How do you grasp light
in a sunless world?
A choice that could lead to grasping Glory itself.
In the sunless, harsh world of Silna, light isn’t easy to find. Except for the Glory of El Roi, which Rave and his brother Rook would go to see split the sky every morning. But on the day of their father’s sudden death, Rook refused to ever go see the Glory again. He broke the promise between them, crushing Rave’s hope and leaving his brother in the suffocating darkness of grief with no light to pierce it, and no brother to share it with.
Determined now to have a light of his own that no one can take from him, Rave’s been planning the heist of a Blue Diamond. If he’s caught stealing one of the blue gems who’s light never fades, it’s an almost certain death sentence, but Rave doesn’t care. Not if it means he’ll have a piece of constant light like the Glory all his own. Not if it will help his younger sister, Ren, in her grief too.
But when the heist goes awry, he finds out something about the Blue Diamonds he’s not supposed to know, and ends up staying in hiding in the Prophet of El Roi’s house. Without the light he sought, Rave is faced with a choice he doesn’t want to make, but which might lead to him grasping more than mere light.
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To Grasp Glory is a Christian fantasy short story, to be published in the Illuminate the Dark anthology on February 25th, 2025. It features a boy desperate to find a light in the darkness and who will do anything to help his younger sister, a sunless world, a somewhat mysterious prophet and glowing blue stones with a carefully guarded secret. To stay up to date on this short story, please subscrie to Abby's Newsletter. (Where you can read the Meet n Greet snippets for Rook and Rave, the two brothers.)
In this collection, sixteen authors invite you to embark on epic fantasy adventures to find hope amidst even the darkest moments of our lives!
Dylan has been dragged from his home. Rave wants a little light to hold on to in an otherwise sunless world. Cónán never should have touched the coins in the fountain. A villain looks for redemption as the end draws nigh. This is just a sample of the stories you can find within the pages of Illuminate the Dark!
From beautiful poetry to epic short stories exploring hope in dark times, in grief, in the face of adversity, and when all seems lost, this anthology, curated by YA fantasy author Kaytlin Phillips, aims to paint a vivid picture of the hope we have in Christ our Savior!
Illuminate the Dark features work from Bree Pembrook, Norah Case, Jaiden Phillips, Emma G. McKee, Kylie Beevers, Lori Ann Nelson, Lillian Keith, Marisa Phillips, Hunter Reder, Abigail Hathaway, Sara Noelle, Z.A. Gilbert, Kaytlin Phillips, Abby Burrus, Emily Waldorf, and Kayla Spurling! This light filled story collection will take you on epic fantasy adventures that aim to shatter the dark.
Abby Burrus
Christian.
Author.
Equestrian.
Dreamer.
One broken slave girl...
One Markless Man...
One choice that could be her redemption, or her undoing.
Nova, a slave girl with a painful past, is offered something she never imagined possible by a Man without a Mark. But can she overcome her fear and mistrust long enough to find out if what he says is true?
Does she have the courage to call out one more time?
My toe hits something and I stumble. “Ah!” I fall down, and my hands land on it.
It’s cold, soothing to my hot body. I can’t see it, but I don’t have to see it to know what it looks like. It looks like release from this guilt and shame, it looks like peace, it looks dark and forbidding like death. And I know what’s where it leads, the place it will bring me to, this place of the slow dying of guilt, shame, and separation from Him.
But I want it so bad.
Cover designed by Ava Russell
Trapped by her own desires, there is no way out her shame, out of the choice she's always made. And her shame is keeping her from the choice that would release her, the call for help that would free her.
Is there any way out of the shame, and the guilt? Any way to choose what will satisfy her enough to free her?​
Faithfully fantastical writing
that reaches up to God and echoes Eternity.
Believe it or not, I wasn't always a reader. But I know when I became one. It was when I discovered that reading was for far more than schoolwork.
It was for stories.
That was the realization that made me into a devourer of books, a person who enjoys reading to this day. Because of the power of stories, of the journeys, lives, and adventures of the characters.
And something that I've discovered over the years is that the best stories are the ones that are both fantastical- and faithfully true.
Because, after all, isn't that what the Greatest Story, written by the Greatest Author, is?
It's fantastical that God would redeem us by His Son's death- and it's true. It's fantastical that dead men can be raised to life- but it's true that Jesus did, and that we will too. It's fantastical that God is going to give us eternity, a new earth- and it's true.
And maybe the best part? It's a Story we can live, one we're all invited into, a journey towards our true home that we can join.
So that's what this part of my journey is about. Writing stories that are both faithful and fantastical, that reach up to God and echo eternity.
Stories for eternity.
Stories for the journey home.
Stories that reach up to God and goodness.
Will you join me?
​
