Highlighting Karina Fabian

Welcome to the blog Karina Fabian. This fun, interesting writer has jumped in with both feet to a world that doesn't exist, but might one day. The genre of Christian sci-fi is growing, and with good reason. Its great fun, and it causes the reader (and the writer) to think deeper about their faith.

You'll love this inside look at the mind and work of Karina.

Karina's websites:
http://www.fabianspace.com/: Home site for Karina and all her works, including her e-zine, Faith-Filled Fiction
http://www.dragoneyepi.net/: Home page for Vern, a cynical dragon detective, and his partner the Mage Sister Grace and their many tales
http://www.isigsf.com/: Information about Infinite Space, Infinite God
Myspace: www.myspace.com/karinafabian AND www.myspace.com/dragoneyepi
Shoutlife: www.shoutlife.com/karinafabian


Book Title: Infinite Space, Infinite God
genre: science fiction
tag line: Thought-provoking sci-fi with a Catholic twist
Book site: http://www.isigsf.com/
Order from: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/InfiniteSpace_ss1.html

Synopsis:

Is that religion in my science fiction or science fiction in my religion? The writers of the Catholic SF anthology Infinite Space, Infinite God (available at http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/) have so seamlessly combined the two that it's hard to tell.

Infinite Space, Infinite God features fifteen stories about the future Catholic Church: its struggles to evangelize aliens and lost human colonies and to determine the soul-status of genetically modified humans, genetically-designed chimeras, and clones made from the Martian sand; the adventures of religious orders devoted to protecting interstellar travelers or inner-city priests; and how technical advances allow monks to live in solitude on the Moon and help one criminal learn the true meaning of Confession.

Winner of the 2007 EPPIE for best science fiction and first-runner-up in the Preditor and Editor polls for best anthology of 2007, people of all faiths have found Infinite Space, Infinite God a fun, thought-provoking book with terrific characters and plots that transcend religion.
It’s more than just a great read. With introductions exploring the issues at hand and current Church thinking, Infinite Space, Infinite God is bound to spark discussion and make people think--just as good science fiction should.


Why I write sci-fi: First, because it's fun. I love to read it and I love to watch it. What I enjoy, even more than the technogadgets, are the ideas you can explore. Science fiction takes trends and pushes them to extremes, plays with concepts, and influences the future even as it dreams. Also, since sci-fi takes place in the future--or another dimension, another planet, alternate history....--you can write about things that aren't possible in literary fiction without people putting up defenses because "That's not how people are!"
Why religious sci-fi? For too long, science fiction imagined a future where humankind had "outgrown" religion, if it was mentioned at all. That, I think, is unrealistic. Plus, the interaction of faith and science is an interesting one and usually not adversarial (Not that the press would have you believe that).
I also write fantasy. Again, it's a lot of fun. My favorite thing is to play with clichés by taking them to extremes or giving them unusual twists. But I'll tell you more about that next year when Magic, Mensa and Mayhem comes out.

A significant moment in writing Infinite Space, Infinite God:

It's funny how collaborating on a book is a lot like collaborating on marriage. When Rob and I worked together on our stories for ISIG, we went out to dinner, swapped ideas and had a lot of fun. Choosing the stories was a different matter. Since Rob has the job that pays the bills and works long hours at it, I was the one who did all the anthology work--soliciting submissions, doing first reads, sending Rob the ones that were great or that I had reservations about but thought might be usable, working edits with the authors, sending rejection letters, etc. And nagging my poor husband to please read that one story so we can decide on it!
Rob, however, provided guidance and leavening; he was the sanity check on stories, always knowing when I was being too harsh or finding that one fixable flaw in an otherwise great story that would elude me. He also kept me sane when I got mad at people who argued about their being rejected. (One person e-mailed me back telling me I didn't understand the important and Catholic concepts of his story. Rob reminded me, "It's not your job as editor to understand; it's his to be understandable." I have such a smart man!) Once we had our stories chosen, we went out to an Italian restaurant and organized manuscripts by candlelight.
It was so much fun, we're doing it again with Infinite Space, Infinite God II. In fact, if anyone reading this is interested, the guidelines are at www.isigsf.com/guidelines.

Books coming out:

Leaps of Faith: a Christian sci-fi anthology from The Writers' Café Press, coming Summer 2008 (http://www.leapsoffaithsf.com/)

Magic, Mensa and Mayhem: a fantasy mystery comedy from Swimming Kangaroo, coming early 2009

Faith-Filled Fiction E-zine: Writers who want to incorporate religion (real and imagined) into their novels are invited to subscribe to my newsletter, Faith-Filled Fiction. This educational resource offers writing tips, editorials and teaching articles about different religious practiced written by those who practice them. Its mission: to help authors write faith practices that ring true rather than fall back on stereotypes.

I also write short stories and have been in several anthologies and magazines. A full list is on my website.