When I first started the Science Fiction and Christianity mailing list and web site (now merged with Christian Fandom), I wasn't aware of any science fiction by Christian authors since C.S. Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy, and I assumed that we would spend most of our time discussing Christian themes and allusions in secular science fiction. Well, the more I've gotten into it, the more I've discovered that, not only is there a surprisingly large number of SF works by Christian authors out there, but that the quality can be extremely good. Bill Myers' Threshold is a case in point. Unfortunately, Christian publishers seem to be a bit sheepish about the science fiction they do put out, because they don't seem to publicise it at all. In fact, I asked Zondervan point blank (twice) if they had published any SF, and never got an answer. Then, a friend offered me a copy of Threshold. The moral seems to be that there is good stuff out there, but you have to know where to look, because nobody's going to help you find it. (Well, I might have found it faster, had I known about Christian Fandom a year ago.

The premise of the book is stated right on the cover: "One of Revelation's two witnesses is already among us. He just doesn't know it." Brandon Martus¹ is one of the two people whom God has called to be His witnesses during the tribulation. But while he started out full of promise, apparently due to be a preacher in his father's footsteps, his father's stroke and his sister's death in a car accident (while he was driving) have taken his faith from him, and he no longer believes. Instead, his sits in church and "zones out" during the sermons, and is therefore unprepared when demonic opposition arises to try to prevent him from entering into the ministry to which he has been called.

There are several very nice aspects to this book. For one thing, it's extremely well-written. The characters are better-drawn and more realistic than the vast majority of books I've read an reviewed recently, and the action is tense without being melodramatic. Even the climactic scene in which Brandon returns to God is done with a certain degree of subtlety. (Don't get me wrong: it's a very tense and action-filled sequence, but the theological issue is handled deftly, and doesn't leave you feeling like you've been reading a tract in disguise.) For another thing, Myers focuses on the less obvious things. Where most "end times" books pay attention to the antichrist, this book focuses on a person most writers tend to ignore. Then, too, one of the major characters is a prayer warrior working in support of Brandon. I am convinced that prayer warriors are far more important than anybody realises, so I am glad to see Myers singing the praises of one of those unsung heroes.

I always have to put in some gripe, so I'll say this: one thing which bothers me about Christian fiction by American writers is that the "bad guy" is almost invariably a foreigner. Of the five clearly identifiable "bad guys" in this work, three are foreigners, and one of the two Americans was clearly "created" by one of the foreigners. I cannot say that Myers is xenophobic, or pandering to those who are, but that detail does fit in with a trend which I find distressing.

1. Note for those of you who don't know Greek: "martus" is the Greek word for "witness", and is where the word "martyr" comes from.