Voices for Voices®

When Mythical Creatures Meet Christian Values | Episode 229

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 229

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When Mythical Creatures Meet Christian Values | Episode 229

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Two talented authors reveal the surprising chemistry that sparked when they discovered they were both mythology buffs creating urban Christian fantasy—a refreshing departure from the typical Narnia-like settings of religious fiction. Their creative partnership began with a chance Amazon encounter that revealed their shared vision: bringing mythical creatures into contemporary settings while maintaining strong faith themes.

The conversation explores the fascinating question many readers ask: how can fantasy with magical elements be reconciled with Christian belief? Leanna's thoughtful approach frames magic as a divine gift, where her character can literally hear "nature's song of glory to God" referenced in Psalms—a creative interpretation that allows magical elements to enhance rather than contradict faith elements. This fresh perspective creates a unique reading experience that stands apart from secular urban fantasy's often darker tone.

What truly makes their collaboration special is the diverse mythological tapestry they weave together. Drawing from Leanna's Choctaw heritage, European folklore, Middle Eastern djinn traditions, and African were-lion mythology, they've created rich, inclusive fantasy universes that reflect our diverse world. Their honest discussion about the co-authoring process reveals valuable insights for aspiring writers: find someone who speaks your "creative language," provide constructive critique without negativity, and lean on each other when creative walls appear. Whether you're a budding author, mythology enthusiast, or faith-oriented reader looking for something different, this conversation offers a fascinating glimpse into how two creative minds can merge to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Two fantasy authors discuss their unique creative partnership that began when they discovered they were both writing similar urban Christian fantasy featuring mythical creatures.

• Both authors felt isolated in writing urban fantasy with mythological elements in a Christian context until finding each other
• Leanna explains how she integrates magic into her Christian worldview by portraying it as a gift from God that works within "nature's song of glory"
• They discuss incorporating diverse mythologies including Choctaw traditions, European folklore, and creatures from African and Middle Eastern cultures
• Co-authoring succeeds when partners understand each other's genre, vision, and can provide constructive critique without negativity
• They created characters for each other's books, expanding their shared creative universes
• The "cozy" genre discussion reveals its expansion beyond mysteries to include fantasy, sci-fi and other genres with specific conventions
• Both began with different projects (alien stories) before finding their niche in mythology-based urban fantasy

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#MythicalCreatures #ChristianValues #SpiritualFantasy #FaithAndImagination #MythologicalInspiration #ChristianFiction #FantasyAndFaith #ReligiousAllegory #CreativeSpirit #SpiritualJourney #MythicExploration #FaithfulFantasy #ChristianCreativity #MythologicalVisions #SpiritualArt #voicesforvoices #justinhayes #justinalanhayes

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Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV Show and Podcast. I'm your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you again for joining us. This is your first episode or if you've been with us for over 227 episodes, thank you. We couldn't do this without you. Episodes, thank you. We couldn't do this without you. As you know, 55 countries pushing 700 cities across the world If there wasn't an audience, then we like yourselves whether you're watching or listening first, or been with us from the beginning we wouldn't be able to do this without you. Thank you for the love and support you've given us and please, if you're able to, if you can, give us a thumbs up like share. Let everybody know we have a big goal of reaching 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, and we're well on that way and we're well on that way. So for this episode, we have two guests, two returning guests, and we're excited to talk, for obvious reasons, as we'll get into.

Justin Alan Hayes:

But when we talk about really anything, whether we're creating something, making something on a team, we're, we're working with others and each other, we kind of bring our?

Justin Alan Hayes:

we bring our lived experience, our history, where we've come from and where we're at together, and when we do that, it really makes things even richer. It gives us more of a perspective of both of the individuals, or if there's more than two, and we find that that's a powerful thing. So for this episode, we're going to be talking about just that. Let's talk about the greater process, working together, how our guests met, and we'll go on to that path and we'll see where that takes us. We probably will be having a part two of this show, so keep your eyes and ears out for that. What we don't get to uncover in this particular part, this episode. We will continue that. So the two guests we have with us are creators of many, you know entertainment, of books, of so many different things, and I'll let them, you know, talk about that. Uh. So the two prior guests are joining us today on this episode of the show are, uh, leanna Shield and David Solomon. So, leanna and David, thank you for coming back and being a part of this show hi.

