Novel ideas

If you visit any store that sells LDS books, there, along with all the books on doctrine and church history and family development, you will find more and more novels.

In recent years, LDS fiction has increased in both quantity and quality, said Robby Nichols, vice president of marketing for Covenant Communications. "Ten or 15 years ago, you saw very few LDS novels. It is now a strong segment of the market."

Consider, for example, that in 2003, just over half of all the new books Covenant published were works of fiction. Even more telling, perhaps, are the numbers of new authors being added to the shelves. "Interestingly, we introduced two new fiction writers in 2002, 10 new fiction writers in 2003, and we already have eight new fiction writers in the first four months of 2004," said Nichols. "The opportunity for a new fiction author to get published is greater now than ever before."

And not only are there more writers, he said, but "writers are getting better. The bar is much, much higher as to quality."

At Deseret Book, another major player in the fiction market, the story is much the same. "I was here in 1979 when Deseret Book published its first-ever fiction title," said editor Emily Watts, "It was considered a major breakthrough." That book was by Dean Hughes.

A few months later, she said, Jack Weyland's "Charly" came along, "and that was so popular. It kicked a few doors open."

She's not sure that the percentages of fiction books published by Deseret Book have changed all that much in recent years, "but we're publishing so many more books, so we are publishing a lot more fiction."

Other, smaller publishers, such as Signature Books and Cedar Fort, are also contributing to the influx of fiction.

Why the change? Many authors and publishers point to the publication of Gerald Lund's "Work and the Glory" series as a pivotal point. The first volume of the series, which parallels the history of the church, was published in 1990, and followed by eight subsequent volumes. "That was a life-changing fictional event," said Watts.

Even so, it took a while. "About the third volume, it really kicked in and took off."

Then along came a Dean Hughes' series set during World War II, and suddenly historical fiction was really hot.

In addition to those series, Chris Heimerdinger has garnered a huge following for his books, telling of modern visitors transported back to Book of Mormon times.

David Woolley has received acclaim for his books set in the Old Testament/Book of Mormon period.