Have you read Christian FICTION stories/books...

There is some self-publishing in this area and some gay fiction coming at it from the other side. In fact it was a super major theme in literary gay fiction up until the mid 70s.

You're going to have a tough road their. A while ago, I read a bunch of Christian fiction aimed at teenagers because I was trying to get into a character's head. The only story I found where being gay was the main theme was a book called Bright Purple: Color Me Confused, by Melody Carlson.

Let's just say, it wasn't a very 'compassionate' book. There were a lot of selfish moments by the narrator whose gay best friend came out to her, ex-gay therapy was given a predominate place within the themes of the book, and almost all the gay characters are stereotypes of stereotypes. Although it ended with a message of hate the sin and love the sinner, the book had no interest in humanizing anyone in the gay population.

A slight editorial note: Pretty much anything by Melody Carlson isn't going to be that great. Most of it is flat and pretty poorly researched, especially her book, Finding Alice. I read it when I worked in a facility for schizophrenic individuals, and we passed it around and laughed at all the psychology mistakes.

*shameless self promo*

The pre-order link for my gay Christian romance, LEAD ME NOT, is live.

*/shameless self promo*

I read a lot of Christian romance. I enjoy it because there are times when I don't want to read about sex in a romance. I find that Harlequin's Love Inspired lines carry a good message without being too preachy.

I rarely read C-fic anymore. There are three or four Love Inspired authors whose work I will even look at; the others write too simplistic for my taste and are rather boring. I think Harlequin has aimed their C-fic offerings at people who are really looking for an easy, no-major-conflict sort of read.

Good thing there are many varieties of fic for the many varieties of people God is pleased to have on earth! How boring would it be if we all liked the same stuff?

Except pie. There are no exceptions where pies are concerned.

I believe the Roman Catholic author Michael D. O'brian deals with this topic at length in his best selling book Sophia House, though it is not the main topic.

Brain Of Ivane said:

...that tackle homosexuality/bisexuality from a Christian POV?

Hot Topic, I know, but I'm really wondering if there are any.

Francine Rivers' Atonement Child makes her stand on abortion quite clear. I'm wondering if any of you have read a Christian work of fiction that include LGBT characters.

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Even with the very best intentions you will have a hard time with other Christians. Many will judge you just by writing on that topic. If you write on it be prepared for the backlash (and shunning by some). Sad but true.

Gregg Bell said:

Even with the very best intentions you will have a hard time with other Christians. Many will judge you just by writing on that topic. If you write on it be prepared for the backlash (and shunning by some). Sad but true.

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This is exactly what I was expecting when I released my Christian romance, but thus far (6 weeks after release), I haven't had any backlash. I'm sure it's coming eventually, but...surprisingly, the reviews have been largely positive, especially from Christians, many of whom were raised in Fundamentalist environments (they've mentioned it in reviews).

The book has also been selling quite well, apparently. Though I haven't seen sales figures yet, it's been hovering between 8K-11K on Amazon since it was released (with some spikes here and there), which usually translates to some decent sales. I can post again when I get my royalty statement.

So, there IS apparently a market for it. There are Christian readers who want (and embrace) LGBT books.

I have an m/m book with Samhain in which one of the leads is an Anglican priest. He runs into conflict with certain congregation members and with the power structure of the church, but his faith is never shaken, and the book deals with his faith fairly explicitly. But I'm not Christian myself, and wouldn't call it a Christian Romance, in terms of what I think are the 'rules' of that genre.

But it's sold fairly well. One of my better-selling books, actually. There were comments from readers who were concerned about the religious content b/c they didn't want to be preached at, and at least one comment from an Anglican minister saying s/he thought it was well-done.

So, based on thethinker's and my experiences, coming at Christianity from an LGBTQ perspective may be easier than coming at LGBTQ fiction from a Christian perspective, if that makes sense?

Captcha said:

So, based on thethinker's and my experiences, coming at Christianity from an LGBTQ perspective may be easier than coming at LGBTQ fiction from a Christian perspective, if that makes sense?

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Interesting point. I will say that the male/male audience eats up religious characters even in non-religious books. My second best-selling (and highest earning) book EVER is a minister hooking up with an atheist. It's definitely not a Christian romance (it's from the atheist's POV, there's a lot of explicit sex, etc). Lead Me Not is the actual Christian romance, and that one seems to be selling well and well-received. Every book I've published that deals heavily with religion has done fairly well, whether religion is a central topic or a background issue.