Speaker 2:

Um, it's great to be back.

Speaker 3:

Thank you Bam.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Great. Maybe we can start anywhere, but maybe we can start from the beginning, the inception of how you met, how you kind of linked up, got together, and some of the works that you've been uh, you've accomplished over the the many, the many years you've been working together and what two, I think now.

Speaker 3:

But um, let's see it started. I saw your book on Amazon and it had a very unique premise. It was similar to mine where it dealt with mythical creatures and it was urban fantasy, because a lot of Christian fantasy is. What did we call that? The Narnia setting setting? Everybody sets it in a fantasy world, right?

Speaker 2:

right. In fact that's part of what inspired that book was a thing I found on pinterest. That said they that the original writer said I'm tired of worlds where magic is relegated to knights and ladies yeah I want a place where you can go into a coffee shop and get your double espresso with a shot of confidence, because we got that big meeting coming up right and like all the, until that point, all the Christian fantasies that I picked up were like there was nothing close to what I was writing in the past.

Speaker 3:

It was all Narnia this and Fantasyland that, and Dragons this and Elves in a fantasy land that.

Speaker 2:

And then I saw your book and that that's kind of how we clicked is you were kind of writing the same type of genre yeah, it turns out we were just both a couple of mythology nerds who loved researching that stuff and figuring out how we can work it into our fiction it was kind of cool like, um, you knew a lot of folklore that I did and that was really interesting.

Speaker 3:

Um, you don't see that every day and uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are part native american, correct?

Speaker 2:

that's correct. I'm part of the chukta tribe in oklahoma, um, I'm actually the last in my family that can claim that, unless you know I unless god leads a member of the tribe to want to marry me.

Speaker 3:

And there's not a lot of that tribe left either.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's still a fairly good-sized tribe. I mean, the city of Durant is their, I guess best way to put it capital.

Speaker 3:

Right, I guess best way to put it capital right. Well, I know that like um, especially now, like a lot of the tribes, they've gotten on reservations and they're getting smaller and um it it's so sad to see like how we're we're treating that situation and something I want to bring up is you really brought in some of your own heritage to your own writing, which was also compelling oh yeah, I I love doing that, especially with the uh third book in my mystic ranch mystery series.

Speaker 2:

That's what we're talking about right now.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I did a lot of research and incorporated a paragraph at the back of the book that talks about the traditional Choctaw wedding dance and what each element of it represents.

Speaker 3:

Okay, and I remember that and I was like, wow, this is really cool to see in a fantasy, let alone something clean and something that could be viewed as Christian. Some people may think you know, how can you do books like this and be Christian? And I'll let you answer that, because you have a very compelling answer. You know, how can you write a book and consider it Christian when you have all these mythologies in it and creatures in it? How do you do that?

Speaker 2:

Well, honestly, the way I view it is with the world I created. There there is magic, but it is as a gift from God. Like my main character, sab, sabia is an eco-mage. She is gifted with tending to the earth. There's a special part of her magic that allows her to hear the. There's a verse in Psalms, I think it is. I think it is where nature sing. Well, basically, very, very much paraphrasing this but all nature sings the glory of God. Sabia hears that song and she works her magic within that song of God's glory, excuse me, to still calm animals if they're distressed, to encourage crop growth, to enhance her, her orchards, things like that.

Speaker 3:

But it's all done within God's nature's song, done within God's Nature's song of glory to God and that's really cool Because you're using the Bible and you're making it come alive, which I discovered and went, Okay, Everything doesn't need to be fantasy land. And I was seeking out. Because I thought I was seeking out, because I thought I was the only one doing urban Christian fantasy. All the other authors you know a lot of them do fantasy lands and when I learned that about your story, it really pushed me. I think that's how we started.

