Into the Fire

I'm disappointed. Those of you who follow my reviews surely have noticed that the majority of novels reviewed in the last year, maybe two or more, have been general market thrillers. Even five years ago, it would be unusual to find a general market (secular) novel on that list in the side column of reviews. Granted, Vince Flynn's books, once I discovered him, have appeared as quickly as I could read them. I've continued the Mitch Rapp saga with Kyle Mills after Vince's death. There are no finer novels of political espionage thrillers. 

What I'm saying is, as far as I know, there are no comparable thriller authors in Christian Fiction to those who I've reviewed here from the general market. If there were, if I knew of them, you can bet I'd be investing in their literature. I don't blame authors. I blame publishers.

At some point, established Christian publishing houses opted for what can only be termed "safe" fiction. In the romance realm, it seems their favorite qualifier now has turned to "clean and safe" which registers sharply with their very vocal cache of romance readers and reviewers who can be downright brutal in their one-star Amazon reviews. A large bunch of legalistic, self-righteous reviewers decide definitively who and what is "acceptable" Christian romance and fiction in general, but those seem to be the major purchasers of the genre. And why is that? That's who the Christian publishing houses have made their audience, catering to their narrow demands. 

Here's the surprising deal about that little factor: the secular realm does not produce better writers than those in the Christian fiction stable. Christian Fiction as a genre has plenty of excellent authors (writers), high quality, good storytellers, but the only way for a large number of them to get published is to do it independently because the restrictive nature of the Christian publishing houses – due to the reading audience they've developed and exploited – has contributed to the inferior grade of both thrillers and romance novels. And by "inferior" I simply mean less than realistic when it comes to the frank reality of what can happen in either thrillers or romance novels. 

So. There you have my little spiel about some areas of Christian fiction and why it disappoints me that more of my favorite genres to read aren't well represented in the current Christian publishing houses. 

And, quite honestly, one of the reasons why I write love stories, heavy on the real romance.  

Raw  Romantic  Redemptive 

Amazon.com : Nicole Petrino-Salter 

Father, you are the source of everything that is good. You give all the talents and gifts. If anything is worthwhile, it comes from you. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.