Is There A Market For Christian Space Opera Novels?
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Was that question for me?
Actually, Dayton3, I think Neroon was asking how Christianity and science-fiction intertwined in Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. Which I took care of. 
I saw a movie where medieval knights attack a spaceship once. Can't remember the title and if it was inspired by the Anderson story... Dang.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Yeah, that was it. I was ina bit of a quick run through the forums and forgot to quote you on that.Actually, Dayton3, I think Neroon was asking how Christianity and science-fiction intertwined in Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. Which I took care of.
Sorry, Dayton. How are the suggestions helping you in your quest so far?
Yeah, that was it. I was ina bit of a quick run through the forums and forgot to quote you on that.Actually, Dayton3, I think Neroon was asking how Christianity and science-fiction intertwined in Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. Which I took care of.
Sorry, Dayton. How are the suggestions helping you in your quest so far?
the totality of the opinions here seems to me to basically be saying
"there are no known examples of traditional space opera being merged with Christianity so the potential market is a complete mystery".
So are you going to take a stab at it?
I'd like to point out the Sparrow duology by Mary Doria Russell: The Sparrow and The Children of God.
The premise is that a listening array in a near-future Earth hears a signal from Alpha Centauri, which turns out to be choral singing. So for various reasons the Vatican sends an exploratory mission to Alpha Centauri, with the mission led by an agnostic priest. The series deals with humanity's place in the universe when confronted by an alien race yet still trying to reconcile that with the idea of being created by God. There's good science, drama, issues of faith. Russell writes intelligently about faith and exploration, while also doing some excellent world-building. These two books are two of my favourites: beautiful and gut-wrenching.
Please note, however, that there are some very painful moments, and sexuality is also something of concern to the novels, which depending on your approach to faith and Christianity and morality might or might not be a problem.
I wouldn't call them explicitly, orthodox, Christian. But Christian faith is a driving motivation and plot-point treated with respect and integrity.
Has anyone else here read these books?
The premise is that a listening array in a near-future Earth hears a signal from Alpha Centauri, which turns out to be choral singing. So for various reasons the Vatican sends an exploratory mission to Alpha Centauri, with the mission led by an agnostic priest. The series deals with humanity's place in the universe when confronted by an alien race yet still trying to reconcile that with the idea of being created by God. There's good science, drama, issues of faith. Russell writes intelligently about faith and exploration, while also doing some excellent world-building. These two books are two of my favourites: beautiful and gut-wrenching.
Please note, however, that there are some very painful moments, and sexuality is also something of concern to the novels, which depending on your approach to faith and Christianity and morality might or might not be a problem.
I wouldn't call them explicitly, orthodox, Christian. But Christian faith is a driving motivation and plot-point treated with respect and integrity.
Has anyone else here read these books?
No examples known to this relatively small subsection of SF fandom. Somebody out there might know of such a thing, though I'm not sure where you might ask next.
Of course, the fact that there aren't a bazillion failed Christian space opera titles out there is probably a blessing (no pun intended).
- I liked it.Anyway, Dayton he has a point. You have a wide-open opportunity here. It's a gamble of course, but then so is writing in the first place. At least in this instance the parchment is pretty clear of potentially limiting "standards". In other words, it may be a genre that you can help create.
I read and loved The Sparrow, but I kinda doubt it's the kind of "Christian" fiction the OP is talking about...
They tell me the trick is to not re-read what you are writing until you are well into it or you will decide what you have written is terrible and give up on it.
Of course, I don't listen to them at all, and I too have a lot of half written stories.
I would like to see a work in this area. I have always enjoyed scifi with religious elements. And yes, I like it when it is poking fun at religion, but I would be more than up for it going the other way so long as the story is good.
Hell, you really could do the wagon train to the stars. There are some great wagon train novels that have heavy Christian elements and the story would somewhat be the same.
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Adam Roberts deals with the future and religion in his books Salt and Land of the Headless. It's not "Christian Sci-Fi" (indeed there is a sort of criticism of religious groups such as Christians and Muslims) but those books demonstrate how religion can be explored in science fiction.
I did an "in-depth skimming" of this thread and I don't believe that I saw Dan Simmon's "Hyperion" novel mentioned. Though it certainly has "space opera" elements, it is certainly not a Xian space opera.
On the other hand, how it deals with christianity is by far, in my opinion, the most appealing aspect of this otherwise excruciating novel.
I hope you read it, Dayton.
Case closed.
On the other hand, how it deals with christianity is by far, in my opinion, the most appealing aspect of this otherwise excruciating novel.
I hope you read it, Dayton.
Case closed.
Yep - you just beat me to the suggestion - and the recommendation's seconded. The Sparrow won the Arthur C Clarke award for best SF book of the year, for what it's worth.
Strong religious element in the form of Catholic clergy in the Endymion novels. Cross shaped parasites that resurrect the host in 3 days. Messiah figure in the guise of the female lead who gives her life for her friends.
No, not straight support of Christianity but enough parallels and inspiration to cause me to mention it.
Dayton, you may be interested in this site: Adherents.com
From the site's main page:
It's an interesting site that give many statistics about various religions, including religious authors in various fields and genres. Not necessarily that easy to navigate though. Be sure to scroll and look at the various links. Something may be of interest to you.
Here's a comment from the site:
The main problem I can see is that most Christian churches do not believe in sentient alien life, so what would these explorers find? Explorations of natural cosmological phenomena can make some good hard sci-fi stories, but I'm not seeing where the Christian element would fit in. Maybe you're thinking of something more like Babylon 5, where aliens do exist and the religious beliefs are modified to reflect that?
No matter how you slice it, you're facing an uphill battle in terms of marketability. I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors.
No matter how you slice it, you're facing an uphill battle in terms of marketability. I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors.
And from the literary side, 20th century Science Fiction (and possibly 19th as well) has its origin in humanism, which is why so many of the great Sci Fi writers are atheists or, at most, agnostics. One of the truly great SciFi moments in TMP was the line "We all create God in our own image."
OH! That reminds me of what I wanted to point out here. TOS Trek seemed a bit more favorable in regards religion/Christianity. "Bread and Circuses" stands out in this regard. The Neo Roman government was trying to stamp out a religious movement that had even swept up one of their best gladiators. Everyone assumes these are Sun worshipers until Uhura points out that, after listening to their broadcasts, they are referring to the SON, as in Son of God. She comments how the critics were trying to discredit this religion but couldn't. Kirk gets this look of wonderment and joy on his face and notes that the Word is spreading even now...
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