Speaker 2:

Collabing is we were very similar in our genres and in our styles yeah, that is one of the first things that really clicked for us was finding out that we do have this similar style of urban fantasy. But the way I, the way I picture it, for some reason I have in my head and I may be completely wrong in this thinking, but urban fantasy in my mind usually looks dark, it looks gritty, but that's because I base it off of.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, sometimes it is. Um, I think secular has really made it that way. The word urban fantasy is supposed to be like modern day fantasy and we don't see a lot of that either. Even in the secular universe we don't see a lot of urban fantasy where you have legends. Come to life, percy Jackson would be considered urban fantasy where you have legends come to life, percy Jackson would be considered urban fantasy.

Speaker 3:

And we don't see that a lot and there's a lot of demand for it so that people can relate in our world instead of worlds like Eragon or Lord of the Rings, wheels of Time, and so that's kind of cool. I remember us collabing. We created a character for your book because I felt really inspired to sort of become a better writer myself, and I created Michael myself and, uh, and I created michael and then I kind of let you take the reins and go crazy with him. Um, do you remember that?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I do. Michael was a fun character to add in. He was. I think he was just what the world needed for for that book where it's like, okay, I've had all these characters that my readers have met, oh, here's this fresh face that I created with a friend and he fits right in and michael's really fun because, um, you know, I had that character for a long time and I was like, huh, he could fit this universe.

Speaker 3:

And the universe that you've created, that story world that you've created, has really just spawned onto its own. It's so big and massive. You have centaurs running around, fairies, selkies, you have all these creatures running around, which is so cool, and you can just keep going and expanding on it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's a lot of fun to do that. Actually, with it expanding so much, I I feel like I'm talking about myself too much. But okay, right right now I even have some of my friends playing a dnd session in my cozy world, where they're creatures of myth and they are now solving the mystery of who killed a astronomer and we did a.

Speaker 3:

We did a, a uh, not a dnd, but it was uh. I forget what it was. It was a game where we were trying to solve.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, it was kind of a homebrew.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

D&D session. But we kind of lightened up a lot of the rules.

Speaker 3:

And I was an elf, if I remember right. Yeah, no, I was a European. Let me think here I was a blue cap. There it is, a blue cap is a European elf who helps miners in the mines dig for gold and they lead them to treasure. That's where I was. It was so cool to see you have an orc in there and it was so crazy. It was really cool to see all these mythicals in one place in one story world. So, like I remember helping you with the new book and I suggested, you know, maybe a Naga, that could be fun, I remember that conversation.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, and he ended up being the sheriff yeah, you know what's crazy is?

Speaker 3:

I didn't think that would like. I thought he would be someone else in the story first, and then the sheriff fit, and then the story began to like really fit together and um, and then we created, like, some other characters too along the way in the background.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we did. And that's kind of the joy of co-authoring when, say I hit a wall, I can go to my co-author and say, hey, do you have anything, any ideas that might fit in this?

Speaker 3:

and we work together and it gets done and that's kind of that's kind of why, you know, we wanted to do this because, like I know, a lot of inspiring authors like that want to co-author and then they just give up because they don't click and they're sometimes the opposite of each other. And one thing I want to encourage you guys is you've got to. You know, co-write with someone that understands your genre but also your way of thinking. Not everybody can co-write and so you have to find that that person you want to work with and go. I really like your style or I like your story world. You know, maybe I can learn from this, maybe we can help each other and then lean on each other for that, for that help when you like you said, when you hit a wall and boy, did I hit some walls um in my own writing alone, um, do you remember mia and uh and thunderstorm?

Speaker 3:

oh yeah so you helped me do the character Jaden because of your own heritage and I wanted to honor that as best as I could and poor me, I'm struggling to put a sentence together on that day and you're like it reads really well. What does it read really well? I don't know if she's described right or not. Um, and so you really helped me have more confidence in that story, because at the beginning I was like this is a fluke and it's not going to be very good. And then, um, it turned out to be one of my better ones well, that's how it works out.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes I mean, you did the same with me.

