Faith 'n Fiction Saturday: A Letter to an Author

Today's Challenge

We love to read our books, but sometimes we forget to appreciate the wonderful authors behind them. Authors who write for the Christian marketplace face many challenges with a smaller market and oftentimes the spiritual burden of writing about faith.

So today, I'd like for us to just appreciate our favorite authors. What I'm challenging you to do today is to write a letter of appreciation and encouragement to an author who has written a book that has touched your life or at the very least that you dearly love. Post the letter on your blog. Then, if you are really feeling the love, I suggest you print the letter out and research how to send it via snail mail to your favorite (or beloved) author. If you can't narrow it down to just one author, then I suggest you write more letters and send them in the mail!

My letter is going to be sent to Sharon Hinck. The authors that I love, I've contacted before, but I think this is such a fantastic idea.

Dear Sharon,

I want to thank you so much for your Sword of Lyric series. I grew up reading fantasy novels by authors such as: Piers Anthony, Jean Auel, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and Robert Aspin. Those novels opened up a world for me that I wasn't prepared for at an early age.

That world convinced me that magic was the way to go. Magic was special. If I tried hard enough, I could make it happen for me. i believed there were fairies, but only those who truly believed would be able to see them. These books were my escape from life. It was a way Satan was able to get a foothold in my life.

I spent my days reading horoscopes. I got my own set of Tarot cards, which thankfully I only used one time. My spiritual life consisted of nothing that was from God.

I became a Christian a number of years ago and gave up all that stuff without ever looking back. When I started reading Christian fiction it was pretty much all romance novels. A couple years ago I found your book The Restorer. The cover of course grabbed my attention because there was a sword on the cover. I have a natural tendency to be drawn to those books.

When I turned the book over and read the back I knew I wanted to read this book. In a way it was going to be a test for me. Can a Christian author truly write a book that has an element of fantasy as part of the storyline. And if so, how is this going to be ok. I began reading this book with a slip of trepidation.

Sharon, you absolutely convinced me that Christian Fantasy is an appropriate genre for Jesus followers. You opened a door for me that I had been hesitant to walk through. The Restorer showed me the power of God's spoken Word. The people of Lyric had the One's word hidden in their hearts and were able to come against evil in ways that are lost to us in this day and age.

The joy that they had for speaking and singing God's word was so powerful. That an entire group of people were united in one spirit was a breath of fresh air. I wish that as a society we were in more agreement.

You also showed us through the Ruscian's how evil can permeate areas of our minds we didn't believe possible. Satan is a powerful enemy and he can whisper into our ears and put a foothold on us that's more powerful that we could've ever imagined. That is where you so clearly illustrated how God's word can conquer anything Satan sends against us.

Thank you Sharon for giving us a book that sent me to a world with sword fighting and fantasy that paralleled God's Word. I didn't believe it was possible, but you have done it spectacularly.

Many blessings,