Library grumpity

[erastes]

How is it that I can’t get Lyn Flewelling’s Nightrunner books at my County Library, but I CAN get this:

“An invective agaynst whoredome and al other abominacions of uncleanesse : a work most necessary for this present time / compiled by Thomas Becon”

And yes, I’ve ordered it, just to see what it’s like.  :)  However, seeing as how they made me sign a disclaimer for £129 for a new book last week, if this really IS a 1560 edition, how much will I have to sign this time????

No writing today. Writing tomorrow. Need to read more about 1933.

Oh! AND – I spotted this call on EREC today.  .

Torn Veil Books is looking to establish itself in the Christian marketplace as one of the premier publishers of Christian Romance.

We are traditional, royalty-paying publisher seeking to publish Christian romance novels in paperback and eBook format.

Presently, we are seeking completed manuscripts in the following romantic genres:
Apocalyptic
Contemporary
Chick Lit
Fantasy
Futuristic/Sci-fi
Historical
Post-apocalyptic
Romantic Suspense
Supernatural
Time Travel
Vampire
Westerns
Werewolf/Shapeshifter
Zombie

Now, what interests me is how is this going to be pulled off?  Surely anything paranormal, werewolfy or Vampirey is EVIL, souless and undead.  As this is a Christian publisher how is this done?  Is it going to be CHRISTIANS WIN OVER THE EVIL DEAD?  And also, as Gehayi very rightly pointed out to me, how on EARTH can a post apocalyptic novel (and I’m assuming that they mean “as in THE APOCALYPSE, not just “omg, eeek, tidal wave”) be a HEA?  EVER???? 

Gehayi said this morning: 

“By definition, the protags are either: dead and in heaven (in which case they're going to be worshipping God and not thinking of romantic love); dead and in hell (in which case love is probably not the main focus of their existence any longer); or left behind and stuck suffering horrible torments for seven years so that they can die and go to heaven after it's all over.

I mean, romance involves building a future together.

The world after Revelation doesn't HAVE one.”

What do you lot think?  Do tell.

 

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Comments

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Thomas Becon? I vaguely remember reading about him when I was working on Foxe and Hall...

Very annoying about the Nightrunner books, though! My local library doesn't have them either, but I've e-mailed them to suggest purchasing it and we'll see how that goes.

As for post-apocalyptic novels, I have no clue how a HEA would work...

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Well there's another one who won't be wanting to read SC! I don't understand them either.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Christian romance makes my brain explode at the best of times. Christian romance with werewolves is just an extra bit of bogglement.

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in seeing how the supernatural/vampire/werewolf/zombie ones work out. Actually, I think the spiritual questions themselves could be pretty interesting. What would a Christian do if they were "turned" against their will? What if a vampire or werewolf were to "see the light" as it were--how would they transcend their monster natures?

[johnrw.livejournal.com]

It's been my misfortune to come across a 'Christian SF/End Times*' novel (*by End Times think Cold war Eastern Block milieu).

It was only because I was 14 at the time that I finished the dammed thing, even to my juvenile sensibilities the plot was a familiar one, cardboard protagonist heroes 'guided by the Lord' to achieve impossible goals. Backgound was archetypical Eastern Block Police State with a few aircars and spaceports thrown in for colour.

This was supposedly a 'Christian bestseller' at the time. I picked it up at the library.

Ok maybe I'm being unfair but based on the lasting impression of this book either the Christian Romance genre has picked up amazingly or all too many Christian book buyers have had their critical faculties anaesthetised.

One point that will crimp a lot of Romance tales is that the romance is unlikely to get steamier than the occasional chaste kiss before their union is 'sanctified by the church'

[johnrw.livejournal.com]

One point that will crimp a lot of Romance tales is that the romance is unlikely to get steamier than the occasional chaste kiss before their union is 'sanctified by the church'

On second thoughts Jane Austen managed it!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

And Bronte. Some of Jane Eyre is hugely sexy.

[cerisaye.livejournal.com]

Gosh, what, no gay Christian romance?

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

My werewolf is a lapsed Methodist, does that count?
His mom gives him static about not joining her for Christmas Eve services.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

You can sorta do an HEA with a post-apoc, since heaven and earth are gone at the end of Revelation. There's a NEW heaven and a new earth, and everyone gets to live on them, forever and ever.

Post-Armageddon, well, people will still be marrying and reproducing during the Thousand year theocracy, in which David is again King in Jerusalem.

I have problems with a lot of their lineup.

Apocalyptic...theirs or in general?
Contemporary--go for it and welcome to it.
Chick Lit--Jesus loves me and wants me to have those shoes!

Fantasy--Christianity in a fantasy setting. CS Lewis managed by writing plain old allegory. I would have my doubts about anyone else.

Futuristic/Sci-fi--um, your future is pretty much already set in stone. OTOH, I have overtly Christian and Jewish characters in a cyberpunk milieu. She's Church of Christ Progammer. But only if you read Revelation as a political tract and not a future roadmap.

Historical--totally doable.

Post-apocalyptic--WTF? Again, only if you are writing in the Millennium or are not taking Revelation seriously.

Romantic Suspense--doable.

