By Ian Acheson
This year,
the cross posts between Christian Writers Downunder and Australasian Christian
Writers are focusing on genre. So far, we’ve had posts on meeting genre
expectations, in Space Opera and Superheroes, Portal Fantasy and Secondary World Fantasy, Poetry, Free Verse and Verse Novels , Regency and Historical Romance and Rural and Medical Romance
Today I’m looking at the Supernatural Fiction sub-genre
and will also reference Speculative Fiction together and Paranormal Fiction.
Supernatural
fiction. What is it you ask? Let’s look at a few definitions.
It is often
included in the “speculative” catchall that features in many places, whether it
is award programs (eg, ACFW) to certain publishers that focus entirely on
novels that “explore the boundaries of the imagination” to borrow from Marcher Lord Press now rebranded Enclave Publishing. We even have a publisher down under in New Zealand that specialises in
such fiction: Grace Bridges’ Splashdown
Books.
It’s pleasing
to know that the world’s largest Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, has it’s own supernatural fiction category. It is
the home of some of the biggest authors of the genre: Ted Dekker, Jim Rubart
and Erin Healy to name just three, all of whom happen to be particular
favorities of mine.
Back to the
definition. In its most basic form it is simply that the story contains
elements that are outside the laws of the physical world. The story typically
involves a power that goes beyond natural forces and is attributed to a god or
deity. The ghost story is the archetypal supernatural story. However, some
commentators would treat a ghost story as “paranormal fiction.” There’s a big
overlap in all these genres and sub-genres of weirdness. Angels and demons fit
in the supernatural while vampires, werewolves, zombies are probably classified
as paranormal. Paranormal would also include extraterrestrial life (think ET,
Independence Day), UFOs, etc.
In the past
decade or so we’ve seen an explosion in secular artforms showcasing all this
weirdness. Whether it’s the Twilight novels and movies to The Walking Dead
graphic novels and TV series plus the many spin-offs where other worlds are portrayed
that typically collide with our physical world in the shape of creatures
including vampires, fairies, werewolves, zombies and such like.
Increasingly
we’re finding Christian authors are exploring some of these boundaries with an
uptake in horror novels and even the undead. I don’t read such novels but
having spoken to readers who do, they have indicated these stories explore how
God triumphs over Satan in his various evil guises.
Supernatural Faith
Our faith is a
supernatural one. We believe in God who exists outside of our physical world. The
Bible is a supernatural book and we’re participants in a spiritual war whether
we like it or not. There is another world that exists all around us. In fact,
it continually intersects with what we experience with our five senses. It is
in the intersection where supernatural fiction typically resides.
I think we’d
all be familiar with Frank Peretti’s Darkness duo of novels (“This Present
Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness”) that had such an influence over our
generation of Christian readers. Certainly there were other novels before
Peretti that portrayed supernatural themes but these two are famous for their
demonstration of a parallel world of angels and demons being influenced and
influencing what occurs in the physical world.
When I chat
with readers who are passionate about such novels, I find three recurring
themes.
1. An interest in the unfamiliar
This is perhaps
a key difference to romance novels where certain underlying central themes can
be familiar to the reader. Spiritual warfare, a particular personal area of
interest, is often not something we hear or read much about. It’s rarely a
topic of discussion around the dinner table, catch up with friends nor is it
often preached about in some churches.
2. Triumph over evil
Most
supernatural novels will feature a strong theme of good versus evil. This can
take many forms whether it’s the direct influence of a demon on a human, or
villains allowing their fleshly desires to guide their actions. In evil being
defeated, the reader is able to witness an expression of God’s incredible love
for His creation.
3. Strengthens their faith
This third
element can be applied to any genre where we see faithfulness, forgiveness,
grace or any number of God’s attributes on display. We close the book with hope
in our heart having been reminded of God’s awesomeness.
Writing
Christian fiction that’s not preachy is especially challenging. One of the
advantages I believe speculative fiction has over other genres is that it is
‘easier’ to introduce a Christian theme by using an otherworldly character, for
example, an angel or demon, or a human with a special supernatural gift, or a
story that is set on a completely different world/realm/time continuum.
Realm Makers
Conference
Just as the
secular world has its Comic Con gigs a group of Christian authors created Realm
Makers a few years ago and now host an annual conference. It was recently held in
Reno in late July and I understand over 200 people attended to listen to the
likes of Dekker, Rubart, Mary Weber and David Farland to name just a few. I’m
hoping to get to it next year.
Recent examples
of Supernatural Fiction
I’m always
looking for good supernatural and speculation fiction. Craig Parshall’s new
Trevor Black Series is a good one that combines the grittiness of crime drama
with supernatural suspense.
I’m a big fan
of the Harbinger novella series. It’s now finished having produced 20 novellas
written by 5 authors: Bill Myers, Peretti, Angie Hunt, Alton Gansky and Jeff
Gerke. Clever story, form of creation and distribution. We’ll see more of
this multi-author style of story in the years to come.
If you haven’t
sampled any supernatural fiction recently or ever may I encourage you to put a
toe in the water. Perhaps start with one of the Darkness novels, which I
mentioned above, or one of Jim Rubart’s. Jim’s latest, The Long Journey to Jake
Palmer, is superb and was my favourite novel of 2016. You won’t be disappointed
and who knows, you may become a convert.
Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard was recognised with the 2014 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction.You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter
Hi Ian. Loved your post. I like how you've explained why it's right up a Christian's alley. "There is another world that exists all around us. In fact, it continually intersects with what we experience with our five senses. It is in the intersection where supernatural fiction typically resides." This is so true. You've sure got me interested! :) Thanks for a very interesting and comprehensive post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anusha. Now that I've got you interested you should try it out. As I mentioned Jim's work is a good place to start or those Peretti classics.
DeleteThanks for the post, Ian Acheson 😊 great overview & interesting the blurred lines between supernatural, faith and paranormal. I enjoyed Angelguard & Dekker's Circle books. Must read Rubart. I also enjoyed Mike Duran's Ghostbox which is paranormal noir and has a rather upbeat angel.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Jenny, for asking me to write this post. I'm sure one can find more definitive definitions of the various sub-genres but I quite like how the lines are blurred.
DeleteVery helpful summary. Some of my favourite novels are in this category - CS Lewis (Narnia, Screwtape Letters ...) and Randy Alcorn - Safely Home. I know of 3 of our members who are writing amazing work in this category. Just has to get published - soon please.
ReplyDeleteHi Christine - it's fascinating that some of the biggest selling Christian novels are speculative: Peretti's Darkness duo, Dekker's various novels and the Left Behind series of novels would probably fall into this category ... Narnia are probably more fantasy with supernatural overtures (another blurring) not unlike Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
DeleteThere's definitely a reading appetite for them as we also see in the secular market.
Thanks for commenting.