There’s been a lot of talk around social media circles about how to make writing worth the time it takes to pull together a novel. Anyone who’s ever tried to write something knows. The hours of drafting, fixing, trashing, and redoing quickly become countless. And for those writing for the tight niche known as Christian Speculative Fiction…well, most of us have had to make a tenuous peace with the current reality that writing isn’t a career path.

Folks on both the secular and inspirational side of the fence chafe at this—and rightly so—and  hunt for solutions. One such solution that has come up: authors just need to be insanely prolific. They need to get book after book after book out to their readers so that the income streams stack. Forget multiple passes of revisions! “Good enough” will do. Readers don’t really care about most of the stuff writers pull their hair out about, as long as the story connects with them in a powerful way.

While I can understand not reworking a project for years, (I admit to the propensity to want to continually revisit projects, even published ones, and make them better) and I certainly get that when readers have more books to buy, an author stands to make more money to support his writing habit, the proliferation model creates problems for both writers and readers.

Where writers lose: It’s the rare artist who can work both fast and clean. Speed begets sloppiness, to varying degrees, depending on the level of talent in the writer to churn out tight drafts. But American industry tends to run at a pace just a few clicks faster than its flagship producers, like Henry Ford speeding up the belt on the assembly line to force his army of technicians to fly through their motions to keep up. When this happens in writing, sure, more books get to market, but at what cost? Quality. As writers whose integrity is our witness, can we afford this?

How readers are shortchanged: The problem trickles down. Ultimately, cranking out books at a speed beyond best quality is a disrespect to people who read as a pastime. If writers and publishing houses careen to market, just to get the next book out, doesn’t that powerful story readers crave lose punch? Nuance and depth don’t happen in one thin coat. As readers, how do we injure the market by demanding the next book in the series right after we’ve consumed the first one?

It all reminds me of the culture of convenience food I see in American society. Being a working mom who shoulders three to four non-paying “gigs” outside of the ten hours a day I put in for the sake of practical earnings, I understand how people can find relief in unzipping a pouch, adding water, and hitting the “cook” button on the microwave. But processed convenience food is not only nutritionally inferior—it tastes like…you fill in your favorite negative piece of vocabulary. Even so, if you feed much of this to your kids, they develop a taste for it, so much that they will turn up their noses at “real food” when you offer it.

Some authors complain that readers only want “fast food” reading and get discouraged to an artistic standstill. Some embrace the general public’s lax demands as an excuse not to stress over the details—after all, why stretch yourself beyond what the readers demand? Is it because many have conceded to serving up the literary equivalent of Easy Mac and now few want artisanal cheddar because its flavor is too strong? It’s a self-perpetuating problem.

Conversely, there are readers who complain there’s so much junk on the market that it’s hard to find good books. I sympathize with these readers who have to comb through so much chaff to find the kernels of excellence that are out there…both traditionally- and self-published. It’s disheartening to see rave reviews of something popular only to pick it up and find another hackneyed, milquetoast, poorly-edited shelf-filler.

So what can we do about all this? It’s my hope that this will be at the heart of many of the discussions that go on at this year’s Realm Makers conference, if not from behind the podium, over the lunch table and in the hallways. Readers and writers alike have a role to play if they wish to see a cultural shift in the publishing climate. Writers must refuse to contribute to the growing haystack of mediocrity, but learn how to provide excellence with a speed that at least acknowledges the cravings for immediacy the internet age has cultivated.  Readers must put their money and their very vocal praise behind the books that exhibit mastery of craft. If enough authors “cook up” story delicacies, and enough readers enthusiastically support the best of the best on the market (and ignore the Easy Mac, even if it’s what “everyone” is reading,) together, we can contribute to a paradigm shift.

It may be counter cultural, but isn’t God that? Is he not the author of excellence? If we’re truly committed to doing what is pleasing in his sight, how can we produce or consume anything less than what we feel our Maker himself would call “well done?”

 

If you’re a writer and would like to spend a weekend at an event full of people of faith who are committed to creating excellent science fiction and fantasy, join us at the 2^nd annual Realm Makers conference, May 30-31, 2014 at Villanova University, just outside of Philadelphia, PA. Visit http://realmmakers.com for more information. Seating is limited!

– – – – –

Rebecca P. Minor has grown in recent years to a true dabbler in many corners of the arts, from writing to illustration to singing and trombone playing. She is the author of The Windrider Saga, serial fantasy fiction from Diminished Media Group and Curse Bearer, from Written World Communications.

