May 2026 Newsblotter
An interview with our editor-in-chief, plus Harry Potter and the Garden of Gethsemane?
As part of Further Light’s mission to gather together a community who is interested in the conversation about LDS speculative fiction, we publish a free monthly-ish roundup of news, events, and interesting publications. If we missed something that you think should be included, please drop us a note!
Further Light News
Welcome to everyone who came to chat at our booth at Storymakers last weekend! We hope you’re checking out the website and getting a feel for the stories we publish. We can’t wait to see what you send in!
Another exciting thing that just came out this week: an interview with Liz Busby on the history of Latter-day Saint speculative fiction and our goals for Further Light on BYU professor Christopher Blythe’s YouTube channel. If you’re not following his work already, you should be—his coverage of LDS folklore and esoteric traditions is excellent fodder for fantasy and horror.
Issue 2 is quickly approaching the finish line! We are nearly done with copy edits and art commissions and should be moving into layout in the next week or so. Everyone who is a paid or founding Substack subscriber by the end of July will receive a print copy of the magazine mailed straight to their door, so now is a great time to get on board!
Interesting Publications
Shining a Light on Culture
Some great cultural commentary over at Public Square Magazine this month, including a piece on the future of LDS cinema and the 15-year anniversary of the Book of Mormon musical and the last acceptable bigotry.
Need more LDS cinema takes? Saints & Cinema ranks depictions of Brigham Young on the silver screen. Stick around for the sci-fi video game Brigham at the end!
We loved this essay about why “Maybe Christian Art Shouldn’t Be Clean.” Author Phillip Synder particularly calls out the difference between being “clean” and having an actual moral message:
Gratuitous violence isn’t necessarily the problem, it’s the conclusion that violence leads the reader/viewer to concluding. In John Wick or a Steven King novel, the conclusions is that the violence is interesting and fun. But watch Schindler’s List or read The Hunger Games, and you’ll thirst for righteousness and pray the Kingdom comes.
Illuminating Fiction
Still Small Stories published a melancholic ghost story called “The Happiest Place on Earth” by Tesia Tsai. The title implies Disneyland, but we swear the geography of this story is straight up Lagoon. Anyway, you won’t look at theme park flowerbeds the same after reading it.
“What Comes After Forever” by Aeryn Rudel is a really fascinating piece of religious sci-fi about a priest on a colony ship where the cryo systems are breaking down. It’s a bit depressing for our taste, but we love the conclusion about what services are really essential. (And you should check out the magazine the published it, Incensepunk Magazine, where the fiction is “high tech, high church.”)
Parables are an interesting form of religious storytelling that sometimes blends both allegory and the fairy tale tradition. Wayfare Magazine recently published a new parable called “Keepers of the Well” by Tyler Johnson. They are asking for writers to send in their interpretations of the story. We’d love to hear what you all think this story means.
Congrats to fellow LDS speculative fiction magazine Infinite Valley on the release of their fourth issue featuring four new stories!
Enlightening Ideas about the Fantastic
Mythlore recently published a piece that Latter-day Saint fantasy readers may be interested in: an interpretation of the cave scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as evoking the garden of Gethsemane. Apparently, there’s a tradition in visual art of portraying the angel who comes to help Jesus as holding the “bitter cup” for him. The ending of Deathly Hallows has always been obviously Christian, but these are additional interesting parallels!
Speaking of allegory, JRRJolkien has us laughing out loud at this faux-argument between Tolkien and Lewis about allegory:
C.S. LEWIS: Are you still upset that Aslan the Lion is Jesus?? LMAO
TOLKIEN: I just can’t help but wonder: do you do these things to personally spite me, Jack, or is it just an unintentional consequence that you do so?
LEWIS: Oh Tollers, you know you’re important to me, but not everything is about YOU, you know! Plus, at least I only have ONE Jesus in my story. You’ve got three!
Read something great that we should know about? Send links to editor@furtherlightmag.com with the subject line “Interesting Publications.”
Community Events
Jun 5 - Lore: The Power of Stories - Opening night for the Compass Gallery’s annual fantasy show during the Provo Art Stroll! You won’t want to miss this exhibit, so check their hours and plan to come view amazing fantasy art with spiritual significance.
June 17-18 - Writers Cantina - Join local Utah authors for a casual and inexpensive event in West Valley City.
June 27 - Hoid Presents His Most Excellent Art - This fundraiser for Brandon Sanderson’s Lightweaver Foundation charity will feature live painting of models who are cosplaying Cosmere characters as well as pizza and ice cream from local Provo vendors. If it’s anything like last year’s event, it will be well worth the cost to attend! If you’re not local, you can also support with a donation to access the livestream.
August 17–21 - BYU Education Week - We happen to know there will be a track on science fiction and theology that you don’t want to miss!
Got an event we missed? Send information to editor@furtherlightmag.com with the subject line “Community Events.”
Submissions & Deadlines
May 31 - Submit to the Mormon Lit Blitz - Participate in the longest running contest for LDS-themed flash-length work. Send your in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction under 1000 words. Published finalists are paid $25 and winners of the contest receive a $125 prize.
June 1 - Submit to LDSPMA’s first-ever anthology - A new extended deadline! We love LDSPMA’s mission to help Latter-day Saint creators succeed in publishing, media, and the arts, so of course we’re excited that they’re putting out an anthology for this year’s conference theme of “Instruments in God’s Hands.” Send in fiction, poems, or personal essays under 1200 words and say you were there for the first one!
July 20 - Write a review of a fake piece of LDS art - Irreantum is collecting new pieces for a special themed issue of reviews of LDS art. The catch is that these works don’t exist yet. Check out this fake review of a (speculative?) novel written by Brigham Young as an example. I’m hoping for a review of a magical installation or perhaps some space-based performance art.
August 31 - Submit to Further Light issue 3 - Submissions continue to roll in! We especially need more people writing nonfiction, so if you want to improve your chances at being part of Further Light, we highly suggest thinking about how your favorite fantasy and science fiction interacts with the restored gospel.
October 1 - Send in a paper to LTUE - Got something clever to say about your favorite science fiction or fantasy property? Submit an essay to LTUE’s academic track to share your thoughts with everyone (and get free conference admission and snacks in the green room—seriously, those mini eclairs are worth it).
Got an opportunity we missed? Send information to editor@furtherlightmag.com with the subject line “Submissions & Deadlines.”