The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
Around the Web
On Learning to Trust When Vision Isn’t Clear
Maeve Gerboth writes at Grace Table on the struggle to trust when we only see the seeds.
- It’s easy to praise when the fruit is visible, when new buds break through hard soil, and affirmation from others comes in like a rushing wave. It’s easy to praise His name when life is steady, our calling is clear, and the direction of where to go is marked.
But what happens when it all feels wonky?
A Mosaic of Grace
Ann Voskamp meditates on the powerful testimony of survivors.
- Out of an intimate and vulnerable grief that I shared with my mama regarding sexual abuse in the church, I scrawled down raw, pleading words this past week.
I bled my heart and knew the comforting and undeniable close presence of the Holy Spirit.
Here Be Dragons: Mega Fantasy and Sci-Fi Booklist! (All ages)
Redeemed Reader has a booklist for us (with some Story Warren favorites on it)!
- Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Love It or Hate It?
Are you a fantasy or sci-fi junkie? Skip to the fantasy and sci-fi booklist below and start putting books on hold at your local library!
Are you a fantasy or sci-fi skeptic? Think it’s not the genre for you? Don’t want to read any books with magic?
We are here for you, readers! The fantasy and sci-fi booklist below contains lots of books that are technically “fantasy” or “science fiction” but which do not contain magic, made up creatures, maps and castles, or wizards.
4 Keys to Winning the Video Game Battle with Your Family
If you’re a video game family or one that’s pondering getting into the game, Andy Robertson’s piece at GameChurch has good insights on how to move from gaming stress to interactive edification.
- Technology makes promises to parents that it can’t keep. We unbox pristine, special-plastic-smelling gaming tech. The photoshopped ads exude excitement about the worlds we can visit, friends we can make, creativity we can spark and achievements we can collect.
But, reality soon sets in. Subscriptions, additional controllers and must-have games mount up the unforeseen costs. Arguments erupt between siblings over who’s turn it is. Fears nag in the back of our minds over age ratings or the impact of too much screen-time. Worst of all, we paid through the nose to do this to ourselves.
Around the Warren
Driving East
Glenn McCarty drives into the sunrise and listens to what that teaches him.
- I’ve been fortunate the past ten years or so since I started teaching in Bloomfield, New York, my morning commute takes me essentially due east. So, for the first few months of the year and the last few months – those which bookend all those jet-black, western New York mornings after daylight savings time – I’m driving into the sunrise. While some days the road glare gets a bit hard to face, most days driving east into the sunrise provides me with the most breathtaking views, and a steady stream of daily encouragement, more than I’d have anticipated a commute could provide.
Glow Has Moments of Brilliance
Loren Eaton reviews John Palmer Gregg’s YA supernatural thriller, Some Glow Brightly.
- Evangelicals like to say they love the Inklings, that group of Oxford-associated authors who produced lots of narrative-friendly prose during the 1940s. But do something for me, would you? Name as many of them as you can. I suspect that most can readily recall C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and probably a few will cite G.K. Chesterton and Dorothy Sayers (even though those two were only loosely associated). Hardly anyone, though, knows much about Owen Barfield and Hugo Dyson, Robert Havard and Adam Fox, all far more regular members of the group. And then there’s Charles Williams, the Inkling who played William Blake to Lewis’ Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In other words, he was … a bit different. Forget lions and wardrobes. He wrote books with Christian takes on the Tarot, black magic, and succubae. It was Williams I kept thinking about as I read John Palmer Gregg’s young-adult supernatural thriller Some Glow Brightly.
Something to Do with Your Kids
Got a budding musician in your midst? Over at The Spruce, they’ve got some great suggestions for family musical activities to help you strike up the band at home.
And Something to Watch
Willy Wonka seems to really, truly exist. In Wales of all places.
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
Carolyn Clare Givens is a displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her literary cat, Lord Peter Wimsey. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
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