Where can I find a market for "offbeat" short stories about God's relationship with us?
I have written some short stories that don't seem to fit into any category I can find. They feature God's relationship with various people, but they are not typical "Christian" writing. For example, one of the stories is titled "And God Said 'Watch This'". One of them has aliens in it. Not sure where to look for a market for these. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks.
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Novels are about people. This is true for Christian novelists such as Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Walker Percy, or Flannery O'Connor, just as much as it is true for novelists of no faith. When a novel treats the relationship between God and a character, they do it from the point of view of the character, not God. They examine the human experience of believing in God and in believing that they have encountered God.
This is a theme rather than a genre. You can explore this in any genre of fiction. Fiction that does not fit a genre is usually classified as general or literary for commercial purposes. Of course, certain themes appeal to some readers more than others, but the limits are not creedal. All of the authors I named above are Roman Catholic, but their appeal is far wider.
On the other hand, works that ascribe thoughts, actions, or feelings to God, that look at the relationship with a character from God's POV, are works of theology. You can write a work of theology in fictional form, just as you can write a so-called "business novels", which is business writing in fictional form. Such works appeal to people interested in theology. Most markets for theology are creedally based, though there is certainly a market today for works that are "spiritual, not religious".
Finally, there are works of humor, satire, or mockery that attempt to make fun of religious belief. The market for these is pretty broad today.
It is not clear from your question which of these categories your stories fall into, but I think these cover the possibilities, at least in broad strokes.
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Look in the collections of stories you have on your shelves. Usually in the back of the book is a list of places where the stories have been previously published. If you're reading the kinds of stories you write, then you now have a list of journals that publish stories like yours.
(It's irrelevant whether or not they're about god. And, by the way, "And God Said, 'Watch This'" is a great title.)
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Speculative stories about God, or gods, can show up in the realm of speculative fiction, science fiction, or fantasy. Consider the following examples:
- Some of the stories in Wandering Stars, ed. Jack Dann
- Larry Niven's version of the Inferno trilogy
- Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth
- Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question"
- Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy
If you consider gods in general -- others from Earth's history or ones made up by their authors -- there are many, many more, ranging from the light-hearted (e.g. Terry Pratchett) to the more serious/ponderous (e.g. Jo Walton's The Just City), with lots in between.
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