Christian Lit Goes Amish

The new trends in the world of Christian literature are -- get this -- Amish and vampire fiction:

Even as Christian publishing suffers during the recession — one study found net sales for Christian retailers were down almost 11 percent in 2008 — several publishing houses are adding or expanding their fiction lines with both the tame (Amish heroines) and boundary-pushing (Christian vampire lit).

The undisputed industry leader is so-called Amish fiction — typically, romances and family sagas set in contemporary Amish communities. They're a surprise hit with evangelical women attracted by a simpler time, curiosity about cloistered communities and admiration for the strong, traditional faith of the Amish.

The success of the genre has spawned not just new Amish fiction authors but spinoff series about other cloistered communities. If you want to sell it, as one literary agent put it, put a bonnet on it.

Unless you get excited about churning butter and raising barns, you'll probably find Amish books boring. But that's not to say they don't come in a more risque variety:

Mindy Starns Clark, an author of gothic mysteries scrubbed clean of foul language and premarital sex for a Christian audience, set her latest novel, "Shadows of Lancaster County," in Amish country.

"It's got a buggy on the cover," said Clark, who emphasized that she picked the setting before Amish books became a Christian publishing sensation. "But it's also got genetic engineering. It's definitely not your grandmother's Amish novel."

Wow, that book has everything: buggies, genetic engineering, and the Amish!