In 2013, Rebecca organized the first Realm Makers conference, a symposium for people of faith who write fantasy and science fiction. The 2014 conference will take place in May, with Rebecca reprising the role of conference director.

To learn more about Rebecca’s writing and artistic exploits:

Visit www.rebeccapminor.com

Find her on Facebook as Rebecca P Minor, Author and Artist

Twitter @rebeccapminor.

To find out more about Realm Makers, visit http://realmmakers.com .

Author John Otte may have thought this a throwaway line in yesterday’s column:

We now live in a world where Christian speculative fiction has been on “The Tonight Show.” Govern yourselves appropriately.

Govern yourselves appropriately.

I had to salvage this line from the waste bin and asked a few Christian-speculative-fiction leaders to answer this question: How can Christian-speculative fans best react when, say, books such as Amish Vampires in Space get backhandedly endorsed by TV talk hosts?

First a disclaimer. My own perspective can be summed up in the already-overused British trope: KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. If there is a way to do this with Biblical humility, can fans be too-cool-for-school? I’m not sure how else to say this — or how to say it hypocrisy-free, because obviously we’re writing about it on SpecFaith.

Perhaps it’s simple enough to say that we must not put our trust in famous television promotion. Even the really popular stories and genres did not get this way because popular people plugged them. Instead such movements are truly grassroots. And kind of messy.

Speculative stories are better than late-night TV anyhow. Mr. Fallon should be so blessed to have a copy of this creative and published story in his studio. I only hope he reads it.

I can also hope that this good Christian movement — to promote better and more-Biblical stories that capture Scripture’s truth, beauty, and zest for the fantastic — does not go the way of other movements: being sidetracked when its members became too self-aware.

Responses from Christian spec-story leaders

Jeff Gerke, founder of original Amish Vampires in Space publisher Marcher Lord Press: not sure if fluke or cusp of a trend.

I don’t see how additional media exposure (and I’m not sure this is actually on the rise, the Fallon bit perhaps being an anomaly) should change anything. Maybe it’s easier to tell your neighbor about it if you can say, “As seen on TV.”

I’m thrilled for Kerry and AViS! And here’s hoping it starts something special.

Fantasy novelist and Realm Makers conference founder Becky Minor: this is a great opportunity.

I find this whole thing fascinating to watch unfold. I really hope Kerry gets on the radar of industry visioneers because of this “bad press.” (Since we all know, this wasn’t truly that.) There is a great opportunity here for us in the Christian spec-fic world to rally around Kerry and help people who otherwise would never have known about AViS discover that there’s a whole segment of fiction they are missing out on, because it’s usually pigeonholed “inspirational,” the death row of books at a mainstream retailer.

No matter what people say about the cover or the title in terms of personal preferences, if we really look at what Kerry’s done with both, it’s a genius publicity stunt. The great bonus here is that the book beyond the stunt is good!

Our new SpecFaith reviewer Austin Gunderson: Don’t dance in the endzone.

Christian speculative fiction hasn’t arrived. Also, it wasn’t featured on The Tonight Show this Tuesday.

What put a copy of AViS in the hands of Jimmy Fallon had nothing whatsoever to do with its themes, its substance, or even its technical quality. Though I haven’t read the book myself, I can make this snap judgment with complete confidence on the grounds that Jimmy Fallon hasn’t read it, either.

AViS received fifteen seconds of fame on Tuesday for one reason and one reason only: bold marketing. It’s got a title and cover that demand your attention and stick in your memory. It’s provocative. It doesn’t play it safe or imitate a string of predecessors. It defies convention. It fairly leaps out of the box. And looks pretty slick doing so. That’s what’s made it famous, not the fact that it’s Christian spec-fic.

Should we celebrate with Kerry Nietz over his PR coup? Absolutely. But let’s not get cocky. Our subgenre has a long way to go before its own niche publishers will even bring themselves to embrace mavericks like Nietz, let alone before we can claim to have somehow “arrived.”

Splashdown Books founder and publisher Grace Bridges: be a non-preachy fan.

John’s words may be construed as an instruction to remain mild-mannered and calm so as not to put anyone off. But I think “appropriate” behaviour in this case is free to be openly fannish. Be the fandom. Be a geek, show your passion. Just please don’t preach.

Finally, Amish Vampires in Space author himself, Kerry Nietz: have fun with this.

Be encouraging and inclusive. I’ve been following AViS on Twitter since the beginning, and there are so many opportunities there to connect with folks. Sometimes it would be easy to be negative—especially when they are clearly mocking—but I’ve instead tried to laugh along with them. Show them Christians are witty too. Plus, many people don’t know how dominated the CBA is by Amish fiction, so it is a chance to dialog on that too. Be positive. Stay upbeat. As Hugh Howey says, “be a hugger.”

