I have blogged many times about one of my pet peeves: cursing in Christian fiction. And I have blogged a couple of times about Tyndale Publishing putting bad language in books by a fairly new author, Ryan Steck.
There is a new book coming out from them that is also military type book by a new author: Silent Horizons by Chad Robichaux. Now normally, I would just buy the book, but I don't trust Tyndale. So I emailed them this morning, pointing out the issues with the Ryan Steck books, and asking if this book was going to have the same kind of language.
I got an email that didn't answer that question, but defended the cursing, and I am more disgusted with the company after reading it. Now it IS a polite response, and they even offered a free book....but.....
The response:
Hello Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns about this title. I will pass along your feedback to our acquisitions and editorial teams. I understand that this book was not what you expected or wanted when you selected it. I am sorry that you were disappointed with this purchase.
Our goal for this series is to target a broader audience of readers who come to us with a different perspective and life experience. Though open to faith-leaning content, they perhaps haven’t read Christian fiction before or don’t even know that it is a category of fiction. They don’t bring the same personal convictions to their reading choices as some long-time readers of Christian fiction.
Our team has heard countless stories of readers who have walked away from Christian retail and Christian fiction because they say it failed to honestly represent the situations and struggles; they’ve faced. This is especially true of men who have recently or are currently serving in the military and makes up a significant portion of the readership for this genre. We specifically asked for permission and guidance from our executive team in offering content that allowed some instances of more realistic language from our characters, especially those who may not be Christians--if it serves a purpose, to simply to represent their world in a more authentic way. While I understand that you may disagree with the strategy or philosophy that we’ve taken with this book, know that our sincere goal is to connect with new readers who may have never been exposed to any Christian content in the novels they read.
We are happy to offer you a copy of one of the following books as a replacement for the book you purchased. Please respond to the e-mail and let a customer service representative know your preference.
A novelization of one of the Kendrick films, Overcomer or Lifemark
Under a Cloudless Sky by Chris Fabry
Rule of Law by Randy Singer
Again, thank you for your feedback.
Charlie
Customer Service Representative
OK, my first two thoughts:
#1. We are talking fiction. Fiction is not real. Fiction is often unrealistic. So you don't need bad language to make something more realistic that isn't realistic in other ways. I mean seriously...so many Christian suspense novels are about a couple falling in love while on the run from a killer or while trying to solve a crime. Is that realistic?😀
#2. Christianity is not realistic. I could write a long time about that, but I will say this: The one true God sent his only son as a baby who grew up to die on a cross for our sins and rose the third day. That is not realistic in the least.
#3. You want to draw non-Christians to Christianity by using words in a book that Christians should not be using? Doesn't make sense.
#4. Here you have a Christian publisher that publishes and sells a lot of Bibles....yet they see nothing wrong in ignoring what that Bible says when it comes to the language in recent books. Stuff like how we should talk, about not offending our Christian brothers and sisters...etc.
I have struggled in areas for years, and in more recent years have really been struggling with my faith, mostly because of politics and political Christians. I like it when a book has a character struggling with their faith. In fact, I just read a book yesterday where the main male character had been struggling with his faith for three years because of a tragedy, and had not been in church for three years. (Echo, Hunt Brother Brothers Search and Rescue Book #2 by Jessica Ashley.) It was an amazing read and not one improper word in it. And all of the main male characters in the series are former military.
Sex scenes would probably make a book more realistic these days. I hope that Tyndale never goes there, but there is such a thing as a slippery slope.
And I don't want to come across as some perfect Christian. I am not. My faith has about been shattered, and I am barely hanging on some days by a thread. But that doesn't make bad language in a Christian book by a Christian author and publisher OK.
I am not sure what to do about buying and reading Tyndale fiction books at this point. If I but one with the kind of language in that are in Ryan Steck's novels, I am going to be frustrated and wanting my money back.
I did suggest that if they are going to do the bad language, they should indicate on the book, or make a special imprint where authors can curse to their heart's delight.
There are others bothered by it, and some who will defend it. I have a theory, and there is no way to prove that theory: I believe most, if not all, Christians who defend bad language in Christian fiction read a lot of non-Christian fiction. I know of two Christian fiction authors that I read who defended it, and I know both of them read a lot of secular fiction. And I am not knocking that. I just think they are so used to cursing in books that it doesn't phase them if it appears in Christian fiction. Now me...I only read Christian fiction, and one reason is to avoid that kind of language.
The last secular fiction novel that I read was a Nicholas Sparks book I somehow got to review 5 years ago.
I did reply to Tyndale, asking again about the book, and politely saying what I thought of their "realistic" reasoning. We will see what they say to my suggestion. But I have a feeling I may have to boycott their books, or email them about any book I am interested in to check on the language.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Bad language does NOT belong in a Christian book. There is no reason or excuse for it. We are inundated with it all around us, and it is pathetic that a Christian publisher doesn't care about offending long time faithful readers in their attempts to be more "realistic".
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