Friday, February 29, 2008

Christian Stories Taking Over Hollywood? What in Heaven's name is going on!

There is a story circulating in Hollywood that Mel Gibson offered his screenplay, Passion of the Christ, to every studio in town, only to have it rejected by each and every one. Having faith in the message it proclaimed, Gibson decided to finance it himself. After earning over 300 million dollars, the heads of the studios are wondering at the business decisions that caused this colossal financial mistake. There can be no doubt that Christian fiction is hot right now, with publishing companies like Harvest House, Tyndale, or Zondervan leading the field. What is behind this phenomenon, many people are wondering. Christian fiction has been around for a long time, but more and more readers are discovering these wonderful stories and the uncanny way they have of offering a solution to the problems in their everyday lives. It seems that television and the movies are becoming less interesting to most of us, as they continued to offer nothing but sex and violence. More and more people are turning to older programs and books, even though most of them are about an America that half of our population has never experienced. Readers demand something that speaks to today's world. The next time you are in a bookstore or browsing at Amazon.com, take a few minutes to check out the religious section. You will find every genre there except porn and erotica. There is romance, mystery, suspense, thrillers, westerns, and science fiction, just to name a few – and they all have the kind of satisfying events and endings you would like to see occur in the lives of your best friends. Try Christian fiction. I’ll bet you can’t read just one!

Joe Prentis

Friday, February 22, 2008

Got some books taking up needed space? What to do with them.

An increasing number of books have a note inside the cover about the environment and the fact that their book is printed on recycled paper. Recycled paper does, indeed, save a lot of trees and this is a trend that is commendable. Landfills are filling up and books contribute a large part of the waste that goes into them each day. So what are we to do with the books we have read, but aren't going to keep on our library shelves? How about recycling them by passing them along to someone, or even better, to some organization that can put them to use. Most communities already have an organization that collects books and supplies them to libraries, hospitals, and to jail ministries. What do you do if there isn't one in your area? You might want to consider starting one yourself. You can perform a good service, and save a few of those trees that play such an important role in our environment.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Christian Fiction? What's it all about?

If you mention Christian fiction to the average reader, they will think you are talking about stories taken from the Bible or something that would have fit into a 1950s TV series. On those weekly television events, the father always knew best, the mother did not seem to have any character flaws, and if the children were not perfect, their imperfections were so insignificant and appealing you could scarcely tell the difference.

Christian fiction has finally come of age, and I am excited! The stories written and published by Christian writers run the full range of today’s fiction. You will find mysteries, science fiction, love stories, stories of the Old West, about war, crime, drugs, divorce, and every other problem known to humankind. Stories that fall into the classification of Christian fiction are stories with an ‘attitude.’ They deal with the difficult problems that sometimes happen to good people, but they are upbeat, inspirational, and accurately portray human behavior in a difficult world – and above all, they give us hope. Below this article is the first in a series of books that will be featured on this blog. Please take a moment to read the information and check out some to the other blogs and websites where other writers will be featuring Delia’s novel, Goldeneyes. The presentation of these novels is called a Blog Tour, and its purpose is to introduce you to some of the best fiction publishing has to offer and some of the writers who are producing it. Thank you and happy reading.