So this morning, I woke up intending to do something…profound.

Can I confess something? Sometimes I feel like the court jester here at Speculative Faith. I see the deep and thoughtful articles posted by my colleagues and I look at what I’ve offered in the past and I feel somewhat inadequate. Especially lately.

So this morning, as I got up, I intended to sit myself down at my computer, sip my non-caffeinated beverage (thanks to it being Lent and all), and expound on the power of story, specifically looking at some of Jesus’ parables.

But before I did that, I checked my Facebook account, where I saw this:

And my brain completely locked up. Is that…no, that can’t be… Is Jimmy Fallon really holding a copy of Amish Vampires in Space? For reals?

For reals. Check out the video for yourself (AViS gets brought out at the 2:34 mark):

Now, admittedly, my first reaction was a bit of trepidation. What was he going to say about it? How eviscerating would his mockery be? As it turns out, it wasn’t all that bad. Here’s Jimmy’s take, in its entirety (for those who don’t want to watch the clip):

Ah, this book is… (shakes his head) “Amish Vampires in Space.” Do we need yet another Amish vampires space book? Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

That’s it? That’s actually pretty tame, all things considered.

Now I could go off on how silly it is that yet another person has judged an excellent book by its cover (and title), but I won’t. Because let’s think about what just happened.

A Christian speculative fiction book was held up on a late night talk show that’s seen by millions of people. Millions of people were told, “Yes, this is a real book that you can find at Amazon or your local library.”

I’m not saying that all of those millions will go out and buy the book (it would be cool if they did), but how many of them will go to Amazon to see if Jimmy Fallon was telling them the truth about this book? How many of them will see that it has nothing but positive reviews? How many of them might be tempted to grab a copy for themselves?

How cool is that?

I don’t have anything profound to say, really. I just think we need to stop and take a moment to savor what has happened.

We have arrived.

Oh, and Kerry? I know you have t-shirts. You should totally send one to Jimmy.

I’ve decided to explore some issues concerning Christian fiction. To do that, I need to hash out what I mean by the term Christian fiction. The term has become so vague and broad that it means different things to different people. Some I’ve encountered are downright hostile to the term.

One definition to shove off the table right away is I don’t mean to imply that the story itself can be Christian.

As in hear the Gospel and get “saved” by any definition of that term. To imply that legalistic definition is what one has to mean using that term is suggesting we stop using the term “rush hour” because hours not only can’t rush, an hour is far from rushing about anything. Terms are given meaning through usage, not by linguistic logic.

The broadest definition is a story that ultimately glorifies Christianity’s God and Jesus Christ.

However, what constitutes “glorifying God” is often squishy.

For example, some might only consider a story that is overtly faith-themed to be glorifying God. Another, telling a quality story as a Christian, whether the story itself ever mention’s God or not, to be glorifying God.

From the later understanding comes the oft repeated phrase, “I’m not a Christian writer. I’m a writer who is Christian.” Though I know the distinction that saying is intended to get across, both really say the same thing.

Likewise, what one group of Christians might consider an error, another accepts as truth. A book written by one author will be seen as glorifying God by one segment of Christendom but as defamation of God and the Christian faith by another.

Whether a story ultimately glorifies God or not, perhaps only God really knows.

We can point to stories most Christians would agree do and don’t, but on many other titles there can be much debate. You can always find someone who believes it doesn’t.

So while I agree with the goal on a personal level as an author, judging whether a story is Christian or not based upon that criteria can be very subjective, depending on how broadly you define that criteria and which theological tradition you are basing that judgment on.

There are two definitions that are often synonymous, but not necessarily.

Christian fiction contains Christian themes central to a story’s plot and/or characters.

This can be heavy as in a book about someone’s journey to God or light as in seed-planting attempts which tend to focus upon Christian-based morals and worldviews than overt Christian references.

It is the later some have problems calling Christian fiction since often those values could be just as easily applied to any other religion, including atheism. As I argued some months ago on my own blog, moralism isn’t the fullness of the Gospel, but neither should we expect every story labeled Christian to contain the fullness of the Gospel in order to be worthy of that label.

That said, what might be classified as Christian in this definition can fall outside it in the following one.

Fiction written for the Christian audience.

