“But what if we prayed with this stuff?”
That’s the question that inspired my upcoming book from Loyola Press, Where Wonder Leads: Finding God Through Fairy Tales, Myth and Contemplative Prayer.
If you know me or my writing, you know I love fantasy, science fiction, all things speculative storytelling. I approach these sorts of stories through the lens of a Catholic imagination, one that espouses a sacramental worldview: the ordinary stuff of our days point us beyond and to God. How might we fuel that disposition? How might we more readily gaze into the unknown, the great beyond?
Dreams of fairies and dragons and ghosts and centaurs beckon us into that in-between place, the cusp of a threshold that demands our wonder, curiosity, awe. The veil is so thin, our eye so practiced, that suddenly these imaginary creatures of Faerie invite us closer to our very real God, a God beyond our wildest imaginings, a God who works wonders in ways big and small, miraculous and ordinary.
We study how this disposition plays out in the building of wondrous worlds; Middle-earth and Narnia are only the most obvious. How did Tolkien’s Catholic worldview spill onto the pages of The Lord of the Rings? What does Lewis’ approach to storytelling say to us about bringing Christ alive into our own imaginary epics? What can we learn from their craft, their biographies, their approaches to worldbuilding?
And yet, these questions remain in the realm of the analytical. They activate the head; how might we engage the heart? How can these tales reveal God at work in our own? We know these sorts of stories and the minds that make them pulse with spiritual energy, that they reveal something of God and God’s way to us. And yet, the narrative goes on, the story ends, the authors vanish into the shadows of history…
“But what if we prayed with this stuff?”
Put another way, “What if we did Dungeons and Dragons, but it was prayerful and pointed us toward God?”
It’s the imagination we want to prime. We want to cast ourselves into fantastical realms so as to better understand our own. And that is what I hope I’ve done in Where Wonder Leads. That’s why I’m so excited about it.
Yes, there are analytical essays; I have to frame the thing, after all. But the heart of the book is one of retreat: 35 guided meditations that put you into the story, that ask you to consider what happens when the wizard knocks on your door or the spirit guide appears in your dream or the centaur erupts upon your path or the minotaur chases you through the maze.
More than meditations, this is second-person narrative, a way to engage and hone your religious imagination while mapping your own spiritual adventure.
It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’ll be saying a lot more about it as we count down the weeks between now and pub day: October 6, 2026.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in a review copy or learning how you might support the launch of this book, shoot me a message. I’m building out a launch team. And if you’re interesting in pre-ordering a copy, just follow the links below.
Would love a review copy and to have you on my Say Yes to Holiness podcast!
Gorgeous cover! I can't wait!