An Introduction to Stephen Bly

1944-2011

Stephen Bly was probably the greatest writer of faith-based Western fiction ever seen before. He mostly wrote in series form; his customary length being six books, with some exceptions. Bly had a talent for creating a lovable character in the first novel, and refining their personality and fictional life throughout the series. This was perhaps modeled after God’s continued refinement of our lives. He had a subtle way of sharing the Gospel through the lives of his characters, one that most would call “not-one-of-those-shove-it-down-your-throat-Christians”. Even though the Lord called Stephen Bly home in 2011, readers of all ages continue to enjoy his gritty, yet humorous take on the lives of Western gunslingers and pioneers. In his lifetime he wrote over one hundred books and stories, including some that he wrote with his wife Janet. His last novel was titled Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot; as he was not able to complete the novel before his death, his wife and three sons finished the novel for him. We here at Box Office Revolution would love to see Christian film-makers create a new genre based on his stories, perhaps Western Comedy? Bly certainly had enough content to justify a new genre, and perhaps bringing his original novels to the big screen would ‘spur’ on other filmmakers to create films inspired by his novels. While all of Bly’s novels are good, our favorites thus far are The Legend of Stuart Brannon series and the Code of the West series. Bly creates relatives for the characters in these two series that are found in later novels. His writing will forever serve as a an example to others of how to write Western, faith-based fiction. As with all the authors mentioned in the column, we eagerly await the day that Stephen Bly’s work will hit the big screen!

August 10, 2017August 6, 2017 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: Box Office Wish List, Potential film material, Stephen Bly, Western fiction 8 Comments