In the wake of the "Left Behind" series, as well as novels by authors such as Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, crossover Christian fiction (or edgier Christian fiction, or whatever happens to be your favorite term for it) is a publishing anamoly: a fiction category that's actually growing.

Today, a group of bloggers (yours truly being one of them) is launching a project to highlight standout works in this category--and in the process, hopefully explore where it might be headed.

First up: Forgiving Solomon Long, a Kansas City-based crime novel complete with mob connections, seedy characters, and contract killings. Definitely not the prairie romance associated with typical CBA fiction. I recently spoke with author Chris Well about the book.

TL Hines: Chris, one thing I really liked about Forgiving Solomon Long was its mix of nice, playful banter with a dark underside. Reminded me of Elmore Leonard, one of my fave crime writers, in many respects. Who are some novelists--crime fiction or otherwise--you read and admire? Any who have had a big influence on your own writing?

Chris Well: Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy are probably the most obvious influences. Elmore Leonard, for his snappy dialogue and crazy plot twists, especially in books like MAXIMUM BOB and GET SHORTY and PAGAN BABIES. James Ellroy, for his pointed, lyrical punch. He sticks to these spare sentence structures and sound effects--he does not waste any space on unnecessary description or, say, conjunctions. And yet, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and AMERICAN TABLOID are 500-page, 600-page books, with all these different plots swirling around. It's amazing. There were passages in FORGIVING SOLOMON LONG where I was sort of trying out some of Ellroy's literary tricks for myself, but did not have the nerve to really go full-bore. (Hence, my novel occasionally
has a conjuction here and there.)

Dialogue-wise, I also had certain scenes in mind from James Robinson's STARMAN comic book series.

Several have compared my style to that of Carl Hiassen, but I have not really had a chance to check him out yet.

TLH: Tell me about your background as a journalist. Have you always been a journalist primarily, and just stumbled into writing novels? Or have you always had a novel hiding inside? What has journalism taught you about writing fiction?

CW: In many ways, my lifetime goal has been to write comic books. And my 20-plus years in journalism has been a sort of side trip. And now I find myself writing novels--essentially, another side trip. But the noveling is pretty exciting, so this trip may take a while.

My years as a magazine editor have taught me the importance of keeping the attention of your reader, of cutting all unnecessary words, and of including all the necessary ones.

TLH: What led to the idea for Forgiving Solomon Long specifically?

CW: There were a couple of things. One, I was playing "what if" while watching a movie about a hit man who chooses not to fulfill a particular contract.

I started thinking about the repurcussions of that decision, and started to wonder what if the reason a hit man might not fulfill his contract is because he can't fulfill his contract? What does a killer do when he can no longer kill? What would bring him to that place? How would he survive once the mob comes after him?

After that, I considered pursuing this idea as an online adventure comic strip, something that would be updated every few days. But of course, in that format--three panels at a time--you can only pursue a single thread, or it becomes too complicated to follow.

Nothing came of that, except my one-sentence pitch: A hitman is haunted by a preacher's dying words: "I forgive you."

A few years later, I started developing it as a novel. The original idea was worth maybe 20,000 words; obviously, I needed a lot more. It grew into a much more complex story, with the mob family and the cop who can't pay attention during marriage counseling and all that.

TLH: What was your writing process for FSL? When did you find time to write?

CW: I primarily write during my lunch hour. Sometimes by hand, sometimes straight to the computer. When I get home from work, I polish it and update my document each night. And on weekends I try to get in some quality time.

As far as the bigger picture, I started with a synopsis, which was maybe 5 pages long, explaining in simple terms what happens over the course of the novel. Then I started breaking it up into smaller and smaller segments to develop and flesh out.

With FSL, I more or less knew the ending -- the trick was figuring out all the middle stuff. With this second book, the journey has been different -- the farther I get in, the further afield I get from the original synopsis.

TLH: What's your approach to writing in general? Are you a detailed plotter, or more of a "discover the story as you go" person?

CW: I am on the scale somewhere in between, but do lean a little heavier toward "detailed." I am not brave enough yet to just leap out there and hope I find an ending in 80,000 words.

With FSL, I knew how the big stories would work out, but left room to discover how some of the smaller stories played out. There are several scenes in FSL I did not anticipate, and characters who were not intended to have so much screen time.

For example, mob soldiers Holland and Sallis were only supposed to show up once or twice. Their original entrance was more matter-of-fact "mob soldier" stuff. But one of my editors suggested doing something more unusual with their introduction, and I hit upon the idea of them discussing Broadway musicals when they get back from dumping a body somewhere. As their conversation continued, Holland and Sallis became way too interesting to drop off early in the story.

In fact, after the novel, I wrote a short story about one of them. It's not published yet, but I would love to see it placed somewhere.

TLH: Speaking of those two, I particularly loved your pop culture references--they grounded the book, and made it seem real. I'm thinking specifically of Holland Sallis talking about how "One out of three Star Trek episodes is just a remake of 'Heart of Darkness.'" I found that quite hilarious, and something I'd certainly never considered. Is that a Chris Well observation, or some Star Trek in-joke I've just never heard?

CW: I figured that out during a college class where we wrote critical papers on "Heart of Darkness." I don't know whether Trek fandom at large ever discusses it.

I always love connecting dots like that. Years from now, I hope college students are writing about how "Forgiving Solomon Long" is a loose remake of "King Lear."

TLH: You also have a deep interest in comics. I was a big comics fan as a young boy, and was always partial to Marvel. "Thor" and "Ghost Rider" were hands-down my faves, but I also liked "X-Men" and "Swamp Thing" (okay, so that was a DC comic). Your childhood comic faves? What about more current comics--indie or otherwise? And, do you think your interest in comics has had any kind of effect on your writing or your subject matter?

CW: If you liked "Swamp Thing," then maybe you caught the fact that Holland is named after him. His partner, Sallis, is named after Marvel Comics' version, "Man-Thing."

(Of course, the nobody-will-ever-catch-this reference is that they nicknamed one of their mob predecessors "The Heap," which is also the name of a 40s-era comic book character who was a predecessor to Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.)

As a kid, I liked pretty much any comics I could get my hands on--"Fantastic Four," "Justice League," the different Superman titles, "New Teen Titans."

If I had to pick one, I guess "The Flash" (the one with Barry Allen) was my favorite book as a kid. (You'll be reading more about that in my second novel, actually; by some strange coincidence, Detective Charlie Pasch once again shares my geek-culture opinions.)

These days, I find myself reading less and less DC and Marvel Comics--in trying to make their superhero books more "relevant," they continue to bleed all the charm out of them. I spend my money on more of the indie titles.

My favorite comic book writers right now are Troy Hickman ("Common Grounds") and Dan Slott ("She-Hulk," "The Thing").

Forgiving Solomon Long has been successful enough to spawn a multi-book deal with your publisher, Harvest House. Any clues where you might be going with upcoming books?

The second book is definitely a follow-up, but I hesitate to call it a "sequel." Not only is it intended to make sense to first-time readers who have never read FSL, but about 90-percent of the book is completely unrelated. All-new bad guys, all-new crazy hijinks. But when the cops show up to solve the crime, some of them will be familiar to FSL readers.

At this moment, the next three are tentatively intended to also feature the members of Kansas City law enforcement.

TLH: Looking forward to it.

CW: Thanks.