference and recently she contacted me with great news — her first published novel was coming out! As we rejoiced together, we decided the debut of her novel would be a perfect opportunity to exchange blog posts —...

What Is Hero Fiction?

HERO FICTION is stories of ordinary people caught up in events far greater than themselves— A family swept up in the vast panorama of American history  (American Family Portrait series)  Ordinary believers who dared to read outlawed English versions of the Bible ...

Why I Tell Hero Stories

Every so often a person comes along who alters the course of your life and you can honestly say, "Had I never met him, I wouldn't be who I am today." For me, Joseph Campbell was such a person. A little background is in order— The summer of '64...