Yesterday, we had guest blogger Karina Fabian, editor of Infinite Space, Infinite God II (ISIG2) give us her views on faith, science, and writing science fiction.
If you didn't read yesterday's post, feel free to go back and read it, we'll wait for you....
All caught up now? Good.
Now, as a bonus blog, we get another shot at Madam Fabian. Now, it's time to sit her down and ask her some questions about the book itself.
You all remember that ISIG2 is an anthology of Catholic science-fiction short stories. What exactly does that entail? Are we going to have more acts of blantantly violanting the laws of physics? Will we have alien converts? A patron saint of starships? Worse yet, a Saint Captain Kirk?
Read on to find out.
1. So, you're now on ISIG 2 -- Since this blog didn't even exist for the first ISIG, how about you tell the readers why you got started on these collections?
Karina: We sort of happened into it. Rob and I had decided to write stories together on our date nights, and when we had a few, I sought a publisher. That led a publisher to ask us to edit and anthology of Christian sci-fi, then one to suggest Catholic SF. Leaps of Faith was our first anthology and covers a broad range of Christian faiths. Infinite Space, Infinite God I and II are exclusively Catholic in their stories, although many of the authors are not Catholic--just great writers.
2. Why do science fiction in particular? Nowadays, it seems that anytime a religious person makes an appearance in any genre, the audience can usually guess "Yup, s/he's the villain."
Karina: Exactly! We wanted science fiction that recognized faith, established religious faith, as a natural part of the human condition, and a positive force for our future. We also wanted a book that didn't demonize science in comparison to faith. The two work together just fine for the most part in real life--why let the fringe elements dictate what we have in fiction?
3. In the description of the book, it is described as "Infinite Space, Infinite God II offers solid sci-fi and life-affirming faith." How much of this is "hard" science fiction (SF that relies on actual scientific principles), and how much is it the treknomancy of Star Trek, or the magic wand that is Dr. Who's sonic screwdriver?
Karina: It's a combination. We have some hard SF, some space opera, some "furry" sci-fi (anthropomorphic animals), some classic SF, and some cyberpunk. So readers are going to get a wonderful variety. Of course, because Star Trek and Dr. Who are copyrighted, you won't see the Enterprise or sonic screwdrivers, much as we love them!
4. What science fiction do you both generally read? And how did it impact the choices for the collection of ISIG 2?
Karina: Rob (co-editor Robert Fabian) is the real reader in the family, and we reads everything from military SF to SF-fantasy. I tend more toward fantasy, personally, although I used to love Asimov. However, we tried to think of the readers when we chose stories. We had three hard-and-fast rules: There must be convincing science (convincing to the world, not necessarily scientifically possible now); there must be an accurate depiction of the Catholic faith as it stands now (i.e., the Magesterium); the interaction of faith and science must be positive, as must the individual depictions of both faith and science. Really, those three rules enabled us to weed a lot out. Next, we looked for great writing. We wanted to get whisked away. Finally, we tried to get a variety of sub-genres: time travel, near-future, space opera, etc. I wrote "Otherworld" specifically because no one gave us a virtual reality story that really worked.
5. You're both Catholic. How much of an impact does it have on the series? Can we expect to see Rabbis in space? And if so, can alien food be kosher?
Karina: We did Infinite Space, Infinite God as Catholic SF because a Catholic publisher asked us to. When they decided science fiction was too risky for them, we were blessed to find Twilight Times to publish the book. ISIG I has won both popular and critical awards, so Twilight Times asked us to do another.
There has been some Jewish science fiction, but I don't know the faith enough to judge it well; ditto, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. And, frankly, we have enough on our plate and not a lot of interest in compiling those anthologies--though we'd love to know they are out there!
6. This blog is about A Pius Man -- essentially a thriller that seeks to take every Catholic cliche, turn it on its head, inside out, throw them in a blender and hit "frappe." Was there any particular cliche, or set of cliches, that ISIG 2 took joy in subverting?
Karina: Read Alex Lobdell's "Battle of the Narthex." Alex is a genius with humor. The Saturday Mass-and-Spaghetti dinner becomes the battlefield for alien assassins and their targets.
7. So, what does one do with alien life forms? I know of three major science fiction novels /series (and one tv series) that directly address faith and alien life: CS Lewis's science fiction trilogy, Andrew Greeley's The Final Planet, and the television show Babylon 5. How about ISIG 2? Will there be ET on a crucifix?
Karina: We pretty much took the view that God will manifest Himself to each species in a way that they can relate to. "Dyads" is the best example of this. The foxlike aliens who mate for life understand the trilogy as Husband, Wife, and Holy Dance, and the spiritual danger comes when humans try to convert to their faith or they to human faith. It's a fabulously complex story with a very rich universe. Ken Pick and Alan Loewen have a talent for worldbuilding!
8. In addition to being editors, you're both writers. Robert writes articles on the military and commercial use of space. Karina writes about zombie exterminators. How did that affect your editing of the book?
Karina: Rob was the tech guy, and in a few cases, we requested rewrites not only because of the technology but also because the characters didn't use the technology logically. I am more character driven, and edited for story flow and emotional content.
9. What did you enjoy most about ISIG 2?
Karina: Like with Leaps of Faith and Infinite Space, Infinite God I, we loved discovering new writers, reading fabulous stories from established writers--and putting the whole thing together over a candlelight dinner at Olive Garden.
10. Hmm, the Olive Garden, my condolences ... So, in the future, does the Pope's spaceship look like the Popemobile? Is there a Saint James T. Kirk?
Karina: In one story, the Pope has had to move the Vatican to Mars. It's very traumatic.
St. Kirk? *headdesk* No. No, no, no. However, there are some new saints who are born and bred in space; including St. Gillian of L5, the founder of the Order of Our Lady of the Rescue. Rob and I wrote stories about these sisters, who do search and rescue operations in space. Those stories are what led us creating these anthologies in the first place.
We here at the A Pius Man blog would like to thank Karina for her time. Everyone please recall that Infinite Space, Infinite God II can purchased through the publisher at Twilight Press. It is also carried on B&N and Amazon. Again, the Kindle version of ISIG is on sale for 99 cents through April 13. It and ISIG II are for sale for 2.99 through April 23rd.
For those who have any interest in Karina Fabian's work, she can be found at her site at
Thanks for hosting me for a fun interview!
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