Supernatural--unacceptable. All forms of the supernatural are evil.

Time Travel--interesting possibility.

Vampire--WTF? See supernatural. Although, I'd like to see the one where Judas the Vampire falls hard for Mary Magdalene.

Westerns--pretty doable

Werewolf/Shapeshifter--interesting, since lycanthropy was often the result of a bargain with the devil. Although I have a Methodist werewolf, I doubt I'd meet their standards

Zombie--WTF? Zombies are a) the product of a plant toxin used to create uncomplaining, tireless workers b) dead slave workers raised by heathen ritual or c) brain-eating undead. None of those are acceptable, since, Book of Philemon aside, we can't condone slavery, even of dead people.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Only for Episcopalians.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I can see how the vampire/werewolf stuff could be overtly Christian - you just turn it round and make the victims the heros and the monsters fiends incarnate. It worked for Bram Stoker. But I'm at a loss about how you can render chick lit, with its venal proccupations with shopping and sex, anything other than lightweight profane.

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the thing about the gay kid who's brought up by fundamentalist Christians and who sneaks out to goth clubs (Inferno) that I'm in the process of cleaning up would qualify as gay Christian fiction...?

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

>Chick Lit--Jesus loves me and wants me to have those shoes!

I'd read that! =D

[lunalelle.livejournal.com]

When you figure horror and fantasy into the realm of angels and demons like Frank Peretti, it works pretty well, actually. Tons of horror is set in a very Christian framework. Theologically sound? Probably not. But a very Christian framework nonetheless (Dracula? The Exorcist?).

In terms of post-apocalyptic, there's the thousand-year utopia following the End Times when physical bodies are restored and perfected in a perfect and physical world. So it works on that level. Then again, one questions how much romantic conflict there would be in a true utopia... tiny conflict at best.

Christian writers tend to forget that without sin, we wouldn't have much to write about, so we actually profit off of the existence of an evil entity. What's also interesting is how much power sin and evil are given by Christians, especially in fiction. You'd be surprised what all fits in a Christian worldview, even if it's like fitting your entire wardrobe into one regular-sized suitcase.

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

Or Unitarian Universalist...

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

And yes, I’ve ordered it, just to see what it’s like. :) However, seeing as how they made me sign a disclaimer for £129 for a new book last week, if this really IS a 1560 edition, how much will I have to sign this time????

Actually, I'll lay odds that it will be the *exact* same fee... I'd put down money on that ;p

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Except Unitarian Universalists are by definition not a Christian denomination. "Faith without dogma." Christians may be Unitarians, but pagans, atheists and others are welcome to be as well.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

The Lutherans just gave the okay-dokey to gay clergy with partners, which has probably sent one of my ex-clients into hissyfits. heehee...

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Post-Apocalyptic Romance?

I don't know whether to laugh or gag.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

If you can get a 1560 edition of anything on loan, the library is crazy. That's irreplaceable. In the US, it'd be 'view in the library with cotton gloves and a guard.'

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Only Evangelicals Lutherans. Your Missouri Synod Lutherans are still very conservative.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, thank goodness they aren't MY Missouri Lutherans. I was surprised to find any sort of Evangelicals being so liberal.

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

Werl, yes(: Although, it can vary by church as well. My local one leans a bit more to the 'Christian' side of things.

United Church of Canada might fit the description better, I guess (:

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

And a gun...

[kittymay.livejournal.com]

...and a pack of Christian werewolves brandishing chick-lit books.

[beckyblack]

Zombie? Now that I'd like to see! Is falling in love a big priority when the zombie hoards are at the door? Funny, my Zombie Survival Guide doesn't include a section on managing a romance along Christian lines of course, while I'm heading for my carefully prepared wilderness bolthole to outwait the zombie apocalypse.

Very strange about the book if it's really that old and they let you take it out. My city library has a collection of old editions like that, but you can only read there in the library. Some are even under glass! They won't let you take them home and spill coffee on them, or read them in the bath or something.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

yes, but what I'd find intensely irritating and boring would be THE CHRISTIANS WIN AGAIN! as they cut a swathe through the legions of the undead. Just because they are Christians. And Christian Vampire Romance? You can't call Dracula a romance in the modern sense. Or the Exorcist.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

My werewolves are Quakers and COs - will they count?

[lunalelle.livejournal.com]

I was more making the point that horror and Christianity can be completely compatible. And romance and Christianity is compatible. So horror and romance and Christianity is compatible. Just because the Christians win because of God doesn't mean that they don't undergo tremendous conflict - kind of like average fiction in which the hero wins, with or without God's help.

Whether the result is worth reading by anyone with a slight bit of taste is another question.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Just guessing here, but when they say "Christian" in this context, they may not mean so much "Bible Literalists" as women readers who don't want their generally "clean," generally church-going, generally Jesus-loving ideas challenged very hard in their light reading.

In that context, even a post-apoc novel could work, because not all Christians are literal about the Rapture, but a lot of them, I do believe, enjoy the notion that after some kind of apocalypse (it used to be nuclear), men and women of faith might still find each other, fall in love, and battle evil together.

Not being a religious person myself, I'm only guessing. It would be really interesting to have the perspective of someone who is.