A number of years ago, I read a fiction book, and now I can't remember its title or its author. I'm wondering if anyone else here has read it and if they can remember its specs. Amazon and Google searches have not been helpful so far.

Forgive me for giving away the plot in this synopsis, it's the only way I can think to descibe it so that someone else who read the book would know which one I was talking about.

The plot was about a group of people who very carefully hoaxed a Second Coming. They had a Christ look-alike surgically altered to have stigmata, and they had him descend from the sky and everything. It was masterminded by an evangalist preacher who wanted some reform in the Church. The story was sort of mystery-novel-style told from the point of view of a clergyman who was tasked with investigating it and determining whether or not it was for real or if it was a hoax.

Anyone else read that one?

I emailed some friends that read a lot more than I do, I'll let ya know if it turns up.

You don't remember even a smidgen of the title? The author? Anything? I guess not since you can't find it yet.

Ah, found it. Joe De Mers, "The Return"

Was it any good? It sounds interesting, sort of along the same lines as The Visitation, which I thought was excellent, despite not enjoying the rest of Peretti's books near as much.

I don't remember the writing or the plot being particularly special. Interesting and adequate and good, but not outstanding. What I liked about it was the technical details of just exactly what you'd need to check if you were going to verify such a claim; and to what lengths someone would need to go in order to successfully perpetrate such a hoax.

Unfortunately, a lot of the suspense of the book revolves around the mystery of whether it's a hoax or not, and I've now spoiled that for you.

Just had to chime in and say that "The Visitation" absolutly rocks. Definatly his best work to date. Im curious, what books of his have you read that you didnt like?

I hate to hijack Tony's thread (it really wasn't my intention, I swear!), but here goes:

I read the two "angel" books and the one about the news guy. I didn't dislike them, but I read them after "The Visitation" and was a little let down. The plots were merely OK and the characters seemed very one dimensional. "The Visitation", however was very dynamic and had much stronger character development. The real struggles of an ex-pastor trying to stick to the what he believes and yet being pulled in so many directions by a person claiming to be Christ, apparent miracles, hyper-emotional paritioners, and haunting memories of his deceased wife is the type of excellent stuff that really made the book work. The resolution didn't blow me away or anything, but it worked well enough and didn't distract from the meat of the story. Anyway, so while his other stuff was a worthwhile read, I'd wouldn't necessarily pass on recommendations for it. "The Visitation" however, is one I've told several people about.

I hate to hijack Tony's thread (it really wasn't my intention, I swear!), but here goes:

By all means, hijack away. It's a tradition around here. And besides, my original topic's question has long been answered, so there's no reason not to.

>By all means, hijack away. It's a tradition around here.

Yeah, I suppose one could say that..

Ok, yea I can understand that, especially if you read the visitation first. I read this present darkness/piercing the darkness first (the "angel books) and then the prophet (news guy) before the visitation came out. The first time I read the visitation I actually read it straight through if you can believe it. Took me all day one day from when I woke up to when I went to sleep, something along the lines of 16 hrs., if I remember correctly (if you want to know why I did this it was because I was sick and stuck in bed all day).
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.

Is that the book where they find a man matching the Messiah's description orbiting the earth?

I had heard of that years ago, but had forgotten the name my self.

PS: Why doesn't ieSpell catch "i" as being improperly capitalized? Bah...)

Is that the book where they find a man matching the Messiah's description orbiting the earth?

No, that must be a different one.

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.

I assume we're talking about Christian fiction here, and unfortunatly that's a very short list.

I don't know whether you'd count them as Christian fiction, but they are at least fiction with Christians in: The Sparrow and A Canticle For Leibowitz. That latter comes with a slightly cynical attitude towards the Church, although not towards Christianity itself, but it's one of the best sci-fi books of any religious persuasion I've ever read. (And even that could be called disparaging it: if, as I'm rather ashamed to admit I sometimes do, you draw a line between "sci-fi" and "proper novels", they're definitely on the "proper novel" side.)

The Sparrow has a sequel, which I haven't read. Edit: Oooh, so does A Canticle For Leibowitz. I might have to look for that.

Peter

Ok, go get your hands on the space trilogy and read it, the titles you are looking for are Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Probably my 3 all-time favorite books. Your right about it being more fantasy than sci-fi though.
As far as other books go, I'm totally with you on the old books thing. And the more old books I read, the less I like new ones. Books, unfortunately, have become just another disposable commodity in today’s society. Have you read anything by George MacDonald? He was a big inspiration for Lewis. MacDonald's book "Phantastes" was a turning point in Lewis' life that eventually led to his being saved. "Lilith" is also good by him, as are the "children’s" books "The Princess and the goblin" and "The Princess and Curdiee" which Lewis references in "That Hideous Strength" as "the Curdiee books". Be forewarned though, in regards to the 2 books aimed more at adults, remember, this is mid-late 1800's writing, it is very wordy and overly descriptive by today's standards (beautifully descriptive, but long) this stuff will make LOTR look brief and concise. Might want to try the children’s books first as they are much more accessible.
I might post more later as I have more I could say, but we'll leave it at this for now.

I don't know whether you'd count them as Christian fiction, but they are at least fiction with Christians in: The Sparrow and A Canticle For Leibowitz.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll certainly have to give those a try. The latter sounds extremely interesting.

One note I should have made earlier: while "Christian SF" doesn't seem to really exist as a genre, there is plenty of religion in SF, ("Dune" and "Enders Game" spring to mind). Heck, Asimov assumed a Christian audience a lot of the time.

That latter comes with a slightly cynical attitude towards the Church, although not towards Christianity itself

An interesting point, and I'll have to read the book to see what you mean in context. However, this was one of the large points in "The Visitation" that started off this whole conversation. You have two characters both "burned" by the Church, but one who takes this out on God and the other who recognizes that Christianity is not to blame for the people who have hurt him.

if, as I'm rather ashamed to admit I sometimes do, you draw a line between "sci-fi" and "proper novels", they're definitely on the "proper novel" side.)

In my own mind I lump the best sci-fi (or what I've deemed the best) in with "proper novels". However, most of the "thrillers" that come out these days wouldn't be considered by me to be "proper novels" either, so I draw this imaginary line a little bit differently, I suppose.

Cool, thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure I'll look into them at some point. I must warn you, though, that I am not a fantasy buff. LotR and Harry Potter notwithstanding (two completely different forms of fantasy that should not even be mentioned in the same sentence really), I really just don't get into most of the fantasy I've read. Even the Narnia books are only moderately enjoyable for me. I think I appreciate more the allegory than the "fantasy" pieces.

i rather enjoyed 'job, a comedy of justice' by robert heinlein. basic story is tehres a guy that gets put through all sorts of trials and tribulations of a very comedic nature just to appease loki and his colleagues sense of humor. quit a fun read.