Female readers flock to Christian chick lit

That's (evangelical) Christian pop culture for you, always five years behind the trends!

Because Steeple Hill Books sells to both CBA and ABA bookstores, we must adhere to CBA conventions. The stories may not include alcohol consumption by Christian characters, dancing, card playing, gambling or games of chance (including raffles), explicit scatological terms, hero and heroine remaining overnight together alone, Halloween celebrations or magic or the mention of intimate body parts. Lying is also problematical in the CBA market and characters who are Christian should not lie or deceive others. Possibly there could be exceptional circumstances (matters of life and death), but this has to be okayed by an editor.

I intend to have the Steeple Hill guidelines printed on a card, and if any family member, college friend, or member of my church asks me why I don't write inspirational romance, I'm just going to hand them the card and say, "Do you really expect me to toe that rigid a line? Ain't happening."

Would a character identified as Christian be against guidelines in the larger romance realm?

I can speak only for historicals, since I'm not widely read in contemporaries. And religious characters of any sort are rare but not unheard of. In addition to the wonderful Laura Kinsale books already mentioned, Patricia Gaffney's To Love and to Cherish features a minister hero who's one of my all-time favorite heroes ever.

I toyed with making the hero of my wip a Methodist after reading about Methodism in the ranks of Wellington's army, but figured I'm making my heroine work hard enough to seduce him without adding religious scruples to every other reason he has for seeking to resist the irresistible.

I am sure the Evangelical Christians are miffed that folks like me call ourselves Christians instead of Whorish Christians, or Morally Depraved Christians, or Drunkard Christians....

t snerkity My 22-year-old self would be appalled to see what I've become--appalled! That said, once I left Southern Baptistland behind, all the evangelicals I've known have been fine with dancing, and most with drinking. But I think it's like Hil (?) said upthread. You're more likely to offend the more rigid section of the market by putting it in than you will the more flexible segment by leaving it out, so you maximize your market share.

Aha! Laura Kinsale, a very good writer of historical romances, often has characters' religions affect their major decisions. One character's major crisis is being a Quaker in love with a non-Quaker (she winds up being read out of meeting); another is a medieval Catholic, and the big crisis scene of the book is her convincing her husband to go to confession.

That'd be Flowers from the Storm and Shadowheart, right? The latter just came out last year and should still be in print and easy to find.

And the thunder and lightning continues, making the work lights flicker and wreaking havoc with the computer systems.

Some of the thunder crashes make the windows and floor shake, and one of them was loud enough to make my ears register the pressure change. The Space Needle got dinged, but by design - cool picture, no damage (shucks!).

And the thunder and lightning continues, making the work lights flicker and wreaking havoc with the computer systems.

Isn't it a weird day? We had not just rain while the sun shone, but hail, about 30 minutes ago.

TAR: Why is it that some of the teams had to check their luggage and others did not ? Also, didn't Ray just say that they were in first class - isn't that a no-no ?

And the thunder and lightning continues, making the work lights flicker and wreaking havoc with the computer systems.

No flickering or havoc-stricken computers here at the Evil Empire, drat it all.

TAR: That fast forward ? There is no way in hell that I would EVER be able to do that. Also, the fact that there is a fast forward convinces me that this hour is a non-elimination leg.

(We're supposed to be getting t-storms here later on -- so far, they have not arrived.)

How the hell did I miss the thunderstorms? They must have happened when I was in West Seattle.

How do you have a wedding reception with no booze or dancing?

Easily? We had a late morning wedding/afternoon reception with a champagne toast only and no dancing. People ate their food, mingled, and talked, and by all accounts enjoyed themselves.

(Hey! We've had this conversation in Natter before!)

brenda, the new cut is great! Wonderful mass o'curls at the nape.

I am an evil, evil person because I laughed out loud at this:

[link]

(Hey! We've had this conversation in Natter before!)

What number is it?

TAR: Oh, man, I can't believe that Ray and Deanna won new cars !