Christian Fiction is Alive and Well

CBN.com In June I was privileged to be the emcee for the annual Christy Awards. The Christys are held each year before the opening of the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) Convention. The awards honor quality in Christian fiction.

Judges read dozens of books in six categories and choose three finalists in each.

This year was the fifth annual Christy banquet. In making some remarks about the advances in our industry over the last five years, it struck me that the greatest development of all was the amazing rise in the quality of writing in the CBA market.

Indeed, the Christy judges this year said it was very difficult to choose the finalists, let alone the winners, in each category.

One thing they all agreed on is that Christian fiction has come a long way since its infancy.

In the 70's and 80's, evangelical publishing houses issued little fiction, and most of what came out was less than stellar. Often it seemed like the novels were mere sermons between two covers. For that reason, Christian fiction stayed mired in its little ghetto, often having only half a shelf in Christian bookstores, and no presence at all in secular stores.

Things began to change in the late 80's and early 90's, in the wake of the popularity of Frank Peretti's breakaway bestseller, This Present Darkness. That book was more popular than most novels on the New York Times bestseller list. Naturally, such success got the attention of Christian publishers, and more Christian fiction became available than ever before.

In 1995 a novel called Left Behind hit the stores. You know the rest of that story. 62 million copies of the series has sold to date, and counting. In the wake of this success, even more Christian fiction began to see the light of day.

Throughout the 90's, however, there was still a hit and miss quality to CBA fiction. Agenda driven novels, where a didactic message overwhelmed the quality of the writing, was common. A well-crafted story with compelling characters was more the exception than the rule.

But within the last five years Christian fiction has started to hit a stride. There are more quality writers being than ever being added to CBA publishing houses every year.

Which makes it odd, then, to hear some critical voices within evangelicalism that have lately questioned the worth of CBA fiction. Blanket statements about the lack of quality in CBA have been issued, as if the developments over the last five years never happened.

One criticism is that CBA fiction wraps things up too easily, that it's too all sunny and light.

Perhaps that was true ten years ago, but no more. The majority of CBA novelists today are dealing with all sorts of issues that defy easy answers, even though the faith element in the characters remains strong. AIDS, alcoholism, domestic abuse, mental illness, bio-ethics and a host of controversial subjects have been tackled in recent years.

Another criticism is that, stylistically, CBA fiction is mundane or downright sloppy.

Also incorrect. Today there is a variety of writing styles, in all sorts of genres. This year's Christy Award winners prove the point.

In the Allegory/Fantasy category, Karen Hancock won for The Light of Eidon (Bethany House). No one reading this book can come away without being impressed by the imagination and quality of the writing.

In Contemporary, Lisa Samson took the Christy for Songbird (Warner Faith), one of two books she was nominated for. Her books can stand up to the best literary novels one finds in secular stores.

Jerry Jenkins won in Futuristic, for Soon (Tyndale). His fast moving plots and tight dialogue show him to be a master storyteller.

In the Historical category, Lynn Austin won her second Christy Award, for Fire by Night (Bethany House). The Romance award went to Hannah Alexander (the writing team of Mel and Cheryl Hodde) for Hideaway (Steeple Hill). In suspense, Ted Dekker took the prize for Thr3e (Westbow). And the First Novel Christy was awarded to Brad Whittington for Welcome to Fred (Broadman & Holman).

Each one of these novels is singular, confident in style, well crafted, multi-faceted. It's not possible to read these works and think that CBA fiction is backward and without merit.

A third criticism is that CBA genre fiction is a rather pale attempt to "copy" secular book publishing trends.

This is a strange charge, as if CBA should be curtailed from publishing in recognizable genres because, well, it's being done by secular counterparts.

My view is that many of the genre writers in CBA are actually better than a lot of their counterparts in the general market. And Christian writers have every right to choose the genres they enjoy.

I write in the suspense genre, because that's what I like to read. I also like to explore my faith, which is why I publish in CBA. I try to write with as much literary quality as my models, greats like Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald. Both of these writers were somewhat marginalized in their day; now they are getting the recognition they deserve. In their books we find as much insight into the human soul as in the best so-called "literary" fiction.

I make no apologies for writing page turning suspense that offers an alternative to the offensiveness of so much secular fiction. In fact, it requires great skill to pull this off--writing gritty realism without falling into excess. I relish the challenge. I get letters and e-mails all the time from Christian readers, thanking me for offering entertaining fiction they don't have to worry about.

Should they worry? Some would argue Yes. Some would say these readers need to "grow up" and face reality.

Bosh. What's more real than a Christian worldview? Why shouldn't Christian novelists offer a better alternative to readers who share our faith?

That's what's happening now. I have many friends writing Christian fiction, and as I read their work I marvel at the quality of the writing, across the board.

We need unabashedly Christian fiction of all kinds. We need the kind of literary fiction that dives deep into complexities and looks unstintingly at all aspects of the human experience. At the same time, we need excellent storytellers who rely on suspense, romance, history and so on. The only thing that needs to be shared is a commitment to growing in the writer's craft.

My writer friends and I do share that commitment, and that's why CBA fiction is alive and well, and will continue to grow.