While Cluttering Up Other Peoples’ Blogs, I’ve Noticed A Common Theme

First, I posted this last week to Zoeincarnate:

When I’m not blogging, I own a couple of Christian bookstores, where there might as well be a big white line down the middle of the store separating the fiction buyers from the non-fiction buyers. It’s nice when there’s a book somewhere in the middle, like Shack and Jacobsen’s So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore.

So my take on this is: Bring on more socratic dialogue. (What do publishers really know about my customers anyway? They certainly aren’t up to doing much in the way of listening to what retail is trying to tell them.)

BTW, it’s interesting to note that the last time we had a really big landmark Christian fiction title — This Present Darkness, 22 years ago — there were actually very few imitators. If anyone wants to imitate anything about Shack, they should consider the whole didactic conversations that, as you note, are also common to McLaren’s trilogy.

Actually, I need to divide the store into friction and non-friction! (Read last sentence again if you missed it!)

Ha Ha!  That last line is so funny.   Then last week, I found myself repeating myself myself at 22 Words:

As a bookstore owner, I’m always astounded by the reluctance of fiction readers to consider biographies, which are, by definition, great stories.

(Whaddya know? That was exactly 22 words!)

(Guess I’m just passionate about The Shack, and the whole retail perspective on Christian fiction in general, as seen by a person who otherwise doesn’t read very much of it.)