Speaker 3:

There's times I've in my own uh, oh, I remember I remember us going back and forth like every day. You were like, does this sound good? And then I was like, yeah, but maybe reword it. I wasn't shy either to tell you like this needs more detail or, you know, maybe less detail. And then I asked the same of you and when I put out you know, for example, me I had green skin and was itching it you went maybe a little bit more detail. Why was she itching? And we critiqued each other in a healthy way and we didn't put each other down, and that's something I've seen some co-authors actually do.

Speaker 3:

I've seen some co-authors actually do. I've actually seen a famous co-author group of two writers quit an entire series because they got so frustrated with each other and they could not speak each other's language. So one said I wanted to do this with the character and the other said I want to do that and they couldn't compromise. So the book came out. But you can tell right away that they had different visions. So one chapter is Jonathan is running through the woods and he's holding a sword. And the next chapter is Jonathan is running through the woods and he's holding a sword. And the next chapter is Jonathan is running through the woods and he's holding a bow and arrow. To give you an example, I've seen that happen.

Speaker 3:

Those of you who don't know this dear friend of mine, cassandra Clare she wrote Shadowhunters. She wrote with Holly Black. A lot of people don't know that, but she also wrote an exclusive short series with 10 other authors and it's very interesting reading those books and seeing that her style never changed. But you can tell that she co-wrote it because the other authors put in their own two cents and expand that world, and expand not only the genre but the world but the diversity of the characters or the races or the world building that. That she couldn't and that's kind of what I felt happened with you and I, like we both have these giant worlds with mythicals in it and we both spoke that language and understood that language.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3:

One thing the audience probably doesn't know a lot is you and I actually started out not with mythicals, which we could also relate to, but aliens. Your first book was an alien story, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2:

It actually was the Alestrian Chronicles.

Speaker 3:

Which I have read a little bit of, by the way. I could relate because I did Arklands and it was an alien series and I was a kid and I thought, oh, this is kind of cool, let's do Noah's Ark in space. And so we can relate that way because in our mind aliens are like mythicals, basically Like what the star people from Native American folklore to UFOs in Native American folklore, correct?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, in fact, right now in one of my books, I'm having fun with both. In one of my books and in the D&D session I run, I'm having fun with star people and the constellations, yeah yeah, they look like the constellations, like their systems reside in and so like they're oh like there's vmns there's and there's different um you.

Speaker 3:

You name them after the different constellations, correct?

Speaker 2:

Somewhat I was inspired by some art I saw and I tried. There's one I had to change the name on because the constellation they come from is Aries and I could not picture how to say someone from Aries without using a very frowned on word nowadays, so I had to call them Ramirans yeah, I get that and the concept is really cool, like the star people and like seeing that in your world and having your characters like solve those mysteries.

Speaker 3:

that's so cool. And like you integrated the djinn from Middle Eastern culture and you integrated werewolves At one point. Was it werelions, Was it? Were it was werecats, was it I?

Speaker 2:

think Basically werecats, yeah, but the culture that I got that from African culture, I think that from African culture I think they either have were lions or were leopards, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I think it's where lions, because it's from Africa. Yeah, yeah, cause the were lion is the the one that's the royalty. So, yeah, we're a lion Folklorist. I still got it, because the werelion is the one that's the royalty. So, yeah, werelion Folklorist, I still got it. After all these years. I'm like an encyclopedia. Everybody's like do you know this character? Do you know where this creature comes from? What country is that? Again, the other day, someone from a studio messaged me. They were like do you know, by chance, where this character's from? Yeah, it's from Sweden. Oh, I thought it was Australia. No big difference. That's kind of how it works, and so that's really cool that, like you know a lot of the same folklore I do, and where I don't, I can lean on you and you can go. Well, I think that's okay, or you're not afraid to say, man, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Speaker 3:

Maybe change it up a little bit yeah and we've really like corrected each other on that and tried to like strengthen each other as, uh mythology writers. Uh, something I wanted to get into is you and I are both people of faith and we try to reflect that in our writing. Something that really stood out was you actually have some biblical references in your story.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I try at least.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I try at least, and I kind of followed on that and was like, well, you know, let's try to make biblical references in an urban, you know mythical world where myths and humans are existing, and it kind of fell from there. And it kind of fell from there Like Thunderstorm and Mia and the whole love story where they fell in love and, if I remember right, she couldn't have children, so she ran away, I believe. And then you suggested, well, maybe have this happen. And I listened to that and then, uh, when you were struggling on like one of your endings, I said, well, maybe have this happen and have michael help.

Speaker 2:

And then, you know, your character helped him and they know each other and it just really worked, it flowed yeah, it definitely did and it really helped with sometimes endings can be hard to really peg down, so that was a real big help tell me about it.

Speaker 3:

Um so, like one thing um, that's really cool about yours is you write cozies. And it's funny I did not know what cozies were. I've written thrillers, I've written mysteries, but I never knew what a cozy was. You know, when you think cozy, you're like I'm going to cozy on up on my sofa or my bed and like watch a movie. And then I hear from you I write cozies. And I'm like, ok, all right, so obviously we're not writing about cozying up on a sofa. So there has to be another meaning to this. What does that mean? Meaning to this? What does that mean? And so you know my, uh, my taking literal brain, I was like, okay, there's a meaning. So I looked it up and it meant cozy is an entirely new genre. Um, can you talk about that? Because I learned about that and I was like, whoa, this is kind of cool, it's an all, it's kind of an alternative to a sub-genre that's already out there.

Speaker 2:

Well, cozy's basically Okay. Best I can say is picture things like Murder. She Wrote yeah, it's A lot of. What you can picture is it's the amateur detective who's drawn into a murder for, say, their best friend was all of a sudden suspect number one. Now they gotta solve it before the police arrest them or things like that.

Speaker 2:

But there are certain sorry, that's my chair placking- like but um, there are rules like you can't, let's see, keep swearing to a minimum, which I have seen. Cozy authors break that rule right and left. It's usually one of the main reasons I put the book down.

Speaker 3:

I've seen it too, like there's a I won't name names, but I picked up a cozy the other day and I was like, oh, opposite of the genre, yeah, totally get it.

Speaker 2:

The murder is off screen, sex off screen, usually set in a small town, and if not a small town, at least a little community in a big city, little community in a big city. But also, I have recently discovered that there are other forms, not just the mystery genre. There are cozy sci-fi, cozy romance, cozy thriller.

Speaker 3:

How do you do a cozy sci-fi? I want to know that one.

Speaker 2:

That one, from what I've researched because I haven't tried writing it myself yet would be you still have the epicness of space, but the stakes are not as high. It's not like, oh my gosh, we have to defeat the empire or the fate of the universe is destroyed. It's more like okay, well, this, we got this thing over here and, yeah, there might be some inconvenience, but I get it now, okay, okay.

Speaker 3:

So like um and a lot of cozies I see are like in a fantasy setting too, honestly yeah, that's another, uh new subgenre of it.

Speaker 2:

It's the cozy fantasy, uh books like legends and lattes, where yeah you have an orc and a tiefling running a coffee shop together great.

Speaker 3:

I haven't read that book yet, but series too oh it is.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's on my tbr list and I haven't picked it up yet.

Speaker 3:

Bad me oh yeah, well, you interviewed uh, you interviewed a famous cozy author a few weeks ago. I remember that.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, For those listeners out there who don't know, I currently run Kathy's Cozy Chair. It used to be the Cozy Sleuth, but I am opening it to the other subgenres of cozy.

Justin Alan Hayes:

I hate to jump in, but we're at time and it's gonna shut down here any minute, so we'll come back starting our conversation about the cozy genre.

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