So it’s time for my first post on this crazy thing.

I’ll state right up front that I’m no big expert on anything, I’m not even a little one. I’ve got no publishing creds, only a nice little pile of rejections. So feel free to take everything I say with a pound and a half of salt.

What I do have is a passion to get the kind of fiction I love to see the light of day. I’m no big literary guy, I grew up on Star Wars novels, with a bit of Roger Elwood and Stephen Lawhead thrown in, and a dash of Piers Anthony’s Xanth novels. Naturally there was the spice of C. S. Lewis and Tolkien in there as well.

Later on I discovered the Forgotten Realms books of R. A. Salvatore, the Dragonlance novels of Wies and Hickman, and Robert Jordan’s ever turning Wheel of Time saga. These books along with others fueled my imagination and gave me a hunger for rousing adventures, swords and sorcery, with maybe a dash of romance.

I’m also a world guy. I’ve been building my own writing worlds since Junior High, and I love exploring strange, new worlds with an author, and seeing how that world’s inhabitants are different and the same as we are.

But most of all, what I long for is a well written romp that feels authentic and a world that is more than a set-piece for a lesson to be learned.

For many years I gave up even looking to the Christian market for this kind of novel.  And even now they are rare. But I’m glad to say there are some that are pushing into my preferred territory.

Kathryn Mackel’s Outriders, is a fun rollicking romp through a very twisted future earth. She has fun characters and a fast pace that I really enjoyed. Just had a few issues with the world building aspect.

The Personifid Project, by R. E. Bartlett, is also another fast paced science fiction ride that I found enjoyable (other than the protagonist, who I really couldn’t like). This is also the book that I enjoyed how subtly the supernatural content was handled. Which brings up a good point.

One thing I believe, for me at least, that is holding back Christian speculative fiction is an over-abundance of and over-reliance on the supernatural.  What do I mean by that?

I’ll tell you next week.

If you want a chance to get some FREE fantasy and science fiction books written by Christian authors head on over to The Jerkrenak’s Den and take part in the Summer Saurian Safari.