In case he wasn’t aware of it (and I’m sure he is), this one is for Jeffrey Overstreet, whose first novel, Auralia’s Colors, is being published by Waterbrook this fall. The book, which, from the first chapter seems to be excellent, is getting nice exposure at the show:

A shot of another part of the display, to give you a sense of the products:

Obviously very sophisticated, since Waterbrook is a division of Random House, but the other biggies – from Tyndale to Zondervan to Thomas Nelson, are no less sophisticated, well-designed and eye-catching.

I’m pondering the vibe of this show, and I’m finding that I really can’t grasp it – where the energy is, what the trends are in terms of books. (Geegaws and music are their own categories, and without much interest to me.) Religion is still a top category in publishing – if not *the* category, but it’s hard to see what’s pushing it (besides Bibles, of course) except perhaps fiction. I think (and he can confirm this), Michael went to a panel at BEA in which it was stated that fiction was the strongest category in fiction. More on that later, when I return, probably.

One of the interesting things you *don’t* see is a lot of energy and titles directed at the spate of anti-God books. I’ve seen a "God IS Great" book somewhere, and a couple of anti-Dawkins titles, but they’re not prominently displayed or featured with any sense of urgency.

No, it’s mostly about applying faith to your life – either in the form  of books directed at every category of human being under the sun – anecdotal collections, advice, devotionals, or in fiction – because for the most part, that’s what Christian fiction is – you read about people like you, or people you wish were you, the problems they have and how they solve them, most often, it seems, with vague references to God’s presence and some prayer time, and recognizing the value of family and faithful friends. Even those that seem, either by title, cover or book description, to represent some kind of twist on the formula or threaten to lay out reality with a little more depth – hardly ever seem to. Over the past couple of days, I’ve skimmed parts of a couple dozen new titles and read big chunks of two. The last two will tell you what I’m talking about -both about young women with successful careers, who in the course of a day or so, lose both their perfect boyfriends and their jobs. What will they do?

All of which is fine. But what surprises me, I guess, is what I see as a lack of books and other materials that are centered on actually learning about the content of faith – a need I would think would be felt as somewhat important in the wake of the popularity of the anti-God books. But I’m just not seeing it. Probably for an obvious reason – they wouldn’t sell. Which raises all sorts of other interesting questions.

Sort of like the question raised by this display:

What would Dwight Moody say about the press bearing his name selling The Imitation of Christ??