Usually fiction with Christian themes central to the story would be written to appeal to a Christian audience. However, the less obvious that becomes, the less it will appeal to those readers unless they tend to cross over into the general market for their reading. Even then, when anyone picks up a Christian book, they expect it to focus on Christian themes and struggles.

A Christian audience isn’t the market for plowing and seed-planting in most cases

Despite that, most overt Gospel presentations happen in that market. Rather, such efforts should be directed primarily to the general market. Writing to that market means a much more nuanced approach. It doesn’t mean there can’t be Christian themes, but they need to be presented in such a way as to draw the non-Christian to Christ, not slap them in the face with preaching.

The problem when I define it this way, however, is that many people think “CBA”.

Then it is off to the races to either criticize or defend the CBA and its market. It is the concept that CBA = Christian fiction that leads to a lot of heat from some “authors who are Christian” concerning the term.

That perception used to be true. CBA is an acronym for the Christian Bookseller’s Association: membership consisting of mostly Christian bookstores. Due to the “tyranny of the most vocal,” most bookstores’ market for fiction grew very narrow. This led the publishers to reject stories containing content they knew wouldn’t sell, knew bookstore owners wouldn’t stock.

Several years ago, if it didn’t sit on the shelf of a Christian bookstore, your Christian novel would never have found an audience, much less get published. Selling in a bookstore was the only game in town.

The result was the Christian fiction market could only reach a small fragment of the full Christian market. Any author who wrote a book for a wider Christian audience was out of luck, along with the readers who would have enjoyed their novels.

With the opening of online sales in both POD and ebooks, an author’s only option to get published and distributed is no longer just the CBA.

That unreached segment of the Christian population not serviced by the CBA could now be reached. Small publishers like Marcher Lord Press and Splashdown (disclaimer: I’m published through Splashdown) distribute their books through online channels. Writers have the option of self-publishing. We’ve also seen Christian publishers, no longer totally dependent upon the CBA to distribute books, begin to loosen up.

The fact is that while it is still largely untapped, writing for the Christian market no longer only refers to writing for the narrow CBA audience. It also now practically refers to the wider Christian audience who haven’t set foot in a Christian bookstore in decades.

My definition would be a combination of those two.

Christian fiction is stories written for the Christian audience focusing on Christian themes, issues, and struggles.

Stories aimed at the general market containing Christian themes—however light—would be Christian in one sense, but aimed for the general market, so not intended to reach a Christian audience. To classify them as “Christian” would be to mislabel them. Such books need to be freed from the “Christian ghetto” if they are to have any influence upon wider society.

Likewise, while a story could end up on a Christian bookstore shelf that has little to do with Christian themes, issues, and struggles, it is also mislabeled. It won’t sell to that audience. What’s the point of labeling a story as Christian if it has little to do with Christianity?

That’s my definition. When I bring up the term Christian fiction in following discussions, that’s what I’m talking about. Based on that, my Reality Chronicle series is Christian fiction. My Virtual Chronicles is not, even though the values there are compatible with Christianity and have a Christian worldview underlying them.

Disagree with my definition? Why?

Some readers admittedly consider themselves part of a niche. They love science fiction, for example, and science fiction alone. They devour online magazines that carry science fiction, buy up all the novels they can afford, watch whatever scifi shows up on TV, own the DVDs of all the great scifi movies, and bemoan the fact that there isn’t more they can get their hands on.

I was never that kind of reader. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, my first great reading love was Walter Farley’s books about the Black Stallion and the horses he sired. Not long after, though, I dived into Nancy drew mysteries. My first “serious” reading was Pride and Prejudice, which led me to discover Little Women and others by Louisa May Alcott.

What do all those books have in common? Not much, other than the fact that I found them interesting, exciting, enjoyable.

At some point, I discovered fantasy, either through Lord of the Rings or Narnia–I don’t recall which was first–and I did search for any and all books that seemed similar. Not exclusively, though. When Janette Oke published her first prairie romance, I read it and enjoyed it. Shortly afterward, a friend pointed me to a Randy Alcorn mystery, and I read and enjoyed that, too. When Frank Peretti’s supernatural suspense books came out, I happily devoured them as well.

Despite the fact that I had discovered the early books in what has come to be known as Christian fiction, I continued to read Dick Francis novels or Tom Clancy. In other words, my reading tastes have been, and still are, eclectic.

When I went to my first writing conferences, then, I was at a loss to understand the idea instructors introduced that writers should target a particular audience. I was targeting readers like me who enjoy all kinds of stories. Not children. Not teens necessarily, though they might enjoy my stories. But readers. People who like mysteries or fantasy or space opera or adventure, even women who like women’s fiction.

