Comments on: LDS Fiction Writers

By: carlin

carlin — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 07:41:23 +0000

My husband introduced me to Orson Scott Card’s Alvin series. I loved them and the paralells drawn to the JS history. I agree with Ben, that they are not explicitly LDS. Were I not a member, they simply draw fantastical allusions. Interestingly, my husband read them as a teenager, before he converted to the church and tells me they were a key factor to his conversion.

By: Clark Goble

Clark Goble — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I have to admit that I never read LDS Fiction. Hate the stuff that I have read. However AML discusses fiction about as much as anything.

http://www.aml-online.org/list/

By: sid

sid — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I was hoping to getinfo about LDS writers who write regular fiction, definitely not LDS-fiction. Brady Udall is one writer comes to mind. I think he teaches Creative Writing at either Western or Northern Illinois U. “The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint” is a very highly regarded novel from him, plus a book of short stories titled “Letting Loose the Hounds”, which won a bunch of awards. I would highly recommend both books.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Orson Scott Card writes great stuff. The Ender’s Game series, the Alvin series, Treason, Enchantment… about 10 others. It’s not explicitly LDS (but then I think most explicitly LDS stuff is just schlock anyway…sorry Deseret Book…)

By: nate

nate — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know that there is anything peculiarlly Mormon about her fiction, but the Scottish mystery novelist Anne Perry is LDS, and until recently served as the relief society president of her ward.

I think that Orson Scott Card’s book Saints is the best fictional Mormon treatement of the introduction of polygamy in Nauvoo currently available. (And that is saying something!)

However, I have to admitt that I am with Clark. Virtually all of the explicitly LDS fiction that I have read has been pretty bad…

By: Clark Goble

Clark Goble — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

One of Ann Perry’s novels involved a rich woman in England murdered by her husband because she joined the church and it was embarrassing to him. (Her novels are murder mysteries typically within the upper crust of Victorian society)

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I disagree with Ben. I think that the Alvin Maker novels are fairly explicitly LDS. Alvin is transparently modeled on Joseph Smith. In addition, his Homecoming series is obviously a retelling of the Book of Mormon story.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The nature of the ALvin series (on JS) or Homecoming (on the BoM) is obvious only to LDS people. The characters aren’t explicitly labled as Mormons, and non-LDS can enjoy them completely without commenting “What a stupid Mormon book.” They can just say ‘What a stupid book. :) ( BTW, I have some evangelical friends who love his books. They wouldn’t be so enthusiastic if they were labeled as “Mormon books.”)

Therefore, I standby it and say, they’re not explicitly LDS :)

By: clark goble

clark goble — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

On the other hand _Folk of the Fringe_, _Lost Boys_, and _Saints_ are all books with explicitly Mormon issues. Interestingly I’d say that his most Mormon books, in terms of “ideology” are his early ones which are his least explicitly Mormon.

BTW – with regards to Mormon fiction. I hear Levi Peterson is the big name in the genre. I’ve tried reading him a few times and can’t get into him. Interestingly he’s only nominally Mormon, as I understand it.

By: Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

One of Orson Scott Card’s novels, Lost Boys, is about a modern LDS family, but it is not marketed as an LDS novel. (It’s marketed as horror. No relation to the horror movie by the same name.) Based on the comments of non-Mormon friends who have read it, I think he does a great job of portraying a Mormon family in a way that is accessible to non-Mormons.