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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

Here are the 2010 Christy Award Nominations:

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills • Tyndale House Publishers
How Sweet It Is by Alice J. Wisler • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group
Stand-In Groom by Kaye Dacus • Barbour Publishing

CONTEMPORARY SERIES, SEQUELS, AND NOVELLAS
Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson • Thomas Nelson
The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth • Zondervan

CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE
June Bug by Chris Fabry • Tyndale House Publishers
The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson • Thomas Nelson
Veiled Freedom by Jeanette Windle • Tyndale House Publishers

FIRST NOVEL
The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry • Moody Publishers
Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent • Tyndale House Publishers
Scared by Tom Davis • David C. Cook

HISTORICAL
A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group
The Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer & Mike Yorkey • Revell Books: a Division of Baker Publishing Group

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Beyond This Moment by Tamera Alexander • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group
A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group
The Inheritance by Tamera Alexander • Thomas Nelson
The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group

SUSPENSE
Intervention by Terri Blackstock • Zondervan
Lost Mission by Athol Dickson • Howard Books: a Division of Simon & Schuster
The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group

VISIONARY
By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson • Marcher Lord Press
The Enclave by Karen Hancock • Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group
Valley of the Shadow by Tom Pawlik • Tyndale House Publishers

YOUNG ADULT
Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma • Thomas Nelson
The Blue Umbrella by Mike Mason • David C. Cook
North! or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group

 

Now that you’ve seen them, how many have you read? I’ve read seven (7) of these novels. Since I can throw out these categories: Young Adult, Visionary, Historical, and Historical Romance, I didn’t do too badly this year.

 

My comments on this award are meaningless, but I’m going to make them anyway. While I think it’s a potentially meaningful award and has become somewhat prestigious in Christian literature, it’s widely speculated that this award doesn’t necessarily compute to sales.

 

Someone correct me if I’m wrong here but I think the publisher has to submit the novel for competition. I don’t know the criteria or the standards for judging the novels, but the list of nominees has often left me . . . wondering.

 

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how Athol Dickson’s novel Lost Mission made it into the “Suspense” category, much like in the past when he won the award for River Rising but competed against Robert Liparulo’s genuine thriller Comes A Horseman. I mean, come on. There is no way those two novels should’ve been in the same category. And to put this novel in with the true suspense stories of Terri Blackstock’s Intervention and Mark Mynheir’s The Night Watchman? Well, makes zero sense to me. Lost Mission belongs in Contemporary Standalone.

 

So, I also find it particularly noteworthy that I, writer of contemporary romance novels, have read none, as in NONE, of the Contemporary Romance category novels but have read all of the Suspense category nominees. In the Contemporary Series, Sequels, and Novellas category I’ve read Mary DeMuth’s Daisy Chain in her Defiance, Texas, Trilogy, waiting on her final novel in the series. In the Contemporary Standalone category I’ve read June Bug by Chris Fabry and The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson, and Veiled Freedom by Jeanette Windle is on my TBR pile. In the First Novel category I’ve read Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry.

 

I have to say one of the finest novels I’ve ever read is Lisa Samson’s The Passion of Mary-Margaret. When I attach the word “profound” to a novel, I mean it. There are few that earn this distinction from me, but the handful that do deserve it in every sense of the word. And I think Chris Fabry is one of the best writers in Christian fiction today. June Bug is a touching, meaningful piece of literature written by a wordsmith.

 

Both Intervention by Terri Blackstock and Mark Mynheir’s The Night Watchman were excellent suspense stories and deserve their nominations. I’m of the opinion that the committee needs to add a category for Thrillers, but who am I?

 

Father, thank you for the honors given to your writers. Bless their continued efforts to fulfill their callings in your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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6 responses to “Here are the 2010 Christy Award Nominations:”

  1. Dayle Avatar
    Dayle

    I am baffled everytime I see Athol in the suspense category.
    Btw, I asked his editor (or one of them) this question and he stands by his decision. maybe technically he’s correct, but the public has a far different connotation of the category. When readers think suspense, they think Koontz and the like. Not Dickson.
    I love suspense but to call Athol’s books suspense is to actually de-value them in a sense.
    signed,
    dazed and confused in Bayou country.

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  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Totally agree, Dayle. Makes no sense.
    I guess it would defeat the purpose of the award to add the specific category for “Literary” novels since this award is basically to feature that characteristic (which I’m afraid some of the nominees continually fail to do IMO) and many of them would then overlap in other categories. But that’s where I’d put Athol’s books. Suspense? Never, except for Winter Haven which fit perfectly there.

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  3. Athol Avatar
    Athol

    I know, I know, Nicole. But the problem is my work doesn’t really belong in the same place as the usual character-driven novels you find in Contemporary Standalone, either. The plots have way too much action. So the marketing folks have gone nuts trying to figure out a way to describe them, and they picked Suspense for lack of anything closer. I can’t complain, because I don’t have any better ideas. And I mean, I do try to pack a lot of suspense into them, just not the Tom Clancy / Robert Ludlem kind.
    LOST MISSION was particularly difficult to classify. While it’s certainly not the kind of pure suspense Terri and Mark write, it does have a lot of suspenseful moments. It also has more than a few strong hints of fantasy, yet not enough to call it speculative fiction.
    This has been a problem for me all along. I believe there must be a lot of readers out there who would love my work if they just tried it, but how can the publisher clearly communicate what these stories are like so those readers will realize how much they’d love to read them?
    The usual way would be to say they’re like some other author’s stories, but so far nobody has been able to come up with a close parallel. What usually ends up being said is, “They’re like X except…” followed by the reason why they’re NOT really much like X.
    I myself think of my work as “suspenseful miraculous realism,” but there’s no such category in awards programs, or in the bookstore, so that’s not very helpful. Working outside of all the usual boxes is a real problem when it comes to quickly communicating what you’re doing so people will give it a try.

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  4. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I can hear your frustration, Athol, and I don’t blame you. I think Winter Haven was real suspense. I would agree the bulk of your work is hard to classify, but that should be a blessing not a curse. And I think you need a snappy “brand” for lack of a better word/description much like Angela Hunt who tends to write all over the board so the only thing her readers know is “To expect the unexpected”.
    You’re a literary writer, Athol, and your fans know this, but what about those readers who complain about there not being any literary authors in CBA–even though they’re sadly mistaken. It’s them you have to reach. Your marketing people need to help you out here.
    I’m glad there are authors outside the boxes of the typical genre classifications. Just to be slightly rebellious–but with an honest purpose–I call my stuff “non-traditional romance” because it doesn’t fit in nicely with most CBA romance.
    You just keep writing your “stuff”, Athol, but I’d find someone in marketing who gets your dilemma, because even with the suspense woven through some of the stories, it’s not the focus nor the reason for their impact. JMO.

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  5. Dayle Avatar
    Dayle

    I do agree that Winter Haven fits perfectly in the category.
    But Lost Mission, which is a great novel by the way, does not.
    I’m not sure how much it hurts sales. It’s possible that readers who don’t like suspense might skip it because of the listing, but I don’t know.
    I’ve done my part. I recommend Athol’s books all the time.

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  6. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Lost Mission is a brave story because of the use of omnisicient POV, flipping back and forth between past and present with clever but not obvious segues. Not a suspense at all but a commentary on “religious” people and the detriment of legalism attached to the belief in Jesus with a fascinating link to the historical characters and their unique parallels in the present.
    But it’s not a book for everyone. Some people just like to read a story–they don’t want to have to “work” through a story. Lost Mission requires some effort to follow and investment in the story.
    Anyway, it doesn’t fit in the suspense category.

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