#36 Rachelle Dekker
The oldest daughter of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker, Rachelle Dekker was inspired early on to discover truth through the avenue of storytelling. Her latest novel, co-written with her father, is The Girl Behind the Red Rope (Revell).
“I always write for myself first. I’ve said I write because it’s the best way for me to learn. So the journey my characters take is always one I myself am exploring and trying to understand.”
READ THE INTERVIEW: Speculative Q&A: Rachelle Dekker (When Through Deep Waters)
The Girl behind the Red Rope
Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker
Revell
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#37 Alton Gansky
The author of more than thirty books, Alton Gansky is a Carol Award winner and an Angel Award winner, and has been a Christy Award finalist. He holds a BA and an MA in biblical studies and has been awarded a Doctor of Literature degree. Director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Gansky also serves as an editor and collaborative writer for top tier authors. He was one of the authors in the Harbingers team, along with Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt, and Bill Myers.
Since I write for the Christian market I have the freedom to explore my faith. I like to take ordinary Christians and put them in extraordinary situations. Fiction is exploration; nonfiction is explanation. In my books, I’ve explored what it is like to be a Christian invalid in small town politics, or facing danger in low-earth orbit, or on foreign fields, in the military, and many other settings. In many ways, my writing influences my faith more than my faith influences my writing.
READ THE INTERVIEW: Alton Gansky Q&A
Harbingers Series
Alton Gansky, Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt
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#38 Kathy Tyers
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/kathy-tyers
Kathy Tyers’ Firebird Trilogy literally invented the Christian science fiction genre in the modern era. But her reach extends beyond Christian publishing. Kathy is best known for having also written official novels for the STAR WARS Expanded Universe: THE TRUCE AT BAKURA and NEW JEDI ORDER: BALANCE POINT.
“The heart of my books is the characters,” Kathy says. “I believe that every character is more complex than you could possibly put in a book. To find the aspect of that character that brings her or him to life and drives the plot forward is the spark of every book.”
READ THE INTERVIEW: Kathy Tyers: Space Fire
Crystal Witness
Kathy Tyers
Enclave
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#39 Joanna White
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/joanna-white
Writing has been a passion for Joanna White since she was ten, when she wrote her first book. The Valiant series is her first published work, which first started off being serialized on the fiction platform Wattpad.
“I want to be able to give people worlds to delve into, plotlines to experience, characters to love and all the while knowing nothing bad is going to be in the book. That is so hard to find these days. I want the books to inspire and encourage them. In the case of the Valiant Series, one of the overall themes is twofold: that God brings good out of bad. No matter how bad it gets, there is always a purpose. And two, if you seek His forgiveness, it’s yours. No one is too far gone.”
READ THE INTERVIEW: Speculative Q&A: Joanna White (Valiant Series)
Hunter
Valiant Series #1
Joanna White
Ambassador International
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#40 Jolina Petersheim
Jolina Petersheim’s genre-bending dystopian Alliance series, set in an Old Order Mennonite community, was driven by her own Mennonite upbringing. When an apocalyptic event leaves the Englischers without electricity or technology, the Pacifist community must forge an alliance with a handful of stranded Englischers to protect not only the food but their very lives.
“I guess you could say I had a slightly different childhood. When I was six and my brother ten, our family stood in a field on the camp where my parents were caretakers, and my parents told us that this was where we would meet if we were separated when the world “blew up.” From this field, our family would travel by foot to our friends’ elaborate, fairytale home and live in the blue room hidden behind their bookshelves. My parents in no way meant to instill fear in us. Now that I’m a parent, I see that they were trying to assuage their own fears by coming up with a disaster-recovery plan. But I was born with an overactive imagination, and therefore this plan planted in me the seed of fear–and, subsequently, a driving need to control my environment.”
READ THE INTERVIEW: Speculative Q&A: Jolina Petersheim (The Alliance)
The Alliance Series
Jolina Petersheim
Tyndale House
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HONORARY
Although they have passed on, these authors have left a lasting legacy–and still garnered enough votes to be mentioned in this article as well.
C.S. LEWIS
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/c-s-lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. His major contributions in literary criticism, children’s literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim.
“That is one of the functions of art: to present what the narrow and desperately practical perspectives of real life exclude.” (SOURCE: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, and the Power of Storytelling)
MORE C.S. LEWIS
Choose: Do You Recommend C.S. Lewis or Ted Dekker?
Christian Authors Recommend 7 Stories to ‘Get Lost In’ During Quarantine
How Boyhood Reading Shaped C.S. Lewis As an Author
Netflix to Develop “Narnia” Series and Films
Tim LaHaye
Dr. Tim LaHaye (1926-2016) was a noted author, minister, and speaker. He wrote more than 50 non-fiction books and co-authored 25 fiction books, many of which have been translated into 34 languages. His most popular fiction works, the Left Behind series, written with Jerry B. Jenkins, continue to appear on the best-seller lists of the Christian Booksellers Association, “Publishers Weekly,” the “Wall Street Journal,” “USA Today,” and the “New York Times.” He also co-wrote the End-Times series Babylon Rising with Bob Phillips and The End with Craig Parshall.
MORE TIM LAHAYE
Remembering Tim LaHaye: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
‘Left Behind’ Co-Creator Tim LaHaye Passes at 90
Frank Peretti, ‘Left Behind’ among PBS list of 100 favorite novels
Rapture: The Complete Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
21 Novels Set in Bible Times
MADELEINE L’ENGLE
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/madeleine-lengle
Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was an American writer best known for her young adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters. Her works reflect her strong interest in modern science: tesseracts, for example, are featured prominently in A Wrinkle in Time, mitochondrial DNA in A Wind in the Door, organ regeneration in The Arm of the Starfish, and so forth.
“Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write,” she said, “For only in such response do we find truth.” Further, she said, “Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.” (SOURCE: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, and the Power of Storytelling)
MORE MADELEINE L’ENGLE
Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter pens foreword for spiritual biography
L’Engle biography to explore faith and spiritual legacy of ‘Wrinkle in Time’ author
RELATED LINKS:
#JesusToldStories | 21 Authors on The Power of Story To Share Truth
Speculative Panel: Worldbuilding as Christian Authors