Further Light #1, Winter 2026
“Opera of the Abyss, Part 1: Murder at the Rue Morgue” by Lee Allred (serial, not reviewed)
“Commitment” by Brian K. Lowe (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Double-Snatcher” by WO Hemsath (reprint, not reviewed)
“Charity Never Faileth” by Jaleta Clegg (reprint, not reviewed)
“Young Hagoth Plays It Safe” by Theric Jepson
“Music of the Spirit” by Annaliese Lemmon (reprint, not reviewed)
“A Letter from Captain Robert Walton to Joseph Smith, Care of John Taylor” by R. de la Lanza
“Voices from the Dust” by Jeanna Mason Stay
“Grandmother’s Rocking Chair” by Nephi Anderson (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Mothers” by Chanel Earl
“The Enemy Has a Body – A Confidential Memo” by Jordan Lake
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
In the words of editor Liz Busby, this new publication is meant to be “a center of gravity for all things about Latter-day Saints and the fantastic.” In addition to new and reprinted fiction, it contains poetry and essays related to the theme. It accepts fiction from one thousand words to eight thousand words in length, paying an honorarium of twenty-five dollars for each story. Potential authors should note that their works should be equivalent to a rating of PG-13 or below.
The title character in “Young Hagoth Plays It Safe” by Theric Jepson is an adolescent boy who is about to choose whom he should follow as an apprentice. The easy choice is to continue in the successful career of his father, a wealthy armorer. However, the boy dreams of sailing the sea, and is tempted to apprentice himself to a disreputable shipbuilder.
It may not be obvious to those who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (popularly known as Mormons) why this story is speculative fiction at all. Members of the church consider Hagoth to be a real historical figure, as described in The Book of Mormon. Thus, the story is a work of alternate history. As such, the plot is very simple. The work is best appreciated for its realistic depiction of teenage boys.
Readers familiar with Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus will recognize the first name mentioned in the title of “A Letter from Captain Robert Walton to Joseph Smith, Care of John Taylor” by R. de la Lanza. The sea captain who found Victor Frankenstein and his monster in the Arctic writes to the founder of the Latter-day Saints to ask if the creature has a soul.
The story adds little to the philosophical content of Shelley’s classic. It should be noted that it is translated from Spanish by Ryan Fairchild and DA Cooper. The magazine also provides the original version.
The narrator of “Voices from the Dust” by Jeanna Mason Stay inherits a huge amount of crafting materials when her grandmother dies. The dead woman’s voice advises her to use them in seemingly random ways, which turn out to be simple acts of kindness.
This is a very light story best described as sweet. The Latter-day Saint content is minimal, so any reader who doesn’t mind sentimentality can enjoy it.
“The Mothers” by Chanel Earl describes several women from fairy tales and other sources who yearn to have children. It tells of their failures or successes, and the various fates of their offspring, if any.
This is a story without a main protagonist or plot. It reads like a fictional essay about the desire for motherhood, expressed in terms of fantasy. It is best appreciated as a meditative prose poem.
“The Enemy Has a Body – A Confidential Memo” by Jordan Lake takes the form of a letter from an experienced demon to a young one. It advises the latter in the best ways to tempt its human victim.
This is obviously a pastiche of The Screwtape Letters (1942) by C. S. Lewis, which uses the same format. (Lewis is even mentioned in a footnote.) The elder demon’s advice makes use of Latter-day Saint doctrine. (As a small example, it discusses the addictive nature of caffeine.) Readers of other faiths may find some of its content controversial. As a work of fiction, it serves as a minor addition to its exemplar.
Victoria Silverwolf is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.