“Christian fiction writers, don’t apologize for illuminating beauty and goodness instead of ugliness and depravity. You can write honestly about the horrors of life without as BJ writes, ‘sickening [their] readers or beating them over the head with gratuitous brutality and viciousness and gore-galore. It’s called honest fiction.'” Cindy Swan quoting Christian author B.J.Hoff in a discussion of realistic fiction.

“As I’ve written here before, naughty little words in fiction are usually a sign of lazy, superficial writing. Serious authors know that nine times out of ten there is a deeper, more accurate and more compelling way to get the point across. Still, there is always that one time in ten, so in principle I have no problem with using any word for the right reasons. Church ladies notwithstanding, artistic excellence demands we choose the word that’s perfect for the work at hand. But it’s not art to use naughty little words as a strategy to appeal to a certain kind of reader. It’s propaganda.” Athol Dickson, author of the excellent, propaganda-free, novel, River Rising, at the blog Charis Connection. Read the comments, too, as the discussion there is good.

All Saints Day is a big celebration in Poland.

The Beehive posts a perfect response to Jon Cary, Jone Carry, John Kerry.

“The truth is, I am Ted Haggard, we are all Ted Haggard, and Ted Haggard is all of us. And may God have mercy me, on Ted and on all of us.” JollyBlogger on the latest evangelical scandal.