Wanderer, you actually think that I am NOT getting involved in this?? ;-)
Ok, my opinion. Writing Christian Fiction is the TOUGHEST type of fiction to write in North America society.
The reason is simple: There are too many restrictions on the book. For instance (Off the top of my head)
1. Humour. It's limited and tough to do. You say one wrong thing and you got how many different religious organzitions on your case. Parody can be suidicial. That is why Mark Lowry might be the only big-name Christian Comedian out there.
2. Opponents. If you look at it, it's all boiled down to Satan vs God. A flea vs a herd of elephants. Try writing a book when the outcome is known after the first page. Also, due to this point, authors have an easy ESCAPE point (Wrong term) to fall back to when they suffer writer's block.
3. Definition. A Christian author can't create his own worlds with it's own rules, races and beliefs (In most circumstances). He is stuck with a universe with little flexibility (Depending on the majority view of God). For instance, he can't really do a book based on time travel or man living in space, because it would contridict the popular belief that we're stuck on earth at this moment. Ditto for Aliens.
4. Spiritual vs Physical. The author is trying to write about 2 different worlds at the same time. Too bad authors don't understand either world well enough to write about it.
I have not read the "Left behind" series yet at all. My personal recommendations are as follows.
1. Frank Peritti's "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness". Maybe the two best Christian sci-fi books out there. I am not thrilled with his later works but these two are classics. Best balance of how the spiritual and physical worlds connect with each other.
2. Randy Alcorn's "Edge of Eternity"& "Dominion". Alcorn doesn't pull any punches in his stuff. He hits all of the major issues in the book, causing a good read. Dominion also contains the best description of Hell that I ever read.
3. Pilgrim's Progress. Edge of Eternity is a good remake of it, but it's still a classic!