David Elliott’s Witches Tales explores faith, paganism and young love

David Elliott MA’s new fantasy novel sets a witch’s high school romance in Odessa, Texas, where family conflict and competing religious beliefs collide. The book is out now and uses a supernatural coming-of-age story to probe whether Christianity and paganism can coexist.

Why it matters: - Witches Tales turns a young adult fantasy plot into a debate about religious difference, tolerance, and identity. - The novel is aimed at readers interested in how faith, family, and romance can collide in one story. - The book also connects contemporary paganism with older religious and philosophical traditions.

What happened: - David Elliott MA released Witches Tales, a high school fantasy set in Odessa, Texas. - The story follows Sammy, a young witch trying to save her coven while starting high school and fighting her mother, who is an evil witch. - Sammy falls in love with a Baptist minister’s son, pulling the romance into a conflict between paganism and evangelical Christianity. - The book is available now. - Readers can find the book on Amazon.

The details: - The novel asks whether someone can be both Christian and witch. - The story also asks what Christianity and paganism share, and whether love can bridge their differences. - Elliott says the book is meant to speak to Christians trying to live their faith in a pagan world and to pagans who view Christianity as condemning anyone who falls short of perfection. - The novel’s intended middle ground is love, tolerance, and understanding. - Elliott also uses the story to explore free will, personal responsibility, and the goodness of the natural world. - The book draws on St. John Chrysostom, Stoic psychology, and the idea of the cure and care of the soul. - Elliott links those ideas to his work in mental health and substance abuse therapy.

Between the lines: - The novel is not just a romance or a fantasy. It is built as a conversation between Christian and pagan worldviews. - Elliott sees parallels between today’s Neo-Paganism and the paganism of the Greco-Roman world. - References to ancient and early modern history give the book a theological and historical layer beyond the teen plot. - Elliott cites Dostoevsky’s polyphonic novels as a model for giving competing perspectives a fair hearing. - That approach suggests the book is designed to keep both sides in the conversation rather than settle the issue with one easy answer. - Elliott said he transformed his text on Middle Platonism, TWO SOULS and a BODY: WHAT EVERY EDUCATED PERSON KNEW TO BE TRUE AND HOW THE EDUCATED CHRISTIAN DEVELOPED CHRISTIANITY IN HELLENISTIC TIMES, CREATING THE IDEAS OF FREE WILL AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY, into a modern fantasy to continue the discussion between Christianity and paganism.

What’s next: - Elliott is positioning the novel for readers drawn to fantasy with theological questions. - Review copies and interview requests are directed to David Elliott at BrightKey PR. - Elliott’s broader body of work includes Forever, a trilogy collected in one volume. - Elliott is a classical scholar and theologian who spent 40 years as a mental health and substance abuse counsellor. - Elliott says his background includes being raised by an evangelical grandmother and having a mother who was a witch.

The bottom line: - Witches Tales uses supernatural fiction to ask whether faith differences can be softened by love, family ties, and mutual understanding.