Let me suggest that there is hope, and no things probably aren't as bad as some think they are (I don't have anyone in mind here). But I think this may be disagreement on degree. My wife tells me Redeeming Love is a graphic, well-written book. It's based on Hosea and Gomer. Does it display a love of language, a type of literary quality? I don't know.

Many Christian novels deal with pain and display strong emotions; but I think deep characters and beautiful writing is relative to critics and writers. A book may be deep for its type, but not as deep as another type. So perhaps many complaints from readers and critics are about these relative degrees--how deep is depth in a novel and how rich is the prose?

I buy books for a very small church library. I'm always looking for books that are of equal quality and depth to Catherine Marshall's two novels "Christy" and "Julie". I believe that the reason I'm not finding them is largely based on the fact that writers need to make a living. Catherine Marshall only wrote these two novels, and they both are fiction based on fact.

I read Redeeming Love by Rivers after reading her excellent historical series, "The Mark of the Lion", and was sorely disappointed. I thought it cheesy and an excuse for Christian women to almost get to read juicy sex parts.
It bears no resemblance to the Hosea story that it's supposed to be based on; In Hosea, God is making the point that He continues to love Israel, even after she's prostituted herself and become completely unlovable. In RL, the heroine is breath-takingly gorgeous and, although unfaithful, compellingly attractive. It's no wonder the husband follows her around the whole story. Also, the way she marches around naked through the whole story, yet they don't "consumate" their marriage is almost hysterical and embarrassing.
Sadly, I can't find a Christian author who writes excellent Christian fiction, consistantly. I liked Randy Alcorn's "Deadline" and the sequel. He's heavily influenced by Lewis. But, for the most part, Christian fiction just doesn't compare to secular. I love to read and this breaks my heart. I pretty much read non-fiction theological works and secular fiction, and it's often hard to find stuff that doesn't corrupt me.
Do you know any Christian authors that compare to Larry MacMurtry, Stephen King, James Michener, David Sedaris, etc? Christians speak well, why can't they write?

Also, I'm talking recently written fiction; I love Lewis, Tolkien, and the aforementioned Catherine Marshall, but sadly they're not writing anymore.

I'm about to start John Moore's The Breaking of Ezra Riley, which I think is the first CBA fiction I've read in over a decade.

Michele wrote: Do you know any Christian authors that compare to Larry MacMurtry, Stephen King, James Michener, David Sedaris, etc?

Try Sigmund Brouwer. (He writes a lot of juvenile fiction too, to encourage reluctant readers, so don't buy one of his sports mysteries. Read one of his novels for adults.)
I would suggest Blood Ties or Crown of Thorns or the Weeping Chamber. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Try "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger

First, let me say this: Robin Lee Hatcher is a very gracious person. She linked to one of my posts at my blog and I later found out about the link. That's when I discovered she was a writer (and not just any Christian writer--she's got 88 listings on Amazon, has won the Christy Award, and was keynote speaker at AFCW recently.) I dropped a note saying that I was going to the American Christian Fiction Writer's conference; she told me that she would be teaching a class there, so I plan on taking that class.

But even better than that, she kindly responded to my e-mails and answered questions of mine. That means a lot to me. Nancy Pearcey (of Total Truth), Hugh Hewitt (of Blog), Elisabeth Elliot (of countless Christian titles), and now Robin, have all taken time to respond personally to letters and e-mails I've sent. I'm grateful that authors can find the time to do this; little do they know how encouraging that is.

So, in conclusion, if the state of Christian fiction is just as Robin says, I'm very much willing to believe she knows more about it than most.

I could write better than any of people listed here, if I had the time.

I've been reading some of the Ted Dekker novels, and they are all pretty well written. I just finished "Thr3e" last night, and there was a twist at the end that made me spin around in my chair! I'm also 2/3'rds of the way through his "Black/Red/White" trilogy. Good allegory, and pretty drawing plotline. I haven't read much else besides Peretti and Lewis.

