So since we've hijacked the thread already (and gotten permission to do so to boot) what are some other good books you've read? I know you've read some C.S. Lewis and I'm wondering if you've read his space trilogy.

I assume we're talking about Christian fiction here, and unfortunatly that's a very short list. I did read "Out of the Silent Planet" years ago as a teenager and thought it was interesting, though more fantasy than science fiction. I started the second book but didn't make it through for whatever reason. Maybe I ought to hit those again . . . I've read the entire Narnia series through recently. As for other stuff, I've read the few Peritti books and some random books here and there by authors I don't remember. I also adore LotR, but don't count it as Christian fiction, though some others do. I will agree, however, that there are some Christian elements to the story.

When it comes to Christian fiction in general, it seems to me that there is a lot of good stuff out there for women, but no so much for men. My wife reads some of the better authors constantly and from what I gather the writing appears to be at least as good, if not better than its non-Christian counterpart. Alas, in my experience that same has not been true of Christian fiction more targeted toward men, tough admittedly my exposure has been limited.

One of my biggest problems is that I prefer Science Fiction as a form of literature, and it's just about dead today in the non-Christian relm, so there's hardly any in the Christian relm. I did find the book Moongate which could be classified as real SF (they had detailed explinations of how you might try to create a wormhole, which I found interesting), and it had a fairly interesting plot. However, it was clearly intented to be finished with a sequal, which doesn't seem like it's going to happen.

So I suppose my largest problem is that I'd rather go back and read good Asimov than most stuff today. I haven't read the "Left Behind" books (the people I most respect who've read them have not recommended them) and most of the other plots don't interest me. One other factor is that when I read contemporary books of any kind I often feel that they're just entertainment that can soon be forgotten, where the proven novels of the past tend to leave more of an impact. This is no slight of Christian material specifically, but I like to make my reading time count and it seems the best way to do that is to spend it reading the books that have endured. I'll also add that I've read a great deal of Christian nonfiction that I've found absolutly wonderful.

I'm glad I read "The Visitation" though. Someone gave it to me as a present and I read it because I didn't have anything else to do. Sometimes that's what it takes to try something new and different. So if you have any recommendations I'm certainly open because I'd like to find some better stuff that what I've read.