Meatballs 'n' Biscuits at the Christian Fiction Conference

[nelliebelle1197]

Our famous frozen meatball and canned biscuit chef just attended the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference and got four inquiries into her novel

meghancarver.blogspot.com/2013/09/when-god-sends-angel-highlights-of-acfw.html

This got me wondering about what we know about this conference and about this type of Christian fiction. When I was in an IFB, skirt wearing elementary and middle school, there wasn't much other than Catherine Marshall novels. It seems to be blossoming. Anyone familiar with the genre?

Sidenote, this is nice for Meaghan. But I wish she would elaborate on her spiritual crisis :evil-eye:

[polecat]

Our famous frozen meatball and canned biscuit chef just attended the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference and got four inquiries into her novel

meghancarver.blogspot.com/2013/09/when-god-sends-angel-highlights-of-acfw.html

This got me wondering about what we know about this conference and about this type of Christian fiction. When I was in an IFB, skirt wearing elementary and middle school, there wasn't much other than Catherine Marshall novels. It seems to be blossoming. Anyone familiar with the genre?

Sidenote, this is nice for Meaghan. But I wish she would elaborate on her spiritual crisis :evil-eye:

We were mostly stuck with Al Lacy, where the criminals were all gentlemen and everyone got saved in the end.

Hay-men!

[Sobeknofret]

I read Brock and Bodie Thoene's Zion Covenant series which I thought was well written, and I did enjoy it, but I get the distinct impression that they're pro-Israel because of the whole end times thing. I don't remember it being explicit, but it was a feeling I walked away with.

thoenebooks.com/index.asp

[GenerationCedarchip]

I grew up when Christian fiction was mostly a very staid affair - lots of super wholesome prairie romance. I also remember the Winslow Family saga which was actually fun reading when I was a kid, though now that I look back on it, I can see the seeds of dominionism in that one.

Nowadays, it's gotten much more diverse. Not surprisingly, there are now fundies who blog about "Should we read fiction?" or who get all pearl clutchy at the idea of what's in Christian bookstores. And you may notice that most of the fundie sites recommend non-fiction books almost exclusively. Not much modern Christian fiction passing muster at Vision Forum!

You still won't find lots of graphic violence or premarital sex, but there's more variety now. For instance, you have Julie Lessman writing historical romances with characters who will at least let on that they are sexual beings even if they won't act on it outside of marriage. And you have some writers like Mary DeMuth or Christa Parrish exploring gritty subjects like domestic violence, depression, etc... and actually doing them justice.

There's still some dominionist family sagas and overly wholesome, preachy stuff to be found, but there's good stuff(from my point of view) out there now, too. Oddly enough, I read more of it now than I did back when I was in fundie-dom. With the exception of the Thoenes, the Christian fiction landscape was a little bleak in the early 1990s.

[louisa05]

I know a couple of writers who have published in that world. One has walked away because of too many limitations. For example, she had to fight to include a vague reference to sex between a married couple and was forced to only indirectly imply that a couple was interracial.

[formergothardite]

I always liked Christy by Catherine Marshall. It is one of those books that I still enjoy reading.

Grace Livingston Hill. Gag me. Her books were awful.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I always liked Christy by Catherine Marshall. It is one of those books that I still enjoy reading.

Grace Livingston Hill. Gag me. Her books were awful.

Yes! They're like Elsie Dinsmore for grownups. My personal favorite trope of hers was that the women with short hair and/or nail polish were always bad news.

She's being republished and I know that she's one of the few authors my old church stocks in the library. Wondering if VF will pick these books up.

[nelliebelle1197]

I grew up when Christian fiction was mostly a very staid affair - lots of super wholesome prairie romance. I also remember the Winslow Family saga which was actually fun reading when I was a kid, though now that I look back on it, I can see the seeds of dominionism in that one.

Nowadays, it's gotten much more diverse. Not surprisingly, there are now fundies who blog about "Should we read fiction?" or who get all pearl clutchy at the idea of what's in Christian bookstores. And you may notice that most of the fundie sites recommend non-fiction books almost exclusively. Not much modern Christian fiction passing muster at Vision Forum!

You still won't find lots of graphic violence or premarital sex, but there's more variety now. For instance, you have Julie Lessman writing historical romances with characters who will at least let on that they are sexual beings even if they won't act on it outside of marriage. And you have some writers like Mary DeMuth or Christa Parrish exploring gritty subjects like domestic violence, depression, etc... and actually doing them justice.

There's still some dominionist family sagas and overly wholesome, preachy stuff to be found, but there's good stuff(from my point of view) out there now, too. Oddly enough, I read more of it now than I did back when I was in fundie-dom. With the exception of the Thoenes, the Christian fiction landscape was a little bleak in the early 1990s.

Yeah, our reading list at school was mostly missionary tales, Fox's Book of Martyrs (no idea why), Corrie ten Boom and nonfiction. Fortunately, my family was heathen - I was only there because this was the only private school in town and I needed more challenge than the Mississippi public school offered! - and I could read whatever I wanted at home. But I did miss a lot of tween classics like Anne Frank...

[DrPusey]

I've always been amazed at the fact that any novel set in an Amish community seems to be on the new book shelf at my library. Apparently there are even crossovers between vampire fiction and bonnet novels!