But apparently readers is not an acceptable target audience. Apparently we, writers and readers, are supposed to segregate ourselves from genres other than our favorites.

Except, I consistently see in the blogosphere, others who say they like stories from a variety of categories.

How can we who want to see more Christian speculative fiction produced by traditional publishers, reach those readers? For that matter, how can self-published authors reach those readers?

I’ve been thinking about that in connection to Speculative Faith and to the Clive Staples Award. With the latter, readers have nominated a couple middle grade books, some young adult novels, and some adult. So how can we get the attention of middle grade readers, not just middle grade readers who like fantasy? Or YA readers, not just YA readers who enjoy supernatural suspense?

In other words, how can readers like me, the eclectic kind, find out about books we label “speculative”? Will regular readers stop by the Spec Faith library because they’re in the mood to read scifi, much the way someone might choose a Chinese restaurant because they’re in the mood for a little chow mein?

I’m asking these questions without answers. I know too many readers who would not consider themselves “fantasy people” who enjoy Narnia and The Hobbit, but who have never heard of The Chronicles of Prydain, let alone the Blood of Kings trilogy by Jill Williamson or The Guardian-King series by Karen Hancock.

I know there are fans of Melanie Dickerson’s Christian fairytale fantasies, for example, who don’t know there’s a Clive Staples Award where they could nominate her books. Why? Because we have no way of reaching them.

And the thing is, should they discover their favorite author on a list of books nominated for the same award, might they not find out that a novel like King by R. J. Larson or Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl or Son of Truth by Morgan Busse, is similar?

How do we bridge the gap between readers and books waiting to be read? How do we spread the word, not about a single title, but about a genre to non-genre-identifying readers? Because I have to believe there are far more readers who just love good stories than there are readers who isolate their reading to one particular category.

I’m part of a couple Facebook groups for Christian speculative fiction, and I wonder how helpful those are. Would it be wiser to join regular reading groups instead? How can we reach beyond the borders of readers who identify as fans of speculative literature? Is there something we’re missing?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away … seemed like an obvious way to start a piece on the subject of space opera – which, despite the rather flippant title, is nothing to do with a soprano in a rocket ship bemoaning the lack of atmosphere, or indeed that episode of Doctor Who with Katherine Jenkins.

No, in fact, the term space opera was coined in the 1940s, as a sort of witty put-down, likening certain types of pulp sci-fi to the then new phenomenon of soap operas.

These were the stories of romantic heroes heading off into the unknown reaches of space with nothing more than a ray gun between them and some green bug-eyed monster; of colossal spaceships involved in the epic struggle of good versus ultimate evil; of the grizzled space-jock, blaster in one hand, recently-rescued princess in the other, taking on a corrupt galactic empire – and winning.

And if that sounds a little familiar, it might just be because some time in the 1970s a man with a beard found all those things in a box somewhere, sprinkled them with Industrial Light and Magic, and… space opera was given a whole new lease on life.

The fact that I grew up in the time of the original Star Wars trilogy, when space shuttle launches were still news and kids still wanted to grow up to be astronauts (or X-Wing pilots), may have something to do with my fondness for this kind of space opera.

Hard science fiction, the kind that takes its science very seriously and likes to contemplate the possible effect of technology on humanity’s future development, is all well and good, but doesn’t every kid just want to blow the bad guys up and go home?

Nobody cares what powers a Tie Fighter or how the Millennium Falcon can travel faster than light; space opera just takes it as read that the technology works, maybe throws in a dilithium crystal or some other kind of handwavium, and gets on with the story.

As well as the over-arching battle between good and evil that often provides the action, a typical defining characteristic of a space opera is that of scale. The Star Wars trilogy, to return to that well-known example, takes us from the desert world of Tatooine to the swamps of Dagobah, the ice world of Hoth, and the cloud city of Bespin, among others. A rather simplistic approach to designing a galaxy maybe, but undeniably effective in film.

Written space opera, on the other hand, can afford to go into greater detail, and so we find galactic civilisations such as those in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation stories and James Blish’s Cities in Flight, developed and built upon over a series of novels. More recently, another man with a beard, the late Iain M Banks, has taken the pan-galactic culture to a new level, with the weird humans, even weirder aliens and omnipotent artificial intelligences that inhabit his Culture novels, which have gone a long way to further redefining space opera as a legitimate form of genre literature.

However, there does seem to be an assumption in most stories of this type – it’s a kind of unwritten rule in the Star Trek universe, for instance – that any civilisation advanced enough to colonise the galaxy has long since realised that religion belongs to a less enlightened era.  Even Darth Vader is mocked for his ‘sad devotion to that ancient religion’.

