Atheist-friendly Agents?

becphish

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Well, yes, that is a bit of an attention grabber.
Here's my situation. I've written a novel that turns the bible on its head. It's sacrilegious and satirical, and, of course, humorous. However, I think that agents might be hesitant to take it on because of the controversial content. One agent said she found the concept and first fifty pages interesting and she'd be interested in seeing who picks this up. (I know this wasn't a form rejection, as the rest of the email was of a personal nature.) Any advice on finding an agent who would be open to works like this would be helpful. Maybe I'm looking under the wrong category. I keep searching for humor/satire. I've already queried Christopher Moore's agent but received no response and have been looking for agents with non-traditional books on their lists. Thanks in advance.
 

Thedrellum

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What genre is it? More like GOOD OMENS or more the kind of satirical/offensive of LOLITA?

Also, I would argue that pretty much all agents are atheist friendly. They're looking for a good book, one they can sell, and that's it.

How is your book non-traditional?
 

Aggy B.

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Yeah. Unless they are specifically looking for Christian/inspirational work, I think most agents won't care if you are atheist or your book is spiritual satire. I'd say the agent who gave you the response you quote probably just didn't know where she would sell it. (That's not entirely unusual. I had a few who responded with something similar for a book that was not controversial at all.)

You should probably also look under Commercial Fiction as well.
 

becphish

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Non-traditional in that the protagonist writes the book that is ultimately turned into the Old Testament--except that the version written by the character mocks the version we know today. I'm wondering if the subject matter is turning agents off. Definitely more like Good Omens. Also, thanks for asking that question. I'm going to look into who agented that book.
 

becphish

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Thanks, Aggy B.
I will definitely start querying commercial fiction agents. I'd been writing them off--maybe that was a mistake. It certainly opens up a lot more agents for querying.
Also, Angry Guy, I'm looking into that now. Thanks.
 

Becca C.

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Yeah, I'd say unless the agent is specifically interested in Christian works, they'll be open to atheism-themed works.
 

Amadan

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People who think they are "turning the Bible on its head" and writing a work that will be controversial usually dramatically overestimate both how original their idea is and how much anyone is actually going to care.
 

Writer MMS

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People who think they are "turning the Bible on its head" and writing a work that will be controversial usually dramatically overestimate both how original their idea is and how much anyone is actually going to care.

Yeah but there's also an undeniable market for these sorts of works, so for every few thousand people who spend thirty minutes looking up conspiracy theories and thinking they've found some secret knowledge or think they've written the funniest piece of blasphemy in centuries there's always going to be a couple of people who can produce a Da Vinci Code or a Book of Mormon musical.

That's pretty much all of writing though, sometimes the world has to churn out thousands of tons of coal just to make a few diamonds.
 

frimble3

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Who is Philip Pullman's agent? 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ' was published by Canongate Books.
 

culmo80

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I'm pretty sure most agents, unless they specifically rep religious writing, won't care about the content.
What they DO care about is:
Is the concept original? Or are there enough satirical novels that mock Christianity already out there?
Is the writing good?
Is the publisher looking for something in this genre right now?
 

becphish

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People who think they are "turning the Bible on its head" and writing a work that will be controversial usually dramatically overestimate both how original their idea is and how much anyone is actually going to care.

I personally don't think it's very controversial--but I think that others might. Having done a lot of research on existing works with a similar topic, I'd say that my take on this is original. Of course, there are people like Milton and Twain who've done their share, and that's just a tiny percentage of what's already out there. The reason I used the term "controversial" is because often, when people write about religious doctrine, people get irritated. As someone who has received hostile emails and phone calls from rabbis because of short stories and critical essays I've written, I'm sure there will be a pissed off group (even if it is small) if my current manuscript ever gets off the ground. So, when I state that I believe I've written something that might be considered controversial, it's based on what I've written, but also on previous experience.
 

TerryRodgers

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The best thing that can happen is you find an agent, a publisher, and the Vatican bans the book.
 

