Sharon Hinck always wonders, “Why not?” when asked “Why now?” regarding the growing popularity of faith-based speculative (spec) fiction. As a four-time winner of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's top honor for this category of Christian fiction, a genre that blends science fiction, fantasy, superhero, magical realism, futuristic and other forms that take readers into alternative realities, she’s experienced its rise firsthand.
“I believe that God’s loving nature is so multi-faceted that we need a variety of art forms and a variety of literary genres to communicate to him and about him," Hinck said. "Exploring the spec genres offers a unique opportunity for this. God needs every art form, and every genre reflects an aspect of God.”
This year, Hinck, and the spec genre, will take another huge step forward. On November 14, at this year's Christy Award ceremony (which recognizes winners in nine categories as well as a Book of the Year) Hinck will be inducted into The Christy Award Hall of Fame, after seeing all three of her books in The Dancing Realms series take the Christy in the spec fiction category, starting in 2020, when the category was known as the "Visionary" category, and then in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, her stand-alone Dream of Kings won in the Speculative category. All four books were released by Enclave Publishing, a house dedicated to publishing spec fiction.
The award comes after Christian readers for decades appeared to avoid speculative fiction, concerned that the books were full of witches and magic, or according to Hinck’s own survey of her friends, too full of confusing backstory and character names they couldn’t pronounce. It was against those odds that Hinck began fiddling with the formula. And it worked. Her first fantasy novel, The Restorer (Enclave, 2011), featured a modern-day soccer mom pulled through a portal into another world. And the book's fast-paced action clearly appealed to readers. “I get frequent emails from readers who say, ‘I don’t usually read fantasy, but I loved this story,’" Hinck said. "And they often go on to seek out other fantasy novels after that initial resistance is overcome.”
Still, despite the growing acceptance of Christian spec fiction, challenges remain. Hinck said she continues to see a lot of fear from the Christian reading community, and a lot of litmus tests to pass before readers will pick up a novel. “I’m pretty old-fashioned, but it still took a lot to get [readers] to realize my books are orthodox," she said. "There is no bad language, no prurient sexuality. My books are safe."
Lack of shelf space in bookstores and libraries is also a struggle for Christian spec fiction, Hinck points out—although, she adds, general market books in the genre aren’t getting much shelf space either. And it's not much easier online, she adds, where a plethora of titles available in online stores can make browsing more difficult and sorting through titles a cumbersome task.
Yet, at she prepares to join The Christy Award Hall of Fame, Hinck also feels hope, and points to positive developments, like publishers such as Enclave taking chances on more spec fiction, organizations such as Realm Makers that have raised the profile of genre, and of course, top awards such as The Christy Awards and Carol Award recognizing the growing popularity of these works.
“These all help raise the visibility of spec fiction and let people know what’s available,” Hinck said. “We are not less than or limiting ourselves by being Christian authors. I rejoice that we can have a voice in the marketplace of ideas through stories that offer grace and hope.”
