
About the Book
Book: Above the Circle of Earth
Author: E. Stephen Burnett
Genre: Science Fiction
Release date: March 4, 2025
The fight for the space mission begins in his homeworld.
Brock Rivers never wanted to be a repairman on Mars. Years ago, he failed to protect his family, and now he labors across a frontier planet to keep his children alive and escape CAUSE. But the spacefaring humanist regime is taking over Martian colonies, forcing all to join the secular state.
Back in Brock’s homeworld, his people summon him to fulfill old hopes with a new dream. After decades of cultural isolation, they plan to restore missions for the 22nd century, voyaging beyond Earth to share the gospel in space. Brock must find a ship and recruit a team of misfit believers. They expect opposition from the formidable CAUSE, but not from a more deceptive enemy.
One adversary attacks from the shadows to destroy the faithful. Others unify to oppose the project. Brock and his family must fight to resist these enemies of the space mission or else return to exile forever.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and its weekly Fantastical Truth podcast. He is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent and other resources for fans and families. Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area and serve in their local church.
More from E. Stephen
Today’s earthly life seemed especially rough.
My day job had issues. A family member is facing worse challenges. Home-repair projects are piling up. Oh, plus our two dogs stormed out of the house and, for no discernable reason, attacked the neighbor’s pet (zero injuries reported, so far).
It’s not all bad. As I write, my wife and I aren’t sick. Times of rest are coming soon. We have good work and freedom to worship Jesus. We enjoy shelter and supplies.
Also—we’re not forced into exile on Mars because of secular persecution on Earth.
That last is the scenario of my debut sci-fi novel Above the Circle of Earth. Its creation began with an “original” teenage thought like, “Hey, what if someone made a sci-fi adventure, only with Christian characters?” That grew into a complex futuristic world of fantastic space exploration, but also mixed results for believers in Christ.
ACE isn’t all dystopia. You can still enjoy freedom to practice your faith on Earth. But you need to stay in your religious preserve. If you try to live like a Christian outside that homeworld, the spacefaring humanist regime CAUSE won’t appreciate that.
That’s how Brock and Alicia Rivers ended up fighting to survive on Mars, laboring in the settlements and raising their three children in a dry and weary, waterless land.
Then comes their call to adventure. This is not just a mission, but the Space Mission, the first restored missionary outreach in fifty years. They’ll have to return to Earth and face the death of a loved one, intimidation by the secular CAUSE, and many challenges and greater threats from their own Christian brothers and sisters—all forming a fantastical adventure about how we long to defend our homeworlds.
I started my first version of ACE decades ago. But to tackle big themes like this, I now realize I needed more experience to understand these kinds of struggles. Of course, I’ve never had to diagnose a leaking dome on another planet or resist a technocratic humanist regime. But I have felt the pain of lost job opportunities, grief after the loss of a parent, and the futility of researching odd subjects (from biblical theology to Martian calendars!) that seemed to lead nowhere.
Well, plot twist: All those hard times made this science fiction more realistic. You can’t build spaceships or stories without those struggles. Otherwise the tale ends up bad—inauthentic and corny, with simplistic morals and shallow heroes. Ugh. Few readers want that. And the few who do will barely remember such a book.
Maybe that’s one reason our Author allows the real-world challenges. He’s not just making us holy and more like Jesus Christ. He’s making us to be more human, well-rounded heroes with dimension and realism, for His glory and our good.
Here’s hoping Above the Circle of Earth launches a different kind of Christian-made science fiction, helping us see all hard times in light of our Author’s amazing future.
Godspeed and #GoTherefore!
Stephen Burnett
Interview with the Author
- What does success as an author look like to you?
Success equals being faithful with the time that is given me, and—despite my flaws and failings—helping Christian fans, including myself, explore fantastical stories for God’s glory. That’s been my goal long before Above the Circle of Earth reached print.
- Which character did you connect to best in this book?
Brock Rivers (under various names) has been around from the time he was actually older than me. Since then, I’ve been surprised how much my journey first reflected his, but then began to reverse-influence his future mission. Meanwhile, Jason Cruz shows a more aggressive yet disciplined response to the wickedness in our world. Together these men reflect the conciliatory/confrontational duality of many faithful Christian people and groups—a paradoxical approach I’ve found I definitely share.
- Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?
That’s a spoiler, that it is. But in short, Brock’s struggle in later chapters captures a brutal reality for many faithful saints. They pursue their God-given vocation, yet find real opposition from our sin-cursed world, and sometimes their own people.
Once upon a time, a tall and very homeschooled teenage lad witnessed a certain 1999 space franchise prequel hero printed on a pizza box. That’s when this teenage homeschooled student came up with a brilliantly original thought:
Say, what if there was an adventure story set in space—but, you know, about Christians?
Plot twist: That teen lad was me all along. And some decades later, I revisited this old idea with a lot more life experience and studies of biblical cultural engagement. This story wasn’t just about “Christians v. atheists, in space”! Above the Circle of Earth (ACE) orbits one heroic family. They are exiled to a frontier planet, then summoned to their homeworld to start a Space Mission in a future that’s hostile to their faith.
- Which author influenced the you most?
The very Christian answer is the Word Himself (John 1). Without His creative work in real worldbuilding, we would have no world, no imagination, no subcreations.
After that, I enjoy so many authors across fiction and nonfiction genres.
- What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?
Revelation 21:1–5 hearkens to the glorious after-world that awaits all redeemed saints, after this groaning creation is resurrected into song, and after New Heaven itself has descended to unite with New Earth. This text promises a perfect planet and universe under King Jesus’s reign, where perfected people will worship in real-life fantastical places. To me this is the key Scripture that justifies fantasy and sci-fi.
- What is your vacation spot?
Naturally, ‘twould be above the circle of Earth! I’ve heard it’s a lovely place to visit, although I wouldn’t necessarily relocate to future lunar or Martian settlements.
- What are you reading right now?
(Pulls up my now-revitalized Goodreads list …)
- That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, re-reading aloud with my wife
- The God of Story: Discovering the Narrative of Scripture Through the Language of Storytelling by Daniel Schwabauer (who’s also guested on my podcast)
- A Study of Shattered Spells by my friend Josiah DeGraaf, releasing in summer–fall
- On Magic & Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic, re-reading the final version, by my friend Marian Jacobs, releasing this July
- Ice by the late Shane Johnson, a marketed Christian-made novel with an actual astronaut on the cover, which I found while cleaning out the Lorehaven Library
- Faithful Reason: Natural Law Ethics for God’s Glory and Our Good by Andrew T. Walker
- And all throughout, the Bible
“All of them at once, I suppose.”
- Describe your view as you’re sitting in your writing chair.
A broad and black desktop is blessedly is only a little cluttered. This supports the two screens I use for the Lorehaven/ACE highbridge. I look up to see large versions of Gandalf the White and Gimli standing guard on the front shelves, adjoined by smaller figures of Legolas and Gandalf the White (again). Behind me, five-and-a-half full floor-to-ceiling bookshelves hold my complete library, interspersed with figures from visual worlds like Star Trek: The Next Generation / Deep Space Nine, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a few Avengers, One Piece, and certainly more Lord of the Rings.
- If you could have one book or piece of art or music on a deserted island, what would it be and why?
‘Tis a normie opinion now, but I’m so grateful it is—definitely The Lord of the Rings, the books, the films, and the epic Complete Recordings by the great Howard Shore.
A close second would be The Prince of Egypt film, music by Hans Zimmer.
These stories proved formative, helping me ponder anew God’s awesomeness.
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 25
Novel Notions, March 25
Guild Master, March 26 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 26 (Spotlight)
A Reader’s Brain, March 27 (Author Interview)
Stories By Gina, March 28 (Spotlight)
Texas Book-aholic, March 29
The Lofty Pages, March 30
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 31 (Author Interview)
Lily’s Corner, April 1
Fiction Book Lover, April 2 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 3
Tell Tale Book Reviews, April 4 (Spotlight)
Blogging With Carol, April 5
Simple Harvest Reads, April 6 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 7
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, E. Stephen is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card and a hardcover copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54184