Scriptissima

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Who is Philip Pullman's agent? 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ' was published by Canongate Books.
I immediately thought of Pullman as well; "His Dark Materials" is essentially the anti-Bible and deals with destroying religion and killing God. And he clearly found an agent as well as a publisher, despite taking a rather radical approach and targeting a young audience.
The best thing that can happen is you find an agent, a publisher, and the Vatican bans the book.
Truth.
Though to stick with "His Dark Materials," the Christian taliban movement was so thorough in its efforts to scandalize the first "Dark Materials" movie, "The Golden Compass," that Warner pulled out of producing the remaining two sequels. Which is a shame, really. Anyway, the respective religious movements might have unfortunate levels of success.

Becphish, maybe looking for representation abroad might be a thought worth pondering over, if you are seriously concerned about the response in the U.S. - an agent in the UK or in Australia might be more open to your idea and concept, should you really hit a wall in the States. Just a thought.
 

autumnleaf

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Though to stick with "His Dark Materials," the Christian taliban movement was so thorough in its efforts to scandalize the first "Dark Materials" movie, "The Golden Compass," that Warner pulled out of producing the remaining two sequels. Which is a shame, really.

Really? I'm pretty sure they decided to drop the sequels for commercial reasons. The Golden Compass didn't do as well at the box office as expected.
 

Amadan

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I immediately thought of Pullman as well; "His Dark Materials" is essentially the anti-Bible and deals with destroying religion and killing God. And he clearly found an agent as well as a publisher, despite taking a rather radical approach and targeting a young audience.

Truth.
Though to stick with "His Dark Materials," the Christian taliban movement was so thorough in its efforts to scandalize the first "Dark Materials" movie, "The Golden Compass," that Warner pulled out of producing the remaining two sequels. Which is a shame, really. Anyway, the respective religious movements might have unfortunate levels of success.

Calling His Dark Materials the "anti-Bible" is the sort of hyperbole some of Pullman's detractors have used, but while there's definitely an anti-organized religion message in the books, it is hardly an axe-grinding epic of blasphemy.

And The Golden Compass just didn't do well at the box office. The Catholic League crowed victory over their boycott, but there's not much evidence that they really had a significant impact.
 

Toothpaste

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Yup, THE GOLDEN COMPASS just wasn't very well done. Yes the studio felt pressure to erase any of the religious themes which likely helped neuter the film, but it really just wasn't well adapted and the writing was weak, and focused more on the large spectacle than on the characters etc. There was a play of all three books at one of the major theatres in London UK, in fact it was two plays, a two-parter (the plays actually were what introduced me to the books in the first place) with Timothy Dalton as the "uncle", and it was very successful and quite impressive. So it wasn't the subject matter, it was the adaptation itself.

So yeah, the movie failed because it was trying to be the next Harry Potter and wasn't basically. /end tangent
 
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Scriptissima

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Really? I'm pretty sure they decided to drop the sequels for commercial reasons. The Golden Compass didn't do as well at the box office as expected.
You're correct, it didn't do very well commercially, however, that was in no small part owed to the Christian opposition. At least that's what I heard from some people involved with Warner in the UK.
 

brswain

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Who repped Dan Brown?

Dan Brown attacks and demonizes atheists in his work, no one minds that.

William Morrow published Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, that may be a place to start.

Mariner Books published "Towing Jehovah" by James Morrow, also quite heretical.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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"Atheist friendly agent" is not the point. Agents don't rep atheist or Christians, they rep books. A book either has a market, or it doesn't. If it does, agents and publishers will handle it. If it doesn't, they won't
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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Where did you get the idea that Dan Brown is an atheist?

Didn't. I got the idea that his books are similarly controversial and an agent that repped him wouldn't have a problem repping something else controversial. And by extension, you could look at any controversial book, find out the agent, and submit there.

This thread, despite the title, isn't about who is or isn't an atheist, but about who might be willing to rep a book that would make theists blow steam out their ears.