I've read all but 2 of Ted Dekker's books and his later works are very edgy. You might classify him as "Christian Fiction" but the bottom line is his stories hold my attention more than any other books I read these days, and I read a lot of popular fiction.

Dean Koontz once wrote that POPULAR fiction must be judged by the response of the audience. If millions of people in any particular society love a particular play, movie, or story, then it clearly has succeded in connecting the a large chunk of the human pysche. Is it good, is it bad? Depends on whether you like the flavor.

Most who rail against "Christian Fiction" have read very little of it and as such speak from ignorance.

What about Frank Peretti?? This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness and Prophet are all great books. Good page turners with solid cultural insight. I regard the first two I named as modern-day Screwtapes.

And then there's Jan Karon's Mitford series. Those books are beautiful. They have lovely descriptive passages, laugh out loud humor, mystery, a touch of romance, and heaping helpings of theology. The sad thing is that with their lovely covers and a female author, I have a feeling that people mistake them for chick-lit. My manly man Marine has read all of them and loved them. (and he usually sticks to Tom Clancy, WEB Griffin, and Marine Corps required reading)

I enjoy Peretti, but Dekker is even better. I've read Blink and Heaven's Wager.

And regarding the Koontz quote, when you limit it to popular Christian ficiton I'm of the mind that with so little great (or even good) CF out there, people are starved and will buy pap (like Left Behind).

I started Kevin Alcorn's Deadline and found it hokey, never finishing it. Every character seemed like a stereotype to me.

I started Sigmund Brouwer's Out of the Shadows and just lost interest. That's too bad, because I really wanted to like his writing. That book has seven 5-star reviews on Amazon, so maybe it's me.

Those are just two of my recent failures to handle well-regarded Christian fiction.

I did make it through Ray Blackton's Flabbergasted, but a lot of that was due to the fact I was on a deadline for a book review for the local newspapers and I was coming up short on finding a newly released Christian novel for that review. The book was fair, but it suffered from being precious in spots and was afflicted with UCSS, Unlikely Conversion Scene Syndrome.

On the other hand, I've gotten a kick out of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series of imaginative fiction, but Fforde is--I'm fairly sure--not in the CBA mold, if you know what I mean.

In other secular realms, I bombed out with Paul Auster, Helen Fielding's latest non-Jones title, Elmore Leonard, William Gibson, and LOTS of others, so maybe I'm just a hard critic. Or maybe the state of fiction is dire.

I mentioned in another thread that I recently started reading a CBA fiction title for the first time (I think) in over a decade. It is The Breaking of Ezra Riley by John L. Moore.
Eight pages in, I'm ready to put it back on the shelf. I don't know if I'm spoiled by the Nabokov and Tolstoy I just finished or what, but the book is just sloppily written.

The very first line: "So-and-so stepped into a world frozen in stillness."
Okay, if it's frozen, it's still. Isn't "frozen in stillness" sort of redundant?

And then the very next line -- the very next one! -- says "So-and-so watched as passengers shuffled along the sidewalk."
I thought the world was frozen in stillness? Now suddenly everyone's shuffling?

Throw in passive voice in every other sentence and redundant descriptions ("grain elevators shaped like missiles" -- really? as opposed to the ones shaped like giraffes?). It's just boring, weak stuff.

And the only reason I thought to give Moore a chance is because his book looks good, and he's had short stories published in the New York Times Magazine. I figured surely the Times wouldn't publish a weak writer.
But Broadman and Holman sure did.
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I like Auster, though. ;-)

I'm an occasional reader of Elmore Leonard. I read his Freaky Deaky this year and thought it good despite a weak ending.

One more:

I've never picked up any Randy Alcorn, because most of his books just look like fiction-cloaked position tracts. I posted on this once at Mysterium Tremendum -- the way so much of Christian fiction exists to teach a lesson or preach a position. The story itself seems arbitrary, secondary to whatever message the writer is trying to communicate.
So much of what I see by Alcorn looks like he started with An Issue and wanted to write a novel around it. Whatever happened to just wanting to write a good story?