LDS fiction

LDS fiction (or Mormon fiction) is a rapidly growing niche market of fiction novels featuring themes related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church, see also "Mormon"). Virtually nonexistent 25 years ago, the meteoric rise of LDS fiction is often attributed to Gerald Lund's popular LDS historical fiction series the Work and the Glory. LDS fiction now accounts for more than half the sales of some Latter-day Saint book publishers. Growth in LDS fiction sales show no sign of slowing in spite of critics.

Contents

1 History of LDS fiction 2 Controversies about LDS fiction 3 Notable LDS fiction writers 4 External links 4.1 Links to LDS publishers 4.2 Links to LDS fiction writers

History of LDS fiction

Many LDS writers have been noted for genre fiction, but few novels dealt explicitly with Mormon issues until recently. Prior to 1979, LDS publishers didn't print novels, and concentrated mostly on non-fiction like faith-promoting stories, biographies, songbooks, doctrinal discourses, and other materials. In that year, LDS Church-owned Deseret Book published its first novel, possibly the first-ever LDS novel, Under the Same Stars by Dean Hughs.

However, LDS fiction remained obscure until after 1990 when Gerald Lund released the first Work and the Glory book. This book became a series chronicling the lives of the fictional Benjamin Steed family. Sales for LDS fiction remained stagnant though, and publishers were still cynical about the potential market. This changed in the early 1990s as sales of Lund's subsequent installments snowballed and other early LDS fiction series like Chris Heimerdinger's Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites took off.

Additional LDS historical fiction series were written, but new trends and sub-genres emerged. Many new works are not serial, or at least can be read intelligibly from any given novel. Mysteries and romances now complement novels like Lund's whose books instill a sense of heritage and reverence for historical Latter-day Saints. Newer LDS fiction tends to be lighter and less likely to contain overtly religious morals in their plots. Instead, stories aimed at entertainment are woven on an LDS backdrop. Since 2000, LDS fiction sales have risen dramatically. At least one LDS publisher, Covenant Communications, claims fiction now accounts for more than half of their sales.

Recently, LDS fiction has cross-pollinated into another new LDS cultural trend, Mormon cinema. Charly, released in 2002, is based on a novel by LDS fiction author Jack Weyland. Other planned adaptations include a movie based on the Work and the Glory.

Controversies about LDS fiction

In 2002 The Last Promise, a novel by LDS fiction writer Richard Paul Evans, was rejected by an LDS Church-owned publisher, Deseret Book. The publisher explained that extramarital affection in the book (cuddling on the banks of a river) implied adultery. Evans denied this and it was published instead by Dutton, a New York publisher. Lampooned by some non-Mormons who supposed that the rejection reflected excessive church puritanism, it shows how seriously LDS book publishers take their self-imposed mission to print "uplifting" narratives.

This brings up more lingering criticisms of LDS fiction: that real life cannot realistically be portrayed without straying into gritty details that often aren't uplifting or necessarily flattering to the LDS Church. Some critics doubt that LDS fiction can adequately tackle prominent modern issues like drug abuse, depression, sexual abuse, or human failings in local LDS Church leaders.

Some Latter-day Saints criticize LDS fiction for an entirely different reason: that it distracts from more serious religious study. For example, some have decried the Work and the Glory series, which features many prominent figures in LDS history, as displacing the primary texts of these historical figures. Proponents of LDS fiction deny this and instead argue that expressions of the Mormon culture strengthen Latter-day Saint ties to the church and therefore promote active faith.

Notable LDS fiction writers

• Liz Adair is a relatively new LDS fiction writer whose Spider Latham mysteries are set in a fictionalized version of Panaca, Nevada.

• Orson Scott Card, the popular mainstream science fiction author of the Ender's Game series, is sometimes called an LDS fiction writer. Card wrote the Women of Genesis series, based on Old Testament characters. These books, not uniquely Mormon are also popular in the Jewish community. Another Book, Saints deals with Mormon pioneers. Additionally, Card's Homecoming Saga series of books is patterned on the Book of Mormon.

• Richard Paul Evans, an author most famous for his story The Christmas Box which has crossover appeal, also wrote a book The Last Promise which was rejected by Deseret Book for extramarital hugging.

• Betsy Brannon Green writes mystery and love stories set in a fictional Georgia community.

• Chris Heimerdinger has authored over a dozen books, most of which are considered young adult novels. The most successful of these are the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series where youth are transported back to the times of the Nephites, an ancient American Hebrew civilization according to the Book of Mormon. The original Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites was published in 1989, and nearly one million Heimerdinger titles have been sold through 2004. One of his stories, Passage to Zarahemla, may soon be made into a movie.

• Dean Hughes is a BYU professor and author of nearly one hundred LDS and national-audience books. In 1979 he published possibly the first LDS novel, Under the Same Stars. Hughs is noted for LDS historical fiction. His Children of Promise and Hearts of the Children series take place during World War II and the 1960s forward, respectively.

• Sharon Downing Jarvis is a LDS fiction writer whose current project, the Fairhaven Chronicles series set in Alabama, is a conscious effort to replicate Jan Karon's popular Mitford series in Mormon terms.

• Gerald Lund, author of the nine-book Work and the Glory series, is the most prominent LDS fiction author. Since his first book in 1990, over two million copies from the series have been sold. The lengthy historical fiction narratives about a family struggling through early anti-Mormon persecution sell especially well as books on tape. The first book in the series is currently being filmed for a movie, probably to be released late 2004. It's the most anticipated and expensive Mormon cinema film to date, with a budget of over $7.4 million.

• Chris Stewart is an ex-Air Force pilot and best-selling author of military thrillers who has begun a series called "The Great and the Terrible." The books (two released as of October 2004) describe conflicts of good vs. evil framed in Mormon theological terms.

• Anita Stansfield is a relatively edgy LDS fiction writer who concentrates on chaste LDS romance novels. In some of her 25 books published since 1994 are themes like coping with cancer, domestic violence, rape, and adoption. Indeed, one historical fiction novel, though not explicitly LDS-themed, was rejected from Covenant Communications, and LDS publisher, for reference to an out-of-wedlock baby.

• Jack Weyland authored Charly, an early LDS fiction published in 1980. The story is romance between BYU students. Weyland now has a trilogy of books based on the characters and has written other novels in his light-hearted humorous style. Charly was made into a movie released in 2002.

• David Wooley is an LDS fiction writer noted for his stories set in Book of Mormon and Old Testament settings.

External links

• "Novel Ideas" (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595072788,00.html) - June 25, 2004 Deseret News article about LDS fiction.
• Deseret Book fiction best-sellers list (http://deseretbook.com/store/bestsellers?which_list=lds-fiction)

Links to LDS publishers

• Covenant Communications (http://www.covenant-lds.com/)
• Deseret Book (http://deseretbook.com/) - Deseret Book is also a bookseller and has bios on many of the LDS fiction authors listed above.
• Signature Books (http://www.signaturebooks.com/) - Controversial Mormon-issues publisher that nonetheless prints some LDS fiction.

Links to LDS fiction writers

• Orson Scott Card (http://www.hatrack.com/) - Mainstream author arguably part of the LDS fiction movement.
• Richard Paul Evans (http://www.richardpaulevans.com/)
• Chris Heimerdinger (http://www.cheimerdinger.com/)
• Dean Hughes (http://deanhughes.net/)
• Anita Stansfield (http://www.anitastansfield.com/)
• Jack Weyland (http://www.jackweyland.com/)