Facing Impossible Odds In Christian Speculative Fiction

Nathan Lambes has written an article for Infuze magazine entitled Clawing Up the Mountain: Christian Speculative Fiction.

This is a tough analysis of the Christian speculative fiction market—it really is a mountain! And so standing here at the bottom the prospects look very dim indeed for even reaching halfway to the top!

What motivates me in the face of impossible odds? More than anything else that I am leaving a legacy for my children, grandchildren, etc. I am writing something that in future years they can hold on to and learn from and know a little bit about me and what I cared about. In other words, even if I never get published, I will be for my own family and friends.

Am I looking for a vanity publisher? Not in the least. I don’t pretend that paying someone to publish my book is anything close to being really published.

If after my best efforts I cannot get published by someone without paying them, then I may print up a few professional copies for myself, family, and friends—and that is all.

The reach of my arm will be determined by God and nothing less. If it is His will that my best efforts succeed and that I gain a platform to tell truth and glorify Him through the medium of fiction, then that is good.

But it is also good if I fail. If in His grace I do nothing more than pass on something personal that to me is of profound beauty and truth, then that is more than sufficient. Grace upon grace!

Why do I write? I write because I am compelled. I am compelled to speak the truth that God has placed in my life. I am compelled to glorify Him. Where it goes is His decision. I know that His word will not go back to Him empty and that it will fulfill His purpose.

Nathan Lambes ends his article this way:

What I’ve left you with is a look at what the industry has become, what it wants to be, and where it is headed. In the end it is up to the readers to decide.

Yes, the readers may vote with their pocketbooks on the voyage of life—but it is God who steers the ship!

(Footnote: Please read this REBUTTAL of Nathan Lambes who prompted my post!)