--- "Sara L. Bickleigh" <
sthete@juno.com> wrote:
> "Christian fiction" is booming, or so my friends
who
> read it tell
> me, and I know evangelical writers of
varying
> degrees of skill
> have turned out inspirational versions of just
about
> every genre
> except hard horror
Revelations? Well, except for the happy ending, anyway.
> and porn.
Song of Solomon?
> So I'm wondering: Has
> any writer of
> faith-compatible fiction produced a [I'm running
out
> of
> adjectives] PI?
> SLBickleigh
> (I will now, among jeers, catcalls and, for all
I
> know, whistles,
> slip back into lurkdom.)
Sara,
There are a number of PI's to whom religion is important,
although not in the way (protestant evangelical) that I think
you mean. Matt Scudder and his buddy Balou end up at Mass
every once in a while, and Dave Robicheaux is a pretty devout
Catholic himself when he isn't on a drinking binge. A lot of
popular PI fiction is desidedly atheistic in outlook--the
Spenser novels come to mind--whereas a writer like John D.
MacDonald is exceptionally humanistic.
That said, I know I've seen some Christian PI stuff
around--back in my younger days, I started a hard-boiled
novel along these line, actually, but never finished it, and
the world is a better place for it, believe me. It's tough to
balance turning the other cheek with the toughness that
hard-boiled requires (and don't even get me started on
colloquialisms). I know, I know...turning the other cheek is
actually the tougher choice. But it doesn't FEEL that
way.
Anyway, a quick check of christianbook.com in the intrigue
& suspense section shows plenty of intrigue &
suspense, and a few mysteries, but no PI's. Maybe I need to
dust off that old manuscript after all.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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