2008 Preditors and Editors Reader's Poll Finalist for Best Anthology!

Congrats to the contributors! Well done!

What’s your vision of the future?

            In both Christian and mainstream science fiction, either religion or science always seems to take a back seat.  In mainstream SF, religion may be portrayed as something mankind has “outgrown” or that has become as alien as the worlds visited; or only one faith is represented, as if the great tapestry of Judeo-Christian faiths has been bleached into a colorless whole.  By the same token, in Christian fiction, accurate, plausible science may be downplayed to the point of device rather than vital story element.
            Yet, in reality, faith and science have always nurtured each other. Mendel, the father of genetics, was a monk, and some physicists have said the more they delve into quantum mechanics, the more they are convinced in a higher power as Creator.  Where is the SF to reflect the truer relationship between faith and science?
            Here, in Leaps of Faith.
            The 15 stories in Leaps of Faith cover the entire spectrum of the SF genre, showing the positive relationship between science and religion. 

Space Exploration:  In “High Hopes for The Dead,” we see Christian evangelism though faithful example of Luke “High Hopes” Kittery, a member of a band of space explorers for whom every trip is potential suicide.  “Quantum Express” examines the status of one’s soul when the body is destroyed and reassembled through teleportation.    In “God’s Gift,” faith is the key to preventing insanity brought on by a new method of interstellar travel.  “Leaps of Faith” highlights the new industry of space search and rescue though the intrepid nuns of Our Lady of the Rescue.  In “Confirmation,” harvesters of an exotic space fuel suspect they’re harvesting intelligent life--or perhaps the angels themselves. 

Encountering Alien Life:  “Lost in the Translation” chronicles the trials of a monk trying to evangelize to an alien species for which death results in corporeal rebirth.  In “Lost Rythar,” evangelists seek to bring the Word of God to long-forgotten human colonies.  In “Sometimes We Lie,” evangelism takes a bizarre turn when a native born being tries to spread an ancient human faith.  Fr. Wren wonders if a sentient tree-creature can marry into the Catholic Faith in “The Convert,” while Fr. Travener faces persecution by ministering to sentient androids in “Comprehending It Not.”

Hard SF:  An astrophysicist find the face of God in the stars of the universe in “The Smile.”  God is a proven fact in “The Faith Equation,” leaving the question of the role of belief.  “The Relics of Venice” combines genetic engineering and love to create a miracle. 

Time travel:  In “Tampering with God’s Time,” time travelers find they cannot change the timeline, but are themselves change as they encounter Christ personally, while in “Moses Disposes,” King Solomon deliberately uses time travelers to bring the Bible to future generations in an idiom they can understand.