The Crossover Alliance

When I am asked what Edgy Christian Speculative Fiction is, I usually answer with a very vague, somewhat clique, response: it's Christian fiction with edgy, gritty content.

But what does that entail exactly?

As I've traveled down this writer's path - and the path of self-publishing - I've noticed that my writing has taken on an organic growth of sorts. See, it's been said that writer's should write what they want to read. And for a very long time, I've longed to read Christian fiction that wasn't watered-down, corny, or simply being used as a vessel for Sunday's sermon. Now, there are some authors that I've come across who have come close to expressing the type of fiction I'm interested in: Ted Dekker, Tosca Lee - to name a couple. Brent Weeks has probably done the best job of it so far with his Night Angel trilogy. But overall, the Christian market seems dry of anything edgy - or outside the lines of conventional Christian fiction.

So you're probably still asking what the heck is edgy christian speculative fiction? The best way to explain the edgy Christian part is to describe it as Christian fiction that doesn't adhere to the basic 'rules' of Christian fiction. Meaning there is cursing, rape, violence, and 'edgy' content in my writing. This content isn't included in my writing to BE edgy, but to be true to the story. My stories don't always have happy endings and my characters don't always find redemption, although redemption is something that is found throughout many of my stories. Check out my blog post Is Redemption Expected in Christian Fiction? for more on my thoughts on this.

So that covers the edgy Christian part of my self-proclaimed genre. But what about the speculative fiction part? Well, speculative fiction is simply fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements. Science fiction and fantasy easily fall under this umbrella, which is what most of my fiction encompasses. But wait a minute - you may wonder how science fiction can merge with Christian fiction. The same way the word fiction can merge with anything. It's fiction. I'm from the camp that believes God gave us an imagination and creativity for a reason. Jesus told many parables in the Bible and not all of them were actually true. They were metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic - and all had the purpose of telling a life point through a venue that His audience could understand. I don't use this description to say that my fiction is necessarily trying to prove a point or give a life lesson. I'm simply here to write a great story, one that I hope you - the reader - can easily get lost in.

The real trick with writing in this unique genre is marketing it. There is an audience for this type of work, but really no massive means to tap into them. That's why I created The Crossover Alliance. The Alliance is a community built to connect readers/writers of edgy Christian speculative fiction with one another. You can create a profile, start forum discussions in regards to this type of fiction, and even promote your own work there. There is also a resource page that houses links to online reviewers/interviewers who are open to checking out work in this genre. On top of that, I will constantly be adding resources for those interested in self-publishing, such as freelance editors, cover designers, formatting resources, and other useful nuggets.

If you're interested in reading work from this unique genre, or if you're a writer in this genre who is trying to get more exposure for your work, visit the community, create a profile, and check out the great people and useful resources found there.