Another Fan Lost

A writer friend's new book has come out, and she discovered this blogger's review, here excerpted for your reading pleasure:

"I did have a couple of problems with the book. The main character, though a Christian, drank alcoholic beverages, and even went to a bar. I know a lot of Christians are ok with that, and I have heard the arguments, but there are also a lot of Christians who do not drink, and believe it is wrong. I feel it is something a Christian author should avoid in their books. It is a big turn off for me when I run into it in a book, and I am sure there are others who feel the same way.


"Oliver had two women throwing themselves at him, both trying to seduce him. I know it was a fiction book, but a real Christian man should have walked away from both women under the circumstances, so I think that gives a wrong message about dating relationships."

Unchristian confession: I had a wicked urge to Comment on his post. Something along the lines of, "I just put down my beer to read your blog, and boy, am I glad I did! I think we share a lot of the same values. I'll bet you're a huge Anne LaMott fan--I've got two tickets to go hear her speak and would love to go with you. BTW, your picture is HOT. HOT HOT HOT!"

Instead, I gave in to the equally unchristian urge to poke fun at him on my blog. Something tells me I should not send this man a review copy of MOURNING BECOMES CASSANDRA. Did I mention that, at one of the book parties in California, when I talked about how MBC's 130,000 word count was too high for a first novel (according to agents, first novels should come in around 80,000-95,000), one woman suggested, "Have you thought about cutting out the cuss words?" There go the chapters purely devoted to the f-word, I guess.

Off to do a little prayer and penance...