Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What Makes Fiction Christian?

Is It Christian?




Many of you know that I work in the Christian fiction market. I've sorted through many a manuscript and have published reviews on over 800 Christian books (and that's not counting all the books I've read to get those!) I read. A lot. Anyway, right now in the blogosphere there are some people talking about what makes a book Christian? What are the Christian publishers publishing and why? Interesting thoughts. I don't know that there are any easy solutions to what to publish, but I do think it is going to become a hot issue as we head into 2009.

Anyway, I thought you might like weighing in on two blogs asking "What Makes It Christian?" And I'd love to know, do you read Christian fiction? If so, name your top 5 Christian fiction books this year. I'd really like to know.

Editor/author Karen Ball's blog, The Power of Words, The Magic of Story

and on Indiana ACFW member's Cara Putman's blog The Law, Books and Life.


Good stuff being said.This is a hot topic, fer shure.

I do think Kelli Standish (on Karen Ball's comments, scroll down on the most recent post) makes a very, very good point about the difference between a Christian fiction book and a book in the mainstream general. I think she has hit on the differences. Do look through the past posts as this topic has several posts.

I think this topic is heavy on the minds of all people in Christian publishing right now because everyone is talking about it.

2 comments:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx said...

Thanks for your comment on my interview with Dennis Hensley.

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Crystal -

I followed the links and enjoyed the posts. One thing I found missing in the articles and comments was any mention of occult material appearing in "Christian" books.

I've encountered several books that base the entire story line on occult material with little or nothing to offset it. It's viewed almost as harmless, helpful, and good.

Wow. If God takes a dim view of this stuff, as a Christian writer, I'd better watch how I present it.

Blessings,
Susan :)