There are exceptions: Christian sci-fi readers have been treated to The Lamb Among The Stars series by Chris Walley, a far future tale in which Christian humanity has colonised the galaxy, as well as the Firebird Trilogy by Star Wars novelist Kathy Tyers. Both have all the things a good space opera should have, and a solid spiritual grounding from which to work.

But these are an exception in sub-genre that doesn’t need God in order to perform miracles; so where does that leave us, looking for faith and meaning in these stories? Does space opera have a place for the Christian reader?

Alongside ‘May the Force be with you’, there is another quote that has hung around in the back of my mind since childhood:

How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How plainly it shows what he has done! (Psalm 19:1, Good News Translation)

It’s hard to deny the huge, galaxy-spanning scale of God’s creation. God works on an epic scale; after all, why be satisfied with making the universe just ‘really big’ when ‘infinite’ is within your grasp?

And whatever strange worlds we read about in space operas, however weird the aliens we meet, whether based on some theoretical science or a pure fiction, they have been created by a mind far less imaginative than that of God – the Mind which created both the science and the imagination.

However fantastic a galaxy we can create in our imaginations, read about in a Culture novel or see in a sci-fi adventure movie, the reality is far more exotic – just take a look at the Pillars of Creation, or the Horsehead Nebula.

But that’s not all: the exploring, the seeking out new civilisations – that’s right out of the Bible, isn’t it? Right from the start, since the expulsion from Paradise, man has been boldly going where no one has gone before. Did anyone ever go more boldly than Abram? Or Moses?

And the backdrop to the Israelites’ travels throughout the Old Testament is of course, the ancient struggle between good and evil. A struggle which went on throughout the life of Jesus, and which we all experience on a daily basis.

And that, I believe, is what Space Opera has to say to us. God has placed within us a spark of the infinite, and a knowledge that good and evil are at war around us. The power of story to illuminate God’s truth has no doubt been mentioned on Speculative Faith many times. To me, Space Opera is the perfect means to express the big truths about God’s plan for us.

And with that, I’m off to grow a beard and reinvent a sub-genre…

– – – – –

Steve Trower is a Christian, geek dad, and part-time creator of parallel universes. He lives in the once and future capital of Mercia (known in this reality as central England [which explains the occasional strange spelling in this post – 😉 ]) with two daughters, one wife, and a Mini called Binky. In between – and frequently at – a series of menial jobs, he managed to chalk up a number of non-fiction writing credits before deciding that making stuff up was a lot more fun than being bound by those ‘fact’ thingies magazine editors seem so keen on, and began practicing the dark art of novel writing.

His first Old Testament Space Opera, Countless as the Stars, will be released as an e-book later this year (paperback copies are still available at giveaway prices from stevetrower.com).

He blogs at stevetrower.com/blog and tweets as @SPTrowerEsq, but neither as often as he should.

Previously SpecFaith encouraged reviews for Christian novels in the SpecFaith Library — that is, Christian speculative fiction.

Now SpecFaith encourages Christian reviews (reviews based on a Christian worldview) of anything speculative.

Christian

When we say Christian we mean:

• Faithful to Scripture.
• Faithful to a recognized Christian confession. (For example, this is the SpecFaith staff confession.)
• Mindful of the grace and truth Jesus Christ modeled for His people.
• Mindful of all standards of conduct that Jesus Christ commands (Eph. 4: 15-16).

Reviews

Here’s what we’d like to see in reviews (which may be reprints from Amazon, Goodreads, or your own website):

• Word count of at least 300 words.
• Written from a uniquely Biblical perspective.
• Mindful of standards of truth. How did the story’s content, religious elements, and truth claims compare with truth revealed in the Bible?
• Mindful of standards of beauty. How did the story’s craft, style, and writing compare with standards of artistic excellence?

Anything

By anything we include the following:

• Novels traditionally published
• Novels independently/self-published
• Short-story collections
• Comic books
• Motion pictures
• Television shows
• Video games
• Events/conferences
• Nonfiction books about speculative stories

Speculative

The term speculative covers genres such as:

• Fantasy
• Science fiction / space opera
• Horror
• Paranormal
• Alternate history
• Fairy tales
• Dystopian/post-apocalyptic
• Supernatural
• Magical realism

Further review tips

• Read existing SpecFaith reviews to see what we’re after.
• If your review was already published elsewhere, include the link.
• You might write your review in any style (e.g. mimicking the story’s genre, using puns, examples from the story, comparing or contrasting the item you’re reviewing with others).
• Write tight. Make it clean and efficient. Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
• Go deep, but be readable.
• Be gracious and truthful.
• Compare/contrast your review subject with Scripture (truth). Compare/contrast it with artistic standards and similar stories (beauty).
• Glorify God in your praise and constructive criticism.

Why expanded reviews?

Why are we offering reviews for more speculative stories besides Christian ones?

At SpecFaith we believe all beauty and all truth are God’s and therefore worth exploring.

Our Faith Statement says:

We believe God can and does let His truth be echoed in His creation, for all truth is His truth and remains so even if it is found in a story that does not specifically credit Him.

[…] Thanks to God’s creation of man in His image, and His gifts even to those who reject Him, sinful man can sometimes echo some portions of God’s truth.

If you have enjoyed a story or been moved to enjoy God more because of a story, then we invite you to write a review. If you’ve already written one, please share it with us. Help us explore epic stories for God’s glory.

Further up and further in!

If you frequent Spec Faith, you undoubtedly know about the Clive Staples Award. Last week we wrapped up nominations and in a couple weeks we’ll vote for the finalists.

In the meantime, you have the opportunity to learn about the books that other readers nominated as the best of royalty paying Christian speculative fiction published in 2013. Our hope is two fold.

First, our desire is that you’ll discover books you hadn’t heard of before and that you might like to read.

Second, we hope that you’ll be sure to read at least two of the nominations before March 17 so that you’ll be eligible to vote.

Most of the time, a title on a list is not enough to go by to help decide if you’d like to read a book. Consequently, the CSA team is introducing the novels by posting the genre of the book; its description; excerpts from online or print comments; links to reviews, interviews, an excerpt if available, a book trailer if available, and any other pertinent information we find; links to places where you can purchase the book; and formats available other than print.

To be sure that you don’t miss these introductions, you might like to subscribe to the Clive Staples Award site. These articles should also post to the Spec Faith Facebook page.
However, there are a couple you may have missed, so I’m adding them below. Enjoy!

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Storm by Evan Angler

Genre
Middle grade dystopian fantasy, book three of the Swipe series.

Description
Now the unlikely leader of the Markless revolution, Logan Langly is fighting for much more than he’d ever imagined. With the threat of a chemically manufactured plague that could kill millions and a drought that is nearing critical mass, someone has to step in. But when an old friend appears with a special mission for him, it is no longer clear who Logan can trust.

And with the weather becoming more and more unstable, a storm is coming that will put everything Logan and the Markless have worked for at risk…

What Others Are Saying
“This is a great book. It moves at a very fast pace, and shows a number of things, but most of all friendship… If you read this book, make sure to tell someone else about it, because, like me, you’ll find you will love this book.—Tyler L., age 12.”
–School Library Journal, Book Reviews by Young Adults

“Storm by Evan Angler delivered everything I was anticipating– and more! Throughout the entire novel there was non-stop action and intrigue.” –Christian Book Review Blog

Learn More
Excerpt
Interview
Reviews
Trailer

Obtain a copy
Thomas Nelson
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Request a copy at a bookstore near you or ask your local library to order a copy. (ISBN# 1400321972)

Other formats
Kindle
Audible Edition, Unabridged

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Son of Truth by Morgan L. Busse

Genre
Epic fantasy

Description
Can a killer find forgiveness?

Son of Truth is the second in the Follower of the Word series. Book one is Daughter of Light.

The war in the north is over, but the war for all the Lands has just begun. As the Shadonae solidify their hold on the city of Thyra, Rowen Mar, the last Eldaran and savior of the White City, awakens to find herself hunted by those she has saved.

Meanwhile, the assassin Caleb Tala finds himself in the presence of the Word. The time of reckoning has come, and he must pay the price for all the lives he has taken. But in his moment of judgment, Caleb is given a second chance to change his life.

These two hold the power to save the Lands from the Shadonae. One must escape slavery, and one must choose to forsake everything before the world is consumed in darkness.

What others are saying
“This series might be read by an unbeliever and seen as pure fantasy. But to the Christian, the theme of God’s love is very clear.”— B. Gill, Amazon reviewer

“Son of Truth is a great follow up to the Daughter of Light. We’re taken on an even wilder journey as Rowen discovers the truth about Thyra and what she must do in order to save the Lands, and when Caleb awakens after meeting the Word, we see just how much he has changed – and for the better.”—E. Barnes, Amazon reviewer

Learn more
Excerpt at Amazon
Interview
Review

Obtain a copy
Marcher Lord Press
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Request a copy at a bookstore near you or ask your local library to order a copy (ISBN-13: 978-1935929918).

Other formats
Kindle
Nook

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A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr

Genre
adult / young adult epic medieval adventure fantasy
The Staff and the Sword (Book 1)

Description
The Fate of the Kingdom Awaits the Cast of Stones

In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone’s search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he’s joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.

Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom’s dynasty is near an end and a new king must be selected. As tension and danger mount, Errol must leave behind his drunkenness and grief, learn to fight, and come to know his God in order to survive a journey to discover his destiny.

What others are saying
“Carr’s debut, the first in a series, is assured and up-tempo, with much to enjoy in characterization and description–not least the homely, life-as-lived details.” Publishers Weekly

“This fast-paced fantasy debut set in a medieval world is a winner. Both main and secondary characters are fully drawn and endearing, and Errol’s transformation from drunkard to hero is well plotted. Carr is a promising CF author to watch. Fans of epic Christian fantasies will enjoy discovering a new voice.” Library Journal

“[Good fantasy books] have to be excellent. Good storytelling and exceptional characters with circumstances that are easy enough to follow and wrap your brain around but keep you entertained and guessing… Cast of Stones has found itself firmly in that list of books. I absolutely, one hundred percent loved this book.” Radiant Lit

“Patrick Carr makes his debut with an epic fantasy that will engage readers as they venture into the world Carr creates, one on the brink of destruction where adventure awaits a reluctant hero…[The] novel is filled with strong characters and a tightly-woven plot.” Christian Library Journal

Learn more
Excerpt at Barnes & Noble
Author bio
Interview (w/Brock Eastman)
Interview (w/Finding Hope Through Fiction)
The Staff and the Sword series

Obtain a copy
Baker Publishing Group
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Christianbook.com

Other Formats
Kindle
Nook

Would the Christian fiction market exist today if the general market had used a ratings system early on?

At first, that may sound silly, but think about it. The Christian market started back in the 70s and 80s as a way for Christians to avoid the profanity, sexuality, and otherwise anti-God worldview encountered in many novels. If books were rated for language and sexuality, people would have had an easier time avoiding that content if they so wished. Might not that have taken the wind out of needing to produce “clean fiction” under a Christian market label?

There are two groups of people I see that would appreciate a rating system.

1. Adults and older teens who don’t care to read that kind of thing.

Despite the prevalence of profanity and sexuality in our culture and lives, there is a sizable demographic who would rather not read it. Currently for this group, there is no foolproof method to know if a book they are buying has those elements, and if so, to what degree. Other than sticking to Christian market fiction, it is a gamble.

2. Parents attempting to discover age-appropriate books for their children.

An article by Jason Koebler in US News published May 18, 2012 notes concerning young adult books at the time:

Among the top 40 best-selling children’s books on the New York Times list between June 22 and July 6, 2008, one researcher found more than 1,500 profane words. . . . All but five books, including many targeted to kids as young as 9, had at least one instance of profanity.
(Is It Time To Rate Young Adult Books for Mature Content?)

While some may argue that children should be exposed to such realities, ultimately it is the parent’s responsibility to decide that for their children. Yes, children will hear it in real life, at school (though I didn’t much growing up), but it is one thing to hear it from your peers, another to be promoted by a book.

Children’s books, however, do have some help. Organizations like Common Sense Media rate books based on age appropriateness, as well as quality in educational developmental value. However, it isn’t exhaustive.

The debate about allowing more of profanity and sexuality in Christian market fiction has two sides.

On one hand, to allow it goes against one of the main reason it came into being: to offer a haven from that type of literature. On the other hand, the reaction has swung so drastically at times to the other side as to be ridiculous and unrealistic. If Christian fiction doesn’t model healthy sexuality as opposed to conveying the message that sex is bad and to be avoided, who will? Some would argue that it at least needs to be brought back to a more moderate position.

A near-exhaustive rating system might have been doable back in the day. With the prevalence of indie publishing, it would be very piecemeal short of a law passed requiring it to be published. Most would consider that a violation of the 1^st amendment.

I’m personally considering rating my books on my website.

In part because a series that has middle grade as its most rabid fans has one book with more mature content, at least 13 or older. I wrote the series intending them to be young adult, and it wasn’t until after I had written the last one that it became obvious that those stories were most popular among older children.

So what do you think? Would a ratings system have prevented the Christian market for books from existing? Do you think it wise for me to rate my own books on my website?