Catholic editors blend science fiction and faith

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Catholic editors blend science fiction and faith
By Christine Young
Intermountain Catholic

LAYTON — Karina and Robert Fabian are the editors of “Infinite Space, Infinite God I” and “Infinite Space, Infinite God II,” anthologies of adventures in time, space and faith. “We call them ISIG and ISIG II,” said Karina Fabian.
ISIG won the EPPIE award for best science fiction and ISIG II is now available from Twilight Times Books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
“ISIG II spans from time travel to alien abduction, space opera and near-future space exploration stories,” said Karina.
“We co-wrote several of the stories in ISIG II,” said Robert. They all have a Catholic hero or a Catholic theme.”
The Fabians had three rules for selecting their stories. They had to have good characters and a definite science fiction element, an accurate and positive portrayal of the Catholic faith and there had to be a peaceful coexistence between science and religion.
“Science and faith are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they can work together,” said Karina. “God made us with minds to look, explore and to question, and he made a fantastic universe. So it is only natural that we would want to study science and to understand how the universe works. In both volumes you can see wonderful examples of faith informing the moral use of science, and of giving the characters the courage to act upon their convictions. Both are very positive books, not only about faith and the progress of man, but our future in general.”
Karina and Robert are science fiction fans and members of Christ Prince of Peace Parish on Hill Air Force Base. Robert is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. His training is in military space operations, but his career has ranged from commanding an ICBM maintenance squadron to tracking deep-space satellites, working as a space policy analyst for the under secretary of defense for policy, to speech writing for the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. He served as an Air Force research fellow with the Rand Corporation and has written several articles on the military and commercial use of space.
Karina, full-time writer who works at home, “can’t not write,” said Robert. She writes a variety of fiction involving characters with faith. Her book “Magic, Mensa and Mayhem” won the INDIE award for best fantasy. She is one of the founders and former president of the Catholic Writer’s Guild, and also teaches writing and book marketing seminars online.
Together they have edited several books. “Leaps of Faith” was their first. Karina wrote “Why God Matters” with her father, Deacon Steve Lumbert.
Karina grew up in Pueblo, Colo., a casual Catholic. “When I went to college I felt a need to get closer to God and church hopped, but returned to the Catholic faith,” she said. “My dad watched me go through this process and that influenced him. He converted to Catholicism when I was in college following the death of his brother.”
Robert converted to Catholicism after meeting Karina. They met in Texas, while she was in the intelligence officer training at Goodfellow Air Force Base. Robert was stationed at nearby Eldorado Air Force Station.
They almost met when Karina wrote a poem that won a contest and Robert went looking for the author, but Karina had left. They finally met when Robert’s college friend introduced them. Within 10 days Robert and Karina were engaged. They were married in 1990, and have four children. Now they have date nights to work on story ideas and to create characters.