It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and two Follow Friday Features Bloggers each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
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I really want to say Christian fiction, but for some reason I have gotten several as review copies in the past couple years. In some cases, I knew they were Christian fiction. In others, they were marketed as fantasy fiction and the true nature of the book wasn't apparent until the book had arrived on my doorstep. When I actually do get around to publishing a review policy, it will probably include some text like this:
"I don't normally read Christian fiction. If you have a Christian fantasy or Christian science fiction book that you really want to send me to read and review, realize that the fact that your book contains a Christian theme isn't going to immunize it against criticism that the book has a flimsy plot, weak characters, offensive messages, or silly contrivances. I suggest reading some of my previous reviews of Christian speculative fiction here, here, and here, and consider whether you really want me to read and review your book."
Maybe that might dissuade them from trying to get their books into my reading queue by stealth, but I suspect not.
Other than that, there are very few genres I consciously try to avoid. I suppose romance would be a genre that I never read, but that's more because I regard the genre with apathy rather than abhorrence. But other than that, just about anything is fair game: mysteries, techno-thrillers, history, science, historical fiction, westerns, and of course, science fiction and fantasy. Just not with a Christian message please.
Go to previous Follow Friday: Forty-Four Was Reggie Jackson's Number, Stir the Drink
Go to subsequent Follow Friday: You Have Forty-Six Chromosomes. Unless You're a Mutant. Or a Chimpanzee.
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Hmm yeah can't really say I read christian fiction. Yeah but completely agree, I don't go out of my way to avoid certain genres:)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, new follower:D
Fran
BookChowDown
I have found that as well, even though in my review policy I explicitly request no christian fiction some have tried to sneak past but not mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Book'd Out earlier!
Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
New follower. I've only seen bits of christian fiction, and it's definitely not something I'll ever be rushing to read. Too much agenda, not enough plot, characterisation... and definitely not enough hot manloving.
ReplyDeleteDaniel @ Bound By Words
@Fran: I try to avoid Christian fiction, mostly because all the examples that I have read have been pretty bad, but it seems that some Christian publishers want to try to sneak their products onto people's bookshelves.
ReplyDelete@Shelleyrae: I don't have a written review policy up yet, so I suppose I can't complain too much. One would think a publisher might take a look at how I've treated other Christian fiction and shy away from trying to get me to review their books. I guess they just don't do very much vetting before they try to hand out books.
ReplyDelete@Daniel A. Kaine: Christian fiction certainly does let agenda dominate everything else. And I haven't seen any hot manloving in any of the books I have read - not even as sins to be corrected. I guess incestuous gang rape (which shows up in PureHeart) is not too offensive for Christian fiction, but manloving is.
ReplyDeleteChristian fiction authors are certainly a strange breed.