By R. David Fulcher Founding Member of the Old Scratch Press Poetry and Short Form Collective

Authors have often used religion as an inspiration for their work. 

Consider such literary gems as Umberto Eco’s In the Name of the Rose which revolves around a murder that takes place in a monastery, or Hermann Hesse’s buddhist tale Siddhartha.

In my own work, I experimented with this intersection in my story “All Across the Mountain”, appearing in December 2023 on spillwords.

The story switches back and forth between the point of view of an occultist named James Blackwood, and a church parishioner named Parrish Pious. The story takes place on Easter Day, and opens before dawn with James Blackwood making preparations to destroy the town by raising ancient and powerful monsters.

The story utilizes a common literary theme – the struggle between good and evil.

It relies on juxtaposition to build tension and suspense.  Consider some of the contrasting characteristics between the church (representing good, and manifested by Parrish) and the occult (representing evil, as manifested by James Blackwood):

The Church (Parrish Pious)	The Occult (James Blackwood)
Community of Believers	Acts Alone
Operates in Public	Acts Secretly/Covertly
Celebrates one person, Jesus, with two natures – one human, and one divine	Worships alien gods, cold and disconnected from human nature

The story also weaves a church hymn into the prose (for more on this, see my OSP blog post on Exploring Floetry: The Fusion of Fiction and Poetry), per this excerpt from the tale:

The members of the congregation were on their feet, almost giddy in their Easter finery as they belted out an inspired if somewhat tuneless rendition of “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today:”

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Parrish felt exalted and she closed her eyes, imagining herself being lifted up on beams of bright light towards the stained glass windows at the height of the church’s apex. The lively clothing of the parishioners made it seem to Parrish like she was floating above a sea of pastels – soft pinks, bright yellows, and subtle key limes undulated beneath her.
The unified voices seemed to shake the very timbers of the building itself, and the creaking and groaning of the wood made Parrish open her eyes as if the earth itself did reply with a tremble as they sang out “Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply.”

So there you have it, an example of interweaving religion and fiction. Explore this fertile ground on your own and